George Washington's Dentures: Myths, Materials, and Enslaved Teeth

George Washington's dental history reveals that his dentures were never made of wood, contrary to popular myth. Washington lost his first tooth at age 24, possibly due to cracking walnuts or mercury treatments for smallpox contracted in Barbados in 1751. His surviving full set of dentures—the only one extant—combines ivory, horse teeth, human teeth, and a lead base with brass wire. The human teeth may have come from enslaved people at his Mount Vernon estate; in May 1784, Washington paid 122 shillings to several enslaved individuals for nine teeth, though their names are unrecorded. Dentures in the 18th century represented cutting-edge medical technology, affordable only by the elite. Washington wore them not for eating—dentists advised against consuming food or drink with dentures—but to enable clear speech as a commander-in-chief and president, and to project an illusion of physical perfection, as bodily flaws were then seen as moral failings. The physical distortion caused by his dentures is visible in Gilbert Stuart's portrait, which was used for the engraving on the U.S. dollar bill. Washington's dentures thus embody both the era's medical advances and its brutal social dynamics, where enslaved people were expected to give not just labor but parts of their bodies.