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Pulling Teeth

Writer's picture: Stuart Grant Stuart Grant
Image of sign for Ashes Quick Vulcanising denture rub
Image of old charicature cartoon

Eventually ivory was replaced with vulcanite as the denture base of choice, allowing for hinged articulation between jaws. Porcelain teeth were mounted in wax, shaped to represent the required denture. These were then embedded in Plaster of Paris inside a gunmetal flask to form a mould, with hot water used to wash away the wax, leaving the porcelain teeth, and the resulting cavity packed with softened pieces of rubber. The flask was then heated at 170ºC in a vulcaniser. After the process is done the denture was trimmed, polished and fitted. Of course getting fitted for dentures was quite an advanced procedure. Most of the time dentistry used to consist of some bloke (often a blacksmith or a barber) yanking your painful infected tooth out with a pair of pliers. Apparently the museum has a collection of around 30,000 items including dental related paintings. It's a shame it doesn't dedicate more space to displaying it.  

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