For the Love of Money

A thief in Greenville, Ohio, pulled four upper teeth from a businessman using ordinary pliers to entice him into divulging the location of his hidden money!

 

Source: The Argus, Thursday 18 November 1948

Gold Surrender

During the Second Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese were required by the authorities to register their fillings. Those with gold filled teeth could then be called upon to “contribute” them to the national fund for prosecution of the war in China.

Source: Barrier Miner, Thursday 23 March 1939

Shattered

Mourning can be expressed in various ways.

For the grieving on the Sandwich Islands (today’s Hawaiian Islands), particularly when a Chief died, it was customary to knock out their front teeth…

Source: Bendigo Advertiser, Saturday 19 December 1903

 

Young Hercules

 In the West End Club of LONDON, a young Greek by the name of Savvas Papageorgiou, demonstrated his strength by bending an Iron bar three eighths of an inch thick, with his teeth…

 

Source: Townsville Daily Bulletin, Monday 13 July 1931

 

Letting Go is Hard to Do

In his will, a dentist who died in rural England requested to be buried with his collection of extracted teeth. 30,000 teeth were placed in his coffin…

Source: The Queenslander, Saturday 27 October 1894

 

 

Spotless

She is a buxom woman in her late 60’s from the Eastern Bloc. She communicates adequately in English, although with a strong accent. The lady sits in the dental chair and informs the dentist of her chief complaint. The medical history reveals nothing untoward, other than her having well controlled hypertension. The dentist carries out an examination and notices that she still has most of her teeth, and that they are in impeccable condition. This is a surprising finding, considering both the patient’s age and background. The dentist, intrigued, decides to turn detective and enquire as to how she manages to maintain such a beautiful smile. The patient appears pleased and is all too eager to pass on that she simply keeps a healthy diet.

“And I’m sure, a strict teeth cleaning regimen. So, what type of toothbrush do you use?” the dentist asks, “Hard or soft?”

She looks surprised and replies in her thick accent; “Toothbrush? Oh, no, I do not use toothbrush.”

“What do you mean?”

“I never use toothbrush.”

“So what do you use instead?”

“Steel wool.”

The dental assistant, who is standing beside the patient, immediately breaks into a broad grin, her eyes dancing with mischief.

This information proves difficult  to fully process.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?”

“I always use steel wool to clean teeth.”

The dentist stares at her dumbstruck; speechless. He suddenly visualises this woman simultaneously scrubbing her pots and ivories. Hmmm….that’s efficiency for you, I suppose. He tries to think back to all he has learnt during those undergraduate years, to deal with this unorthodox disclosure, but his mind is a gaping, black hole. He is ill equipped to make any reasonable reply without digging a hole for himself. He is also certain, that nothing he preaches will compel her to try a more appropriate tool.  He does the only reasonable thing, and that is change the topic.

 

Getting his Teeth into it

The actor Nicolas Cage had teeth removed to play the role of a Vietnam Veteran in the 1984 movie “Birdy”…

The Luck of the Irish

The Irish believe, that if you should by chance find the back teeth of a horse, then money will come your way…

Snake Medicine

According to the Goulburn Evening Penny Post (Wed 26 Oct) in 1932, the Cherokee Indians cured themselves of toothache by rubbing a snake held horizontally from head to tail, seven times back and forth across their teeth. They then had to abstain from eating anything salty for four days…

making claims…

Bizarre dental insurance claims:

• hitting and breaking a tooth with a phone mouthpiece while blowing a kiss to fiancé on the other end
• breaking two teeth with swinging arms while dancing
• Swallowing a bridge due to shock after seeing dog get run over by a car
• Severely burning tongue after lighting a cigarette and accidentally throwing it away, while placing the lit match in mouth instead

 

Source: The Cumberland Argus and Fruitgrowers Advocate Monday 19 January 1931