The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1899-03-29
ARTIFICIAL TEETH.
HOW TREY ARE MADE AND WHAT
BECOMES or THEM

BtCOMtS OF lhtM
Til" Perfection To mich Their MAX
ing HAS AttnIncd-In style. shape
and Color Nothing Is Impossible 10
Modern Dental srt.
Hundreds of thousands of artificial
teeth are manufactured and sold every
year What becomes of themY 1t is like
| asking what becomes of pins and other
things which ara practically indestruc.
tihle
before making II guess ii is worth
while to consider how artificial teeth
are made The story is told in Nan
tueket of n sea captain who was great
whistler until he lost one of his front
teeth by accidental contact with n he
laying pin For some time he hemoaned
his lost accomplishment until he found
that he could whistle very well with an
artificial tooth Whitfield ont of piece
of wood When a performance was de
sired, he would calmly carve out nm in.
cisor and put ii in position Then the
| audience would wait until tho tooth
was swelled by the moisture Of his
mouth SO that ii would not slip out
When plates were discovered and the
expert dentist was able te supply
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 outnst Methu
selah Those which are known in the
trade as "stCre teeth being carried in
stock by the big dental supply houses
are manufactured in enormous quaint
ties
The porcelain material. which con.
tains various mineral proportions. is
worked up like sort of dough or plas-
ter. forced into molds and fused by in
tense heat in furnace Each tooth ia
covered with enamel and has one or
more metal pins in tho back 10 hold it
TO the plate
In large lots these teeth can be made
very eheaply. but there is one item of
expense that cannot he 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. mud that costs mt the
rate of a cent II pin simply for the raw
material A great deal of money hns
been spent in experiments To discover
some substitute for platinum, hut moth
ing has yet been found
While n cheap grade of "store teeth
can be bought for II few cents apiece,
they are not nearly us satisfactory rs
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 shaTo and col
or In color alone from % to 100 vnria.
lions may be presented
But as there are people who are not
satisfied with ready made clothing 80
there are people who are not satisfied
with ready made teeth False teeth
may look Just aa well or better than
real ones, but public speakers. singers
and other prominent people want their
own teeth reproduced in all their pecul
iarities Of form and color and filings
if they have them They want teeth
that cannot be told AZ false and they
get them. not all ut once perhaps. but
one by one, ns the originals give out
In teeth that ar nude to order moth
ing is impossible, from the short white
teeth of normal youth to the long dis
colorcd ones Of extreme nEe, 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 he plat
mum plate. upon which has been fused
u 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 tho porcelain shrinks
in the firing the fitting Of such plates
IL uncertain
And now for the answer to the ques-
ton. "Whut becomes of false teethT
Sometimes they are lost. sometimes
stolen and sometimes left rs family
legacy Generally, however they ara
buried with the owner and lie forever
hidden in the ground
II is occasionally suggested that there
is quite business in secondhand false
teeth. but if there il such II traffic it il
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 arc smashed up to get the
platinum OFT
Not long ugo n man who found
double set Of teeth went with them to
a dealer. thinking that he had prize.
The finder was surprised when the deal
er refused to make an offer and said
that 10 cents set was all they were
worth to any one but the person whose
mouth they fitted
The expensive teeth are not market
able, and the marketable teeth are not
expensive That Is the whole thing in
a nutshell
Yet teeth have been used over A
lady went to dentist with set Of
teeth which had belonged to her moth
err, who was dead She said that she
had always admired those teeth when
ermother wore them, and now that her
own were gone she wanted the old set
remonntcd for herself 1t was done -
Boston Herald
Another Sort
Were there no extenuating circum
stances connected with the case Z