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Craig Hipkins · 01-11-2013, 09:01 PM

Bringing back the subject of Powell's dental hygiene, didn't he have a a piece of his front tooth missing. I can remember reading somewhere (maybe Betty's book,or an article in the Surratt Courier) that a witness at the conspiracy trial testified that Powell was missing teeth or had a gap between his front teeth. Am I delusional?

Craig

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 01-11-2013 11:24 PM by BettyO.)

Quote:Bringing back the subject of Powell's dental hygiene, didn't he have a a piece of his front tooth missing. I can remember reading somewhere (maybe Betty's book,or an article in the Surratt Courier) that a witness at the conspiracy trial testified that Powell was missing teeth or had a gap between his front teeth.

Unfortunately, we don't know much about Powell's upper front teeth. They were missing from his skull when found, and they certainly don't show up in his photos. The only reference to Powell's teeth during his lifetime was from Seaton Munroe who stated, when it was claimed that Powell was actually Fitzhugh Lee, that "Lee's eyes were blue and his hair dark, like this one, but his teeth were good. This one (Powell) has blue eyes and dark hair, but his teeth are very bad." And this is all we know of Powell's dental hygiene except for the fact that he carried a toothbrush and used it (according to Atzerodt) perhaps a bit too late. The chewing tobacco which he loved was not kind to his teeth and gums, causing Pyorrhea Gingivitis.

RJNorton · 01-12-2013, 06:08 AM

Here's a photo of author Mike Kauffman holding Lewis Powell's skull.

BettyO · 01-12-2013, 08:32 AM

Here is a close up of Lew's teeth:

MaddieM · 01-13-2013, 12:37 PM

You can see that his two front teeth must have leaned over to the left, possibly overlapping. Maybe that was caused by his jaw being smashed on that side by the mule at 12, at time when his bones were still growing. It would be good to have some real dental expert on this forum to give us their verdict. I do love a good bit of bone detective work.

BettyO · 01-13-2013, 01:11 PM

Perhaps one of our physician friends/members would like to chime in on this?!

I'd LOVE to see some clarification as well!

Joe Di Cola · 01-13-2013, 02:15 PM

(01-12-2013 06:08 AM)RJNorton Wrote: Here's a photo of author Mike Kauffman holding Lewis Powell's skull.

Alas! Poor Yorick!...

Houmes · 01-13-2013, 06:24 PM

(01-13-2013 01:11 PM)BettyO Wrote: Perhaps one of our physician friends/members would like to chime in on this?!

I'd LOVE to see some clarification as well!

I'm not a dentist, but I have seen injuries like this on both living and dead patients. First, this is speculation as the photo of Mr. Powell's skull is not ideal because it's not a true anterior-posterior image. You really need to look face to face with the skull, and this one is angled slightly to the viewer's left in the image. Second, the mandible (jaw) is angled 20 degrees upward on the viewer's left side, consistent with previous fracture healing. This could explain the difference in incisor teeth not alligning with the lower mandibular teeth. Finally, there is a fracture line angled up through both eye sockets (orbits) and across the nasal bridge, which is consistent with a Le Fort II fracture. this could be from trauma while alive (i.e., falling from a horse or having a rough interrogation) or the skull was dropped years later. The Le Fort classification was determined by a French surgeon (Dr Rene Le Fort) after finding three classical injuries (Class I, II, III) when you crush a cadaver skull with a significant blow to the face or almost directly to the back of the head. The victim can end up with black eyes, often have numbness in one or both cheeks, and on exam have a "mobile face." You test for it by having them open their mouth, placing your hand in their mouth and grabbing their upper gums, and holding their head still while you pull and push. You can actually feel and see the middle of their face move in and out. Lincoln's gunshot wound produced a Class II or III Le Fort fracture.

BettyO · 01-13-2013, 07:57 PM

Thanks, Blaine!

Your expertise is more than welcome always! I had wondered about those cracks in Lew's face when I saw him and the anthropologist had muttered something about "repeated sinus infections" causing those horrid cracks across his facial bones.

