Blood & Guts: A History of Surgery by Hollingham Richard & Mosley Michael

Author:Hollingham, Richard & Mosley, Michael [Hollingham, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781407024530
Publisher: Ebury Publishing
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

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James Spence was always very discreet. No one, he assured the young lady, need ever know that she had visited him. Of course, nowadays he rarely conducted these procedures himself. He left most of the day-to-day work to his sons. However, for this fine lady he would make an exception. She was fearful of going to see anyone else (there were so many charlatans about these days). Spence had already established the finest reputation in London for pulling teeth, and was proud to call himself a dentist, even though 'dentistry' was only just starting to establish itself as a respectable profession. There was no one better to go to for a tooth transplant.

Spence preferred to use living donors for his tooth transplants. They were easy to come by and it avoided the repulsion many people felt at the idea of eating food with teeth from the dead. Mind you, teeth taken from cadavers were a lot cheaper, and many dentists did a roaring trade in teeth extracted from the mouths of soldiers killed on the battlefield.

Nevertheless, today Spence needed teeth from the mouths of young women. Earlier that morning he had dispatched a servant to locate suitable donors in the neighbourhood – women who would be willing to give up their front teeth. They would be handsomely rewarded (well, it would be handsome to them; the expense would make only a small dent in Spence's substantial profit margin). By mid-morning, several young women were queueing in the alley behind Spence's offices. He planned to take a few teeth, maybe a couple from each woman, to see which ones produced the best fit.

His patient arrived accompanied by a friend for support. Spence ushered the women into his consulting room. The patient sat down on one of the plush, high-backed leather chairs. At first glance she was something of a beauty and would, he thought, have no shortage of suitors. But when he took a look at her mouth he realized it was little wonder she had come to him for help. Her teeth were in a terrible state. Her mouth stank of decay, with black rotten stumps emerging from raw, inflamed gums. She was worried about the pain she was going to experience. Spence reassured her that she would hardly feel anything; he stopped himself from telling her that most of the pain would be experienced by the donors.

Rotten teeth were the price the wealthy of Georgian England paid for their lifestyle. These days everything seemed to have sugar in it – from tea at breakfast to the sweets many sucked before bedtime. All this sugar was ruining the nation's smiles. If this lady ever hoped to find a husband, something would have to be done. She could have had some false teeth made – carved for her from ivory – but these rarely fitted well. No, thought Spence, in coming to him she had made the best decision.

Across Europe tooth transplants had been carried out for many years.

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