Dr. Ralph and Mrs. Olga Crawford Canadian Dental Collection
Category
Dental
Dentures
Human Remains
Teeth
Classification
Dental
Dental Prosthesis
Human Remains
Teeth
Denture, Partial
Accession Number
010020079
Description
Upper denture; twelve white human teeth affixed to curved ivory gum, painted pink on inside, remnants of pink paint on outside; anterior teeth believed to be human, posterior teeth believed to be ivory
Upper denture; twelve white human teeth affixed to curved ivory gum, painted pink on inside, remnants of pink paint on outside; anterior teeth believed to be human, posterior teeth believed to be ivory
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 donor's remarks
Material
ivory: white, grey
paint: pink
Permanent Location
0010-B
Temporary Location
On display “Toothless: A History of Dentures” at the Museum of Healthcare; 27 Oct 2015
Dimension Notes
Length 5.5 cm x Width 3.7 cm x Depth 1.1 cm
Condition Remarks
Paint is faded on front of gums; molars are darkened; eight of the teeth have darkened cracked line across front
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Internet
Reference Comments
"British Dental Association Museum" website
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