Daily Kennebec journal., 1906-04-20
TOOTHSOME TALES.
Experiences OF Some Persons in and
Out of the Dentists Chair.

was the forerunner of the great and
useful company of dentists that now
inhaSit the land, inflicting agony upon
thousands that they may have peace
through suffering. but one or the early
advertisements Of Boston dentists an
peared in the Boston Gazette under
the date of December 10. 176S. and Is
douDly interesting because of the nn-
dying fame that came to this puller Of
teeth number Of years after the fol-
lowing I'D appeared:
Whereas many perfons are 70 un-
fortunate as TO lofe their FOre-terth
by Accident. and othcrWays. to their
great Detriment, not only in Looks,
but fpeaking both IN Public and
Private This is to inform all fuch.
that they may have them replaced
with artificial Ones, that look as well
as the Natural. and anfers the End of
Speaking to all Intents, by PAUL
REVERE. Goldfmith. near the Head of
Dr. Clarke's Wharf, Bottom. All
perfons who have had falfe Teeth fixt
by Mr. John Baker, Surgeon-Dentift.
and they have got loofe (as they will in
Time) may have them fartened by the
above. who learnt the Method of fixing
them from Mr.. Baker"
No doubt there were "dentifts" in the
town Of "Bofton' long before Paul
Revere inserted this interesting ad-
vertiscment in The Gazette. that early
and now invaluable paper from which
SO much is learned that is Interesting
ana often amusing about the customs
of the people of the Boston and New
England of that day. No doubt the
work of the dentists Of that day was
prety crude, and it is certain that they
COULD not have turned out the work
| of the dentists of our own time. 1t is
| to be hoped that they possessed sense
| of humor, that invaluable gift to one
| living in an environment of groanS ana
howls, for it is sadly true, as some
| one has long ago said. that our teeth
| "comc with yell ami 60 with howl"
| The howls We're probably moro fre-
| oucnt in the DAYS when Paul Revere
was a Boston dentist. for then there
| were no anaeSthetiCS to Send one INTO
| merciful unconSCiOuSneSS during 'he
painful process Of extracting tefth-
| People fought shy of the anaeSthetic
when il was first discovered. ana some
| of them may have had the feelng OF Il
stout negro woman Of our own time
| who appearcd in u dental room with
| the bul:sinr Jaw and Woebagone look
! with which every dentist must be IA
1 miller. Knowing that the process oI
extracting the troublesome tooth would
/ be a painful one, the dentist Suggest
| cd to his patient that she take gas, tt
| which she said with decision:
| "No. sab; no sab: yo' don't git dlS
| chile to TEX none oh yo' ole gas 'f
| walk out % dis chair daid when hel
tooth is out no Sah.
Nothing could convince her that she
would not be in danger Of walking
"daii" out Of the operating chair II :'he
Inhaled "dat 81" gas.
Another negro woman once went I" th'
Office If this same dentist. and she va;
willing and even eager to have hsr suffer
inEs lcssencd by the use Of gas. h"t whei
told that the cost would be s. she de
INJURED and said:
'"rwo doIlahs jess TO dc littl" gas Is
isrnfU to have Il tootiltont? Why. doctah
dats mon [ pays 70 all dc gas uses IL
Inv house in three months Sholy
couldn't smell in s. wuf oh gas in jess I
/ coupe 90 minutes, fIttH d. So u ii'"'
| She was EreatIv surprised TO know tina
| the gas Sht, would smell in" was not II
| Eliminating gas. and WIS quit" r'ileNed u
make the discovery. declaring that there
was probably less danger of her "bloWlnt
up'' IL -hc used til" dentists gas.
| a vcrdant appearing young woman wen
to the ollie" of a dentist and $lld that Sil'
| wanted a depression taken Tor illl
set Of upper falls" t"rth' Nhen Snt WI.
| seated in his chair and II" was making az
| examination of her very generous nouti
he discovered that she was aircaay Il
possession of a very ill-htting set OF t"etli
| "Why" he said vino ever m3dc Stci
an limiting set Of teeth as these ! don
sec how you ever keep them in YOU
mouth.
"Oh, H., these aint mine" she drawIcC
| ont, they're INV aunt's. She just lot M
have the loaE OF them to wear down
town
III "An extremely absentminded patient o
mine told me a very funny story regard
inc the first time he ever wore a set o
UPPER false teeth I had mad" for him.
| said a Boston dentist to friend. III
was riding downtown in IN electro ca
i'm which every scat was taken. 50 thI
there were many to witness his mnrtltiCa
tior. He was so entirely absorbed In :
| book he was reading that he WAS oblivion:
to his surroundings and when some SINAI
Irritating particle made its presence fei
under the plate Of his teeth he simply
removed the teeth and went on rcadin;
with the plate held In full view hctweer
his thumb and finger. He had taken {
Il nickel from his pocket for his fare befor'
II sitting down to have 1t in readiness fol
the conductor and he had the nickel ir
the same hand in which he was holdni
up his teeth. With his eyes still fixed OF
his look he sought to drop the teeth Int
the hand of the conductor when that wor
thy came down the aisle with the uSua
cry of Fare fare Not until the grin
ming conductor had said. i don't wan
your teeth did he discover the appallins
abSurdity Of his situation. Then h
dropned the plato into his pocket anC
deciccd that the mir was better out on the
front platform, where h" was in too
thoughtful a frame of mind to digobcy thu
| Injunction, DO not talk to the motOrman.
another amusing experience | once hat
coming to my notice." said this same den
tSt, was that of a patient of mine fOl
whom I had made = plat" on which there
| were five or six teeth. He was = lawyer
with an Office three or four blocks from
mine One day. soon after he began tc
wear the plate. he came hurrvinG into
my office with his handkerchief held over
Ibis mouth When he removed it | dSCov
| cred that his mouth was wide open ant
that he presented q most ludicrous lp
nearanCe. The power Of speech seemed tc
have left him and he pointed in silence t.
his open mouth
| II got him into my chair and at once
discovered that his plate of teeth had be
come 'criSs CrCsS." or 'whopper jawed In
| such a way that II pinned his tongue