Washington’s Last Tooth
Dental issues with George Washington have been fairly well documented. He first experienced toothaches and decay in his 20s, and as he aged, the problems only grew worse, giving him constant anguish and necessitating the use of many dentures. Contrary to popular belief, none of them were made of wood. In reality, Dr. John Baker constructed Washington's first set of dentures out of ivory before the Revolutionary War.
After that, Washington used the services of a French dentist by the name of Jean-Pierre Le Mayeur; nevertheless, John Greenwood eventually took over as the Founding Father's personal dentist.
When Washington was elected president, he only had one last natural tooth, and Greenwood did everything in his power to preserve it by including a space for it in every set of dentures he created for the president. In addition to Greenwood's conviction that a tooth should never be extracted while it can still be kept, this was also for practical reasons because the genuine tooth served as the anchor for the dentures.
But finally, it was inevitable, and Washington also lost his final tooth, which he gave to John Greenwood as a thank-you gift. The particular locket that Greenwood always wore and kept the tooth in is currently in the collection of the New York Academy of Medicine.