MaddieM · (This post was last modified: 01-13-2013 08:49 PM by MaddieM.)

(01-13-2013 06:24 PM)Houmes Wrote:
(01-13-2013 01:11 PM)BettyO Wrote: Perhaps one of our physician friends/members would like to chime in on this?!

I'd LOVE to see some clarification as well!

I'm not a dentist, but I have seen injuries like this on both living and dead patients. First, this is speculation as the photo of Mr. Powell's skull is not ideal because it's not a true anterior-posterior image. You really need to look face to face with the skull, and this one is angled slightly to the viewer's left in the image. Second, the mandible (jaw) is angled 20 degrees upward on the viewer's left side, consistent with previous fracture healing. This could explain the difference in incisor teeth not alligning with the lower mandibular teeth. Finally, there is a fracture line angled up through both eye sockets (orbits) and across the nasal bridge, which is consistent with a Le Fort II fracture. this could be from trauma while alive (i.e., falling from a horse or having a rough interrogation) or the skull was dropped years later. The Le Fort classification was determined by a French surgeon (Dr Rene Le Fort) after finding three classical injuries (Class I, II, III) when you crush a cadaver skull with a significant blow to the face or almost directly to the back of the head. The victim can end up with black eyes, often have numbness in one or both cheeks, and on exam have a "mobile face." You test for it by having them open their mouth, placing your hand in their mouth and grabbing their upper gums, and holding their head still while you pull and push. You can actually feel and see the middle of their face move in and out. Lincoln's gunshot wound produced a Class II or III Le Fort fracture.

that's really interesting. What is that hole he has below the eye socket on the left hand side?

(01-13-2013 06:24 PM)Houmes Wrote:
(01-13-2013 01:11 PM)BettyO Wrote: Perhaps one of our physician friends/members would like to chime in on this?!

I'd LOVE to see some clarification as well!

I'm not a dentist, but I have seen injuries like this on both living and dead patients. First, this is speculation as the photo of Mr. Powell's skull is not ideal because it's not a true anterior-posterior image. You really need to look face to face with the skull, and this one is angled slightly to the viewer's left in the image. Second, the mandible (jaw) is angled 20 degrees upward on the viewer's left side, consistent with previous fracture healing. This could explain the difference in incisor teeth not alligning with the lower mandibular teeth. Finally, there is a fracture line angled up through both eye sockets (orbits) and across the nasal bridge, which is consistent with a Le Fort II fracture. this could be from trauma while alive (i.e., falling from a horse or having a rough interrogation) or the skull was dropped years later. The Le Fort classification was determined by a French surgeon (Dr Rene Le Fort) after finding three classical injuries (Class I, II, III) when you crush a cadaver skull with a significant blow to the face or almost directly to the back of the head. The victim can end up with black eyes, often have numbness in one or both cheeks, and on exam have a "mobile face." You test for it by having them open their mouth, placing your hand in their mouth and grabbing their upper gums, and holding their head still while you pull and push. You can actually feel and see the middle of their face move in and out. Lincoln's gunshot wound produced a Class II or III Le Fort fracture.

Also, it might explain why Powell's nose in his photos, has a distinct lean to the right. Did someone punch him hard in the face? Or was it the fall from the horse? He was an excellent rider by all accounts, so I'm not so sure he would have come a cropper that easily on horseback. He has bruising to the eye and lip areas on certain photos. Perhaps he got a pasting.

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 01-13-2013 08:51 PM by BettyO.)

I was told by the anthropologist years ago when I asked about that (as well as the little hole in the top of his head over his left eye) this was from the sinus infections, which made the bone brittle and could over time cause the bone to break away. The hole in the top of his head was from "coffin rot" - i.e. deterioration

MaddieM · 01-13-2013, 09:13 PM

(01-13-2013 06:24 PM)Houmes Wrote:
(01-13-2013 01:11 PM)BettyO Wrote: Perhaps one of our physician friends/members would like to chime in on this?!

