George Washington's Teeth
by Deborah Chandra, Madeleine Comora

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Book Reviews of George Washington's Teeth

Book Review: Everything young kids will want to know about George's teeth
Summary: 5 Stars

Told in four line verse, "George Washington's Teeth" relates an imaginative set of encounters between General Washington and his dentist as the number of teeth in the mouth of the Father of Our Country decreases one by one over the years leading to Independence and the Presidency. Well, that is not entirely true since the authors have Washington losing two teeth the night be crossed the Delaware, but that left him with seven at that point in American history, which is a lucky number that fits the victory at Trenton. Eventually Washington is elected President, which is good, but has no teeth left, which is bad (especially when having your portrait painted). Fortunately, he comes up with a solution.

The first part of "George Washington's Teeth" is pretty whimsical, but then the last part of the book contains a time line of important events in George Washington's life from his own letters, diaries, and accounts. However, instead of dealing primarily with the highpoints of Washington's personal and political life, we learn about what historians have uncovered about his teeth: from having already lost two teeth by the time he was twenty two and the rest were all black and rotted, to eating pickled tripe because it does not hurt his teeth, and a letter requesting plaster of Paris to make some false teeth. These are the sort of bizarre historical details that can trick young readers into thinking history is fun.

There are even photographs of Washington's last sent of dentures. For the record, they were not wooden, but carved from hippopotamus ivory, the palate swaged from a sheet of gold, and springs made of coiled gold wire. Hopefully there are some other small nuggets of historical gold that Chandra and Comora, or like minded individuals, can turn to for books in the same spirit as this one.

Washington, George Books

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