For most of his adult life, George Washington was plagued with bad teeth. By age 56, when he was inaugurated President of the United States, he possessed only one remaining tooth--a lower left bicuspid.
When Washington sat for his presidential portrait in 1796, artist Gilbert Stuart packed cotton under Washington's lips and cheeks to plump out his sunken features. Stuart's unfinished portrait was later engraved on the United States one-dollar bill.
"Washington's diaries contain numerous references to bouts of toothache," writes dental historian Dr. Malvin E. Ring, author of Dentistry: An Illustrated History. The general's well-known hair trigger temper may have been the result of a constant battle with pain."
Dr. Ring believes that a noticeable scar seen on Washington's cheek in an early portrait by Charles Willson Peale can be attributed to an abscessed tooth.
During his early adult years as a surveyor and soldier, Washington had teeth extracted by local blacksmiths and barbers. Records show that Washington's physician, James Craik, extracted at least one tooth.
General Washington's 1775 expense account came under scrutiny of columnist Jack Anderson in February, 1992. Anderson found that colonial taxpayers funded a large portion of Washington's barber bills.
"One or two barbers did well on his account," reported Mr. Anderson. "He listed nearly $500 (or $25,000 in today's money) for barbers in the first year of the war. Today, a barbering bill of roughly $2,000 a month would demand a close look at the general's coiffure. But barbers often doubled as dentists, and Washington' notoriously bad teeth needed more attention than his hair."
Professional dentists arrived in the colonies in 1766. Calling themselves "surgeon-dentists," these European immigrants opened practices in American cities. Washington received treatment from at least eight of these men from the time he was 34 years old.
The first of these professionals to treat Washington was John Baker. Hailing from county Cork, Ireland, Baker claimed he "displaced teeth and stumps after the easiest manner, be they ever so deep in the socket of the gums." He practiced in Boston, New York, Williamsburg, and Annapolis. During his time in Boston, Baker trained a young dentist named Paul Revere.
In 1783, a letter written by George Washington gives indication that Baker must have made artificial teeth. Commanding the Continental Army at Newburgh, New York, Washington wrote, "I shall be obliged to you for some of the plaster of Paris, or that white powder with which you take (in wax) the model of the mouth for your false teeth--and directions howe to mix and make use of it--when you have done this, I can then give you back a model as will enable you to furnish me with what I want."
Washington was well-traveled, and he sought dental services throughout the colonies. He was treated in the mid 1780's by Frenchmen Jacques Gardette in Philadelphia and Jean Pierre LeMayeur in Richmond, New York, and Philadelphia.
In 1789, Washington found John Greenwood, who soon became Washington's favorite dentist. Greenwood was the son of Isaac Greenwood, a Boston ivory-turner and part-time dentist. John was one of four Greenwood sons to practice dentistry. John Greenwood opened his office in New York in 1786. He had no formal education, but he had learned from his father how to carve ivory dentures.
Greenwood made four sets of dentures for George Washington. In 1789, he prepared a lower denture from hippopotamus bone. It was inlaid with eight human teeth. A hole carved into the denture accommodated Washington's remaining lower bicuspid.
Washington's last set of dentures, constructed by Greenwood in 1798, was a benchmark of colonial dentistry. The upper denture contained ivory teeth riveted to a palate swaged from a sheet of gold. This gold plate was heralded as the first of its kind in America. The bottom denture, a single-carved block of elephant ivory, was attached to the upper by steel springs. By this time, Washington had lost that remaining lower tooth.
Later that year, Washington complained to Greenwood that his new dentures were discolored. Greenwood replied explaining that the stains were "occasioned either by your soaking them in port-wine, or drinking it. Port, being sour, takes off all the polish---I advise you to either take them out after drinks and put them in clear water and put in another set, or to clean them with a brush and some chalk fine scraped."
Contrary to popular belief, Washington never had wooden dentures.