George Washington's Teeth: They Weren't Wood
Premieres Wed 18 Nov · 12:00 ET
George Washington's Teeth: They Weren't WoodJoin the list below and we'll send it the day it's out.
On the day he became the first president of the United States, George Washington had one tooth left. Everything else in his mouth was hippopotamus ivory, wire, springs — and teeth that once belonged to someone else. Not one piece of it was wood. Where did those teeth come from, why do his portraits look the way they do, and why does everyone still remember wood?
Every Then vs Now episode ends with what a surgeon would do today.
Chapters
- 0:00One tooth left
- 0:36A life of toothache
- 1:05A dentist who bought teeth
- 1:35What the dentures were really made of
- 2:07You can see it in his portraits
- 2:39Quick pause: challenge a friend
- 3:08The uncomfortable part
- 3:55Why everyone remembers wood
- 4:21The last tooth
- 4:44Then vs Now: dentures and implants today
- 5:20Before you go
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Sources
Facts were checked against multiple sources. Key references (full list in the pinned comment on YouTube):
- Mount Vernon — A history of Washington's dental troubles
- Mount Vernon — False Teeth (Digital Encyclopedia)
- Mount Vernon — Washington and teeth from enslaved people
- National Archives, Founders Online — letter to John Baker
- National Archives, Founders Online — Le Mayeur's newspaper advertisements
- Popular Science — George Washington's dentures
- Fraunces Tavern Museum — false teeth
- Colonial Williamsburg — The wooden teeth
- Journal of the American Revolution (2014)
- Live Science
- STAT (2017), New York Academy of Medicine collection
- Mount Vernon — Washington's Second Inaugural Address
- Park et al. 2025, Heliyon (digital dentures)
- Alotaibi 2025, Healthcare (digital dentures)
- Pandey et al. 2022, BioMed Research International (dental implants)
- Per-Ingvar Brånemark & osseointegration (Cureus 2024)
Some visuals are illustrations or reconstructions. For education only — not medical or legal advice.