Dentures.

This is coolbert:

Place this blog entry in the yuck and disgusting category! Having a military dimension nonetheless.

As extracted from the outstanding Internet web site isegoria.net. I get ideas for blog entries from the most interesting sources.

"18th-Century Dentistry"

DENTURES AS A PRODUCT OF ANTEDILUVIAN EARLY DENTISTRY TECHNOLOGY POOR DESIGNED AND POORLY FITTING. REFERRED TO AS "CONTRAPTIONS . . . CUMBERSOME AND PAINFUL TO WEAR".

A PARTIAL SOLUTION AS DEVISED TO CONSTRUCT DENTURES WITH TEETH AS TAKEN FROM THE BODIES OF THE NEWLY DEPARTED.

TEETH AS TAKEN FROM THE MOUTHS OF THE "NEWLY DEPARTED" BUT WITH RISK!

"Contraptions [dentures of the period] like this were cumbersome and painful to wear. But more so, these teeth were often plucked from the mouths of those who had died from syphilis, thus infecting their new owners when contaminated tissue came into contact with open wounds in the mouth."

SOLUTION TO THE "CONTAMINATED TISSUE" PROBLEM TO EXTRACT THE TEETH OF SOLDIERS AS RECENTLY KILLED ON THE BATTLEFIELD. PERSONS ALSO "NEWLY DEPARTED" BUT IN SUPERIOR HEALTH WITH SUPERIOR TEETH!!

"What practitioners really needed was access to young, healthy teeth. That opportunity presented itself during the battle of Waterloo in 1815, which led to the deaths of 51,000 men. 'Waterloo teeth', as they were known, referred to any teeth stolen from the mouths of dead soldiers in the 19th century, and was a term employed during the Crimean and American civil wars. Body-snatchers followed armies into battle, and returned home with bagfuls of teeth that they sold to dentists and surgeons at inflated prices."

Persons wandering the battlefields stripping the dead of valuables and EVEN THEIR TEETH a common practice until relatively recently. Gold is where you find it I guess.

coolbert.