This topic is stopping me moving forward with curriculum design. A toss-away comment in an article I was reviewing for appropriateness to assign to students led me down a rabbit-hole.
The above publication has a very useful list of known examples with notes on provenance.
If I come across more images I’m sure I’ll come back and add them to this post, as is my habit.
Most are separated from the remains of the humans who presumably used them, but some do have fairly precise findspots that could help in reconstruction:
The following piece suggests that the metal of at least one specimen is not true gold but a man-made electrum:
Becker, Marshall Joseph. “Etruscan gold dental appliances.” Molecular and Structural Archaeology: Cosmetic and Therapeutic Chemicals (2003): 11-27.
What I want to know but need to stop investigating (so I can focus on my actual job) is if we’ve done DNA testing on any of the teeth in any of the surviving bridges (or even radio carbon dating!). The other thing I find exceptionally puzzling is that I can’t see any studies on the DNA of George Washington’s dentures, teeth we know came from enslaved labor.
Such DNA analyses would provide very valuable insights into the intersection of disability, medicine, and enslavement, both ancient and early modern… This cannot be an original question, I’m posing. Hence my deep frustration at not finding an answer.
Van Horn, Jennifer. “George Washington’s Dentures: Disability, Deception, and the Republican Body.” Early American Studies (2016): 2-47.
Fleming, Eleanor, and Patricia Neville. “Critical retelling of dental ethics told through ‘George Washington’s Complete Denture’.” Medical Humanities 51, no. 3 (2025): 376-385.
Ok. I’m going back to my curriculum design. Maybe social media will come through with some satisfaction for my curiosity.
Liv Mariah Yarrow 