Connecticut western news., 1911-08-03
THE FIRST DENTIST
Seventy Years Ago East Sheffield Had
 the Only Tooth Fuller.

lhc Otllf U OOkH TuHeT'
 The recent absence, of the local den | tist, on vacation, seemed to breed a violent epidemic of toothache and broken and decayed molars. Italways happens so. As soon as the dentist goes away, teeth start to ache that never ached be 1 fore, and teeth that ached mite ache all the more sound teeth suddenly show signs of decay false teeth are sneezed out and broken and old filings work themselves out-and these things happen oftener and inevitably when the dentist is away on vacation.
 Speaking of the breaking of false teeth it is an unwritten rule, among wearers of false teeth, to attribute a broken "plate" to some defect in the material or workmanship and hold the dentist re- sponsible. This rule is not a hard-and- fast one however, but exceptions are rare. One day farmer, for whom Dr. Ross had made set of teeth, came into the dentists office, with his teeth in his hand, the plate broken in two pieces, and asked if it could be fixed. Dr. Ross examined the plate and asked
 ."How did you break it }"
 "Well," said the visitor, "I was driving along the road, with the sun in my eyes it made me sneeze, and I sneezed so hard that l sneezed my teeth out and they dropped down in the wagon track and i fha vhaeIs ran 0var thay,
 i "Well now, that is truly remarkable, ' i said the dentist. "It seems almost in credible. Now it is almost invariably the case that plates are broken and teeth knocked loose by chewing custard, or trying to bite pumpkin pie"
 But that's neither here nor there. The purpose of this article is simply to recall to the old people who read it, the time when dentistry was hardly known to the people, and the only cure for toothache and decaying teeth was "cold steep' and extraction. This was invariably attended to by the doctors, who were equipped with that well-nigh forgotten instrument of torture, the "turnkey," which hooked itself over back of the offending tooth and pried it out of the jawbone, frequently bringing pieces of the jawbone with it. D. L. Peirce, in conversation the other day recalled his first experience with a "dentist," and the time-more. than 70 years ago-when the first person in these parts to make speciality of chemistry" was Kasson Brigham, of Clayton, at that time called East Sheffield Mir. Peirce, who was boy at the time, was seized with a severe toothache while riding horseback toward East Canaan. On the road he met Dr. A. A. Wright, driving in the opposite direction. He halted the doctor, who looked at the tooth and attempted to twist it out with his turr,- key. For some reason the doctor gave up the job after an unsuccessful attempt to make his turnkey work, and advised young Peirce to see Dentist Brigham.
 To Dentist Brigham, the sufferer went l for treatment. The dentist hooked onto the tooth, pulled it out with a, mutually painful effort, leaving a cavity in the ! bleeding jaw big enough to store an apple dumpling in. Giving his patient the usual instruction to "keep your tongue out of the hole and a solid gold tooth will grow in it," the dentist dis missed the boy, who mounted his horse and started homeward, splitting blood, wondering why This toothache was just as severe as before, and whether the solid gold tooth would ache as hard as the other. He had not proceeded far when he jeopardized all hope of/having a solid gold tooth at all, by deliberately rolling his tongue around in the aching cavity, and discovered why his toothache had not stopped. The dentist had broken the tooth off, leaving a stump in the jaw.
 Young Peirce promptly turned about and drove rapidly back to the dentist, who made another examination, went to work with a corkscrew and gouge and 1 dug out the refractory root-an operation more painful than the original torture. l