Were these Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s false teeth? We don’t know for sure, as there is no identifying information is on the accompanying box and no description of this item was found by the National Park Service when they were found in the house.
We do know that Henry was not a particular fan of visiting the dentist. In one journal entry dated October 16, 1838, he wrote “Must go to town for a dentist. Never in my life suffered such pain as last night. The dentist tugged away merrily at my tooth for five minutes. At length it came out. He says he never knew one come out so hard.” Henry also appears to have had some dental trouble a bit later in life, as he recorded visiting his dentist, a Dr. Bemis, in 1852, 1853, and 1854. Of one of his visits he wrote that Bemis “worked away at my teeth and filled his purse with my gold while filling my teeth with his.”
Bemis was likely Dr. Samuel Americanus Bemis, who worked as a dentist in Boston into the 1860s and at one time produced an improved design for false teeth. He was also one of the earliest American photographers, having bought a camera in April 1840 and taking photographs of Boston and the White Mountains in New Hampshire, making him probably the first American landscape photographer.
This dental plate consists of a gold base, with two false teeth made of ivory, though during the 1800s many false teeth were actually real teeth obtained from the deceased. Spaces are cut out to accommodate the wearer’s remaining upper teeth, which in this case appear to have been few. They were perhaps for appearances only and might have been removed when the owner was eating. This set comes with its own leather-covered custom case with a purple satin and velvet interior lining. Other more complex sets of dentures were produced during the nineteenth century, including some that incorporated springs to keep the teeth in place while the wearer spoke or ate.
(National Dentist’s Day is March 6!)