Lower denture made of pink porcelain with white porcelain teeth mounted on a gold base; complete set of teeth minus third molars
Number Of Parts
1
Provenance
Transfer from the Dental Canada Fund; previously housed in the Dentistry Canada Museum (Ottawa)
Dates
1860
1870
circa 1860-1870
Date Remarks
Date based on similar artefacts and research
Material
metal: yellow
porcelain: white, pink
Permanent Location
Storage Room 0010
0010-B
Dimension Notes
Length 6.5 cm x Width 5.0 cm x Depth 2.0 cm
Condition Remarks
Shows signs of use; gold is discoloured
Copy Type
Original
Reference Types
Internet
Other
Reference Comments
"Medical Discoveries - False Teeth" website; similar to 010.020.496
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; porcelain teeth first appeared in 1774 in France when dentist Dubois de Chemat began to make them; de Chemant patented his improved version in 1789 and took them with him when he emigrated to England; Claudius Ash of London, England invented an improved porcelain tooth around 1837; the French dentist A.A. Planteau first brought porcelain dentures to the United States in 1817, and Charles Peale began making porcelain teeth in Philadelphia in 1822; a down side to porcelain teeth was their bright whiteness