Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1899-08-17
FAors ApoUr FALSE TEETH.


How They Are Made and what Becomes
of Them.
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 are practically in
destructible, says the Boston Herald.
Before making a guess it is worth
while 10 consider how artificial teeth
are made The story is told in Nan
tucket of sea captain who was q great
whistler until he lost one of his front
teeth by accidental contact with be.
laying pin. For some time he bemoaned
his lost accomplishment, until he found
that he could whistle very well with an
artificial tooth whitfield out Of piece
of wood. When performance was
desired he would calmly carve out an
incisor and put it in position. Then
the audience would wait until the
tooth was sweled by the moisture OF
his mouth SO that 1t would not slip out.
When the 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 Methuselah
Those which are known in the trade
as ''store teeth, - being carried in stock
by the big dental supply houses, are
manufactured in enormous quantities.
The porcelain material, which con-
tains various mineral proportions, is
worked mp like sort of dough OF
plaster, forced into molds and fused by
intense heat in furnace. Each tooth
is covered with enamel and has one or
more metal pins in the back to hold il
to the Ilate.
In large lots these teeth can be made
very cheaply, but there is one 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
furnace is platinum, and that costs at
the rate of cent pin simply for the
raw material. \ great deal of money
has been spent in experimenting to dis
cover some substitute for platinum, but
nothing has yet been found.
While cheap grade OF store teeth"
can be bought for a few cents apiece.
they are not nearly as satisfactory rs
the standard commercial article which
is used by most dentists. A big supply
company will carry hundreds of sam
Piles of teeth, all of standard quality,
but differing greatly in size, shape and
color. In color alone from % to l0C
variations may be presented.
But as there are people who are not
satisfied with ready made clothing, SC
there are people who are not satisfied
with ready made teeth. False teeth
p1ay 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
peculiarities Of form and color, and fill
ings, if they have them. They wan,
teeth that cannot be told as false, and
they get them, not all at once, per
haps, but one by ono, as 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 with those Of watches.
The teeth are set in plates of rubber,
gold and aluminium, but the highest
achievement is considered to be plati
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
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 ques.
tion, What becomes of false teeth?'i
Sometimes they, are lost, sometimes
stolen and some times left as 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 business in second
hand false teeth, but if there is such q
traffic it is not of large proportions.
Second hand teeth are valuable only
for the platinum wire that they con
tain, 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
double set of teeth went with them to
dealer. thinking that he had a prize.
The finder was SURPRISED when the
dealer refused to make an offer, and
said that 10 cents q set was all they
were worth to any one but the person
whose mouth they fitted
The expensive teeth are not marketa-
BILE and the marketable teeth are not
expensive That is tho whole thing in
nutshell.
Yet teeth have been used over. A
woman went to dentist with set OF
teeth which had belonged to her
mother, who vas dead. She said that
she had always admired those teeth
when her mother wore them and now
that her own were gone she wanted the
old set remounted for herself. 1t was
done.