Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Olga Crawford Canadian Dental Collection
Category
Dental
Animal Remains
Dentures
Classification
Dental
Animal Remains
Dentures
Accession Number
010020078
Description
Single piece of ivory carved into lower denture; curved gum with ten teeth at front; left side has two more molars then a cut-out space; right side has a large round cut-out space, then a more crudely carved molar with a cross pattern on top; anterior teeth believed to be human
Single piece of ivory carved into lower denture; curved gum with ten teeth at front; left side has two more molars then a cut-out space; right side has a large round cut-out space, then a more crudely carved molar with a cross pattern on top; anterior teeth believed to be human
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Transfer from the Dental Canada Fund; previously housed in the Dentistry Canada Museum (Ottawa)
Dates
1800
1850
circa 1800-1850
Date Remarks
Based on donors remarks
Material
ivory: white, grey
Permanent Location
0010-B
Temporary Location
On display “Toothless: A History of Dentures” at the Museum of Healthcare; 27 Oct 2015
Dimension Notes
Length 5.8 cm x Width 5.5 cm x Depth 1.3 cm
Condition Remarks
Ivory is scratched, especially on top of gum; ivory is darkened, especially on underside of gum
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Internet
JPG
Reference Comments
"British Dental Association Museum" website; CD #4
Research Facts
Dr Ralph and Mrs Olga Crawford donated their extensive Canadian dental collection to the DCF to create the museum in 1997; further donations were received while Dr Crawford was Curator Emeritus at the Dental Canada Museum until its closure in 2008; ivory was a good, but expensive, option for dentures in the early 19th century, however they did not always look natural and deteriorated quickly; finding human teeth to be used in dentures was a lucrative business; teeth would be taken from soldiers, dead on the battlefield, and graverobbers would pull the teeth from corpses in cemetaries