George Washington (1789-1797)
Washington suffered from toothaches greatly in America. He had a tooth pulled almost yearly starting when he was 22 years of age. Imagine the misery he must have endured while leading his continental army. By the time he became the first president of the United States, in 1789, he was practically toothless.
Washington also suffered mental anguish because of the disfiguring effect of his tooth loss and his ill-fitting dentures. He was acutely conscious of his appearance as he struggled to establish a public image for the presidency of a new nation.
In those days, dentures where not cast from impressions but where crafted from ivory, so they where difficult to keep in place. English gentlemen experienced the same difficulties as Washington. It has been said that their dry form of wit originated from the need to avoid laughing out loud and revealing their false teeth.
A legend that Washington wore wooden dentures is apparently untrue. He had dentures made of human teeth, Ivory, and lead, but not wood. His dentist probably obtained teeth from grave robbers. Traders in teeth would also follow armies to pull the teeth from the dead and dying after battle.
King Louis XIV (1638-1715)
When King Louis XIV ruled as king of France, he was tormented by toothaches for much of his life, and in 1685 he had his entire upper left teeth extracted. Some claim that the king's dental infections explain his disastrous decision that year to sign away freedom of worship in France, an act that unleashed a wave of brutal persecution against religious minorities.
Queen Elizabeth 1 (1533-1603)
Although Elizabeth was queen of England, she could not escape toothaches. In December 1578 a toothache tormented the queen day and night. Her physician recommended that the diseased tooth be pulled out, but she refused, possibly in fear of the pain it would cause her. To encourage her, John Aylmer, Bishop of London, had one of his own teeth, perhaps one that has been decayed, extracted before her-a gallant act, since the old man had few to spare.
