COW SWALLOWS MAN'S FALSE TEETH.

Press, Volume LIX, Issue 17707, 8 March 1923, Page 4

COW SWALLOWS MAN'S FALSE TEETH.

$ AUSTRALIAN'S INGENIOUS REPLACEMENT. Craoir our owh correspondeht.) SYDNEY, March 1. A remarkable incident illustrating Australian ingenuity is reported from Ballarat, in Victoria. A young man cpiployed in an iron working establishment recently purchased, at a cost of £B, a set of artificial teeth. Being of a thoughtful and ingenious turn of mind, he made a casting of the teeth in aluminium, in order to have a spare set on hand in the event of anything happening to tho molars with which he had been supplied by the dentist. Last week the .young man was going through athletic exercises in a paddock, when his false teeth were dislodged and fell to the ground. He, however, continued his gymnastic display, leaving the teeth lying on the ground. Before he had concluded his exercises a cow passed along, and seeing the snow white teeth glittering in the sunshine, she picked them up and swallowed them, to the great dismay of the owner. A bystander suggested that the only way to recover the teeth would be to slaughter the cow, but as tho animal was a valuable Ayrshire the proposal was not carried out. The young man, who is one of tho principal moulders in the foundry in which lie is employed, then went home and brought into requisition his spare set of aluminium teeth. These he wore until a few days ago, when he was taken , ill with supposed appendicitis. The doctor in attendance, a leading Ballarat practitioner, was surprised when he saw in'the patient's mouth' a full set of aluminium teeth. He was likewise amazed when the circumstances were explained to him, and he then complimented the' patient on his ingenuity and resourcefulness. The doctor mentioned the matter to a city dentist, who, in visiting ,tho young man, also complimented him on his e,xcollent handicraft in the way of having made a serviceable set of teeth from aluminium castings. The dentist considered the workmanship of tho.foundryman was remarkable, as itwas probably the first occasion in which that metal had been solely used in the manufacture of teeth.