I'd LOVE to see some clarification as well!

I'm not a dentist, but I have seen injuries like this on both living and dead patients. First, this is speculation as the photo of Mr. Powell's skull is not ideal because it's not a true anterior-posterior image. You really need to look face to face with the skull, and this one is angled slightly to the viewer's left in the image. Second, the mandible (jaw) is angled 20 degrees upward on the viewer's left side, consistent with previous fracture healing. This could explain the difference in incisor teeth not alligning with the lower mandibular teeth. Finally, there is a fracture line angled up through both eye sockets (orbits) and across the nasal bridge, which is consistent with a Le Fort II fracture. this could be from trauma while alive (i.e., falling from a horse or having a rough interrogation) or the skull was dropped years later. The Le Fort classification was determined by a French surgeon (Dr Rene Le Fort) after finding three classical injuries (Class I, II, III) when you crush a cadaver skull with a significant blow to the face or almost directly to the back of the head. The victim can end up with black eyes, often have numbness in one or both cheeks, and on exam have a "mobile face." You test for it by having them open their mouth, placing your hand in their mouth and grabbing their upper gums, and holding their head still while you pull and push. You can actually feel and see the middle of their face move in and out. Lincoln's gunshot wound produced a Class II or III Le Fort fracture.

I have a question. Would that fracture not have healed over if it was an old injury? Or is it open because he died before it could heal?

Houmes · 01-13-2013, 09:22 PM

(01-13-2013 08:50 PM)BettyO Wrote: I was told by the anthropologist years ago when I asked about that (as well as the little hole in the top of his head over his left eye) this was from the sinus infections, which made the bone brittle and could over time cause the bone to break away. The hole in the top of his head was from "coffin rot" - i.e. deterioration

The hole at the top of Powell's skull is unlikely to be from a sinus infection, as the frontal sinuses are located below that area, just above each orbit toward the middle of the face. When you get a bad sinus headache, it's from an infection in one or both of these sinuses. If the hole had been caused by a sinus infection (and it would have required a very serious infection, meaning causing a brain infection or death), it would have not allowed him to live long enough to be hanged.

The two small ovoid holes below each eye are the infraorbital foramina (plural of foramen) where a nerve and artery exit to supply that area of the face. On the lower rim of skull's left orbit there is a larger, circular defect, which includes both the foramen and the lower rim of the orbit (eye socket). This is probably due to bone chipped off at some unknown time from the fracture line.

wsanto · (This post was last modified: 01-15-2013 09:04 AM by wsanto.)

(01-12-2013 08:32 AM)BettyO Wrote: Here is a close up of Lew's teeth:

I would be fun if someone could digitally recreate his face from the skull. I believe it is done to some extent by forensics labs when they have unidentified remains. The software for this is out there; we've all seen it used on television documenteries. Of course we have pictures, but a 3-D recreation of his face would be interesting.

With no experience or expertise, It looks to me as though the Lefort fracture to the skull shows no signs of healing of the fracture lines. That leads me to conclude the fractures were postmortem or occurred very late in life. I wonder if the hanging could have provided a mechanism of injury that cause the fractures

BettyO · (This post was last modified: 01-15-2013 09:48 AM by BettyO.)

Thanks wsanto!

We have been wondering about things regarding the fissures on Lew's skull.

So you think this was later in life than that mule kick done when he was 12 years old?

We know he was thrown from his horse face/head first on the night of the assassination. He had a bruised lip, blackened eye and probably a bloodied nose and cuts and abrasions to his chin,nose and hands. He also probably suffered a concussion as he himself more or less stated that he was knocked out.

Could this severe an injury be caused by being thrown like that? There is no other apparent injury to his face in his photos taken a few days later.....

I, too would LOVE to see a 3D modeling of his face....it could be done - I'm looking for software! Would one have to have the actual skull or just a photograph?

Thanks!