The Birmingham age-herald., 1907-06-25
PuritanS Considered it UnhoIy
 to Hamper With Teeth
IS NOW EXACT SCIENCE
Relation of Teeth to General Health Was Not Recognized Until Very Recent Years-Stories of
 the Profession.
BY FREDERIC J. HAsKIN

lhe history of dentistry in America is the story of the evolution of a science from a trade. Although the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Hindoos are said 10 have practieed crude dental surgery. ana although it is asserted that artificial teeUh Of brass and gold have been found In mumnlies in the tombs of the Pha- roahs, dental medicine as it is under stood today is a development of the last lVo years; In fact, scientific dentistry in America has come into existence during the last three-quarters of a century. It is said that modern dentistry was con ceived in France, cradled in England and matured In the United States"
 In colonial days many persons in this country held it sinful to attempt to re- place teeth or to attempt to arrest their decay The Puritans particularly obiect ed to such unholy practices, declaring that when God in His judgment decided that the teeth should become useless. it was as wicked to try to repair them as 1t was to walk under an umbrella, in vio- lauon Of the scriptural law that the rain should fall upon the just and the unjust. or try to prevent badness. There was also a widespread belief that cleans ing the teeth with a tooth brush might cause fatal hemorrhage from the gums.
 Persons who did patronize dentists. however, word-wcked and free from moral scruples, were ashamed to admit that they resorted to such means of nre-' serving their teeth, and the dentist who valued h1s clientele did not speak 10 ladies of fashion in public, no matter how many artificial grinders" he put in for them in private. It was not common for a lady whose teeth demanded attention to make an engagement with the dentist to call at her house before daylight or enter by the rear gate, and do the work behind closed shutters. Dentists at that time, by the way, travelled about with kits" of homemade tools It was not until the second quarter of the nineteenth century that the profession began to be generally recognized and practitioners worked in their own offices.
 During the last decade of the eighteenth century there were a few dentists more or less broadly educated practicing in America. Joseph LeMar came to this country with the French army during the revolution and won a wide reputation an transplanter and extractor of teeth. James Gardette. who had studied medi- cine and served two years in a Toulon hospital before he came to America, per formed many dental operations upon mill tary officers when Rochambeaus army was at Newport R. l. He afterWard set tied in this country, practcng a short time in New York and nearly forty years in Philadelphia, before returning to Bor- deaux, where he died In 1881. But before the revolution, and for many years there after, 1t was customary for a man who wanted to become a dentist to drop some other trade and undertake the new call ing without any especial educational equipment. Tooth darpentering," as 1t was derisively called, was a business in which the ethics of a profession had little part.
 An early method of replacing a tooth was called "transplantation" patient with bad tooth would arrange with a person willing to sell a sound one for stipulated sum, and the two teeth were pullSu at lnt Sdlut ll1le, the sound one being immediately placed into the socket from which the decayed one had been drawn Naturally various diseases wei transplanted along with teeth, and the practice was on that account abandoned Human teeth long since pulled were also pivoted upon the roots of old teeth and for the same purpose teeth made from blocks of hippopotamus ivory and from cattle teeth were also used. It was GUS ion, fnr fqfc fo ,OlI olI .F 4 human teeth they could get and preserve them in jars, and a dentist who had a few gallons of teeth was well off
 When human teeth were in demand at good prices many means of securing them were resorted to, among them grave robblng. An avaricious parson, under pretense of looking for a place in which to lay away the body of his dear wife, got access to the church vault Once ln- side, he left tpep door unbolted, and after nightfall let himself down into the vault. With a chisol and hammer he secured the teeth of all of the dead mem- bers of his congregation netting $500 by the enterprise. A sutler in the French and peninsular wars drew enough teeth from the dead bodies of soldiers to make himself rich. He went home and built a hotel at Margate, but the patrons of the house got wind of the fact that their landlord was a ghoul. and trade fell off so that he was forced to sell out at a heavy loss
 When the first artificial pivot teeth were being used a manufacturer whose name was Stockton did a large business in New York and adjoining states in selling them to dentists. He had a large stock on hand when he invented the single gum artificial tooth. an improvement up- on the original pattern. By keeping the secret he made a commercial coup that caused no little Pnashing of real teeth among dentists and dealers Peddlers were sent out with sacks of the best teeth then known in the market reduced to ten cents each. They were instructed to make the announcement that Stockton was selling out to change his business. Dentists who had depended upon Stock ton for their supplies borrowed money to lay in heavy stock lest they should be out of teeth before another manufac- turer could supply them. One broker in New York-there were New York brokers even in those days-tried to corner the teeth supply and bought all he could get. A short time after the last pivot tooth had been disposed of, Stocxtons agents reappeared in the market with the great single gum" tooth. Customers of dentists immediately demanded the best the mar ket afforded. and the old style worries were a dead loss to all who had invest ed in them.
 Dentists as well as dealers guarded their trade secrets sedulously when den tistry was a trade, and it was not un- common for one dentist who desired to learn something from another to try to