"Shockingly Realistic Sculpture Portrays Abraham Lincoln"

[BettyO]

Most folk's teeth were very bad. Yes, there was tooth powder, but I wonder how many folk took advantage of it? Ground charcoal was also used for tooth powder as well.

One could also purchase tooth powders at the local apothecary shop. It usually came in a porcelain tub or pot - the tops of which are now called "pot lids" and are very collectable. I have a couple which I've purchased at antique shows. They are very collectable in England. One could also acquire in addition to tooth powders or tooth paste (which incidentally was called a dentifrice creme and invented in the 1850s) at the shops as well as shaving creme, pomade, etc.




Porcelain Tooth Paste Pot




Porcelain Tooth Paste Tub


I have read that Mrs. Surratt's teeth were also bad. We know that Lew Powell had dental problems. Most folk did - young and old. Nowadays it's difficult to find a 20 year old kid with really bad teeth. I, too had heard that a lot of barbers were outright dentists as well. But then the famous (or infamous) Doc Holliday, a Georgian, was a certified dentist - graduating from the Pennsylvania Dental College in 1872. An interesting side note to Holliday is that GWTW's author, Margaret Mitchell, was related to Holliday and was his cousin by marriage.