The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-26
FALSE TEETH.
How They Are Made and What Be
comes of Them.
From the Boston Herald.


From the Boston Herald
Hundreds of thousands of artificial teeth
are manufactured and sold every year.
What becomes of them? 1t is like asking
what becomes of pins and other things
which are practically indestructible.
Before making guess, it is worth while
to consider how artificial teeth are made.
The story is told in Nantucket of a sea
captain who was great whistler until he
ost one of his front teeth by accidental
contact with a Delaying pin. For some
time he bemoaned his lost accomplish
ment, until ne found that he could whis-
tie very Well with an artificial tooth whit
tied out of piece of wood. When a per
Torrance was desired he would calmly
carve out an incisor and put 1t in position.
Then the audience would wait until the
tooth was swelled by the moisture of his
mouth so that 1t would not slip out.
When plates were discovered and The ex-
pert dentist was able to supply a whole
mouthful of new teeth, the teeth them
selves were carved out of ivory. But con
slant grinding would wear away the
ivory, and these elephant teeth We're not
satisfactory
To-day all artificial teeth are made of
porcelain, and viii oufast a Methusaleb.
Those which are known in the trade as
store teeth being carried in stock by
the big dental supply houses are manu-
featured in enormous quantities.
IHe porcelain material, which contains
various mineral proportions, is worked up
like sort of dough or plaster, forced info
molds and fused by intense heat in fur
mace. Each tooth Is covered with enamel.
and has one or more metal pins in the
back to hold 1t to the plate.
In large lots these teeth can be made
very cheaply, but there is one item of ex-
pense that cannot be overcome, and that
is the cost of the metal holding the pin.
The only metal which will stand the
intense heat of the porcelain furnaces is
platinum, and that costs at the rate of a
cent pin simply for the raw material.
A great deal of money has been spent in
experimenting to discover same substitute
for platinum, but nothing has yet been
found.
While cheap grade of "store teeth" can
be bought for few cents apiece, they
are not nearly as satisfactory as the
standard commercial article which is used
by most dentists. A big supply company
will carry hundreds of samples of teeth
all of standard qualities, but differing
greatly in size, shape and color. In color
alone from twenty-five 10 100 variations
may be presented.
But as there are people who are not
satisfied with ready-made clothing, so
there are people who are not satisfied with
ready teeth. False teeth may look
just as well or better than real ones, but
public speakers, singers and other promi- |
nent people want their own teeth repro |
duced in all their pecuiiarlties OF form and
color, and filings, If they have them. They
want teeth that cannot be told as false. |
and they get them-not all at once per- |
haps, but one by one, as the originals give |
out.
In teeth that are made to order nothing |
is impossible, from the short white teeth |
of normal youth to the long, discolored |
ones Of extreme age and the prices range |
with those of watches.
The teeth are set in plates Of rubber. |
gold and aluminium, but the highest |
achievement is considered to be a platinum |
plate upon which has been fused a lining |
of tinted porcelain similar to that used for
gum work. Tinted plates have been made |
of the same material as the teeth. but.
as the porcelain shrinks in the firing, the
fitting Of such plates is uncertain
And now for the answer to the dues-
ton, What becomes of false teeth?'
Sometimes they are lost, sometimes stolen.
and sometimes left as a family legacy,
Generally, however, they are buried with
the owner and lie forever hidden in the
ground.
It is occasionally suggested that there is
quite "a business in secondhand false teeth.
but If there Is such traffic II is not of
large proportions. Secondhand teeth are
only for the platinum wire that
they contain, and when they fall into the
hands Of regular teethmakers they are
smashed up to get the platinum out.
Not long ago a man who found a doubse
set Of teeth went with them to a dealer !
thinking that he had prize. The finder
was surprised when the dealer refused 10
make an offer, and said that ten cents
set was all they were worth to anyone
but the person whose mouth they fitted
The expensive teeth are not rnarketa-
bic, and the marketable teeth are not ex-
Densive. That is the whole, thing In a
lutshell.
Yet teeth have been used over. A lady
vent to a dentist with set OF teeth which
rad belonged 10 her mother, who was dead
She said that she had always admired
hose teeth when her mother wore them
md, now, that her own were gone she
wanted the old Get remounted for herself
A was done