WORKED BY SPRING.

Waikato Times, Volume 112, Issue 18778, 28 October 1932, Page 3

WORKED BY SPRING.

WASHINGTON’S TEETH. Washington’s false teeth, the American Dental Association was. told by Dr Walter J. Pryor, of Cleveland, Ohio, were hinged between the upper and lower plates by a strong spring which occasionally opened wide and left the President with his mouth agape and unable to close it. When he crossed the Delaware he held carefully damped In his mouth a set of teeth made by Paul Revere. He had to be careful or they dropped out. These teeth were so unsatisfactory that a Dr. Greenwood, of New York City made him a set carved out of hippopotamus teeth. They were set in a wrought gold base and were so uncomfortable that the President complained .to the maker. He was advised to soak them each night In .port wine, says the New York Times. Dr. Pryor said the outthrust jaw of Washington in some of his portraits could be attributed to the cumbersome false teeth. The father of his country practised dentistry on his slaves, and, Dr Pryor said, was especially adept at extraction. A decrease in the number of deaths from cancer of the mouth in recent years was reported to the association by Dr. Joseph Colt Bloodgood, of Baltimore, a noted cancer authority. Dr. Bloodgood said he was convinced that although cancer of the mouth had Increased since the general use of tobacco, this form of the disease is now on the decline because people are learning to keep their teeth clean and stop smoking when they believe they are endangering their health.