The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1899-04-14
ARTIFICIAL TEETH.
HOW THEY ARE MADE AND WHAT
. BECOMES OF THEM.

The Perfection to Which Their, MAXI
ing Has A~ttained-In Style. shape
and Color Nothing Is Impossible ia
M0der Dental Art.
Hundreds of thousands of artificial
teeth are manufactured and sold every
year. What becomes of them? It j like
asking what becomes Of pins and other
things which are practically indestruc-
tible.
Before making a guess it is worth
while to consider how artificial teeth
are made. The story is told in Nan
tucket of a sea captain who was a great
whistler until he lost of his front
teeth by accidental contact with a be
laying pin. For some time he bemoaned
his lost accomplishment, until he found
that he could whistle very we'll with an
artificial tooth whitfield out of a piece
of wood. When a performance was de-
sired. he would calmly carve out an in
.cisor and put it in position Then the
was swelled by the moisture Of his
mouth so that it would not slip out.
When plates were discovered and the
expert dentist was able to supply a
whole mouthful of new teeth, the teeth
themselves were carved out of ivory.
But constant grinding would wear away
the ivory. and these elephant teeth
were not satisfactory.
Today all artificial teeth are made of
porcelain. and will outlast a Methu-
selah. Those which are known in the
<uoI, ro sxc%>ro footL - Io;r,r <,crv;ol iD
stock by the big dental supply houses,
are manufactured in enormous quanti-
ties.
The porcelain material, which con-
tains various mineral proportions, is
worked up like a sort of dough or plas-
ter. forced into molds and fused by in
tense heat in a furnace. Each tooth is
covered with enamel and has one or
more metal pins in the back to hold it
to the plate.
In large lots these teeth car be made
very cheaply. but there is n item Of
expense 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 fur
mace is platinum. and that costs at the
rate of a cent a pin simply for the raw
material. A great deal of money has
been spent in experiments to discover
some substitute for platinum. but moth
ing has yet been found.
While a cheap grade of ''store teeth
can be bought for a 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 col
or. In color alone from 25 to 100 varia-
tions 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 made teeth. False teeth
may look just as well or better than
real ones, but public speakers. singers
and other prominent people want their
own teeth reproduced in all their pecul-
i~arities 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 perhaps, but
one by one. az the originals give out.
In teeth that are made to order moth
ing is impossible. from the short, white
teeth of normal youth to the long, dis
colored ones of extreme age. and the
prices range like those of watches.
The teeth are set in plates of rubber.
gold and aluminium, but the highest
achievement is considered to be a plat
mum plate. upon which has been fused
lining of tinted porcelain similar to
that used for gum work. Tinted plates
have been made of the same material
az the teeth. but as the porcelain shrinks
in the firing the fitting of such plates
is uncertain.
And nov for the answer to the ques-
tion. ''What becomes Of false teethT
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.
1t is occasionally suggested that there
is quite a business in secondhand false
teeth. but if there is such q traffic it is
not Of large proportions. Secondhand
teeth are valuable only for the platinum
wire that they contain. and when they
fall into the hands of regular teeth
makers they are smashed up to get the
platinum out
Not long ago q man who found a
double set of teeth went With them to
q dealer. thinking that he had a prize.
The finder was surprised when the deal
er refused to make an offer and said
that 10 cents a set was all they were
worth to any n but the person whose
mouth they fitted.
The expensive teeth are not market
able, and the marketab BILE teeth are not
expensive, That is the whole thing in
nutshell.
Yet teeth have been used over A
lady went to a dentist with a set of