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Elizabethan England’s Rotten Sweet Tooth

Live Life Smiling

early-modern-teeth
  • Holmes and Palmer Orthodontics
  • August 3, 2022

 

IN ONE OF HIS sonnets, Shakespeare described the reeking breath of his lady love, and the subject came up again in two of his plays. He sets a creepy mood with the “black contagious breath” of the night in “King John” and includes the line “his breath stinks with eating toasted cheese” in “Henry IV Part II.” Unfortunately, smelly breath was a common problem for that time period, and so were bad teeth.

The Class Divide of Early Modern Dental Health

Most people in Early Modern England were missing one or two teeth and they had to deal with a lot of cavities, but the problem was actually worse for the wealthy and especially the queen. Sugar was the hot new fad among the aristocracy in Elizabeth I’s day, but it was only available as an expensive import. In fact, sugar was so expensive that it was almost its own currency, and only the wealthy could afford it as an ingredient in their food.

Tooth-Rotting Luxury

Unfortunately for all those lords and ladies, they didn’t realize the dental health implications of luxurious sugar consumption. It wasn’t long until black teeth became a symbol of wealth, which gave rise to the perplexing fashion among the lower classes of artificially blackening their teeth to appear richer.

The Royal Teeth

Few felt the effects of sugar as much as Queen Elizabeth herself. The people around her knew better than to gossip about her appearance, but late in her life, one French ambassador is recorded to have said that her teeth were “very yellow and unequal,” and a German traveler went even further, describing “her teeth black (a fault the English seem to suffer from because of their great use of sugar).”

Despite her dental troubles, Elizabeth was terrified of dental treatment (or what passed for it back then). Before she was willing to undergo a tooth extraction, a bishop had to allow one of his own teeth to be pulled to prove it would be worth it. (To be fair, they didn’t have anesthesia available, so the prospect would have been much less pleasant than getting modern dental work.)

Dental Hygiene in the Elizabethan Era

What did the English do to try to keep their teeth healthy in that time period? They would use quills or wood for toothpicks and wash off plaque with a cloth. (We definitely prefer our modern toothbrushes.) If a tooth became too painful to tolerate, they could go to a surgeon to have it removed. If a surgeon was too expensive, a “tooth-drawer” or even a blacksmith could do it more cheaply.

However, some wealthy people were making matters worse for themselves by brushing their teeth with sugar paste:

For Our Teeth’s Sake, We’re Happy to Live in Modern Times

As fascinating as it is to look back on the history of dental health, it’s such a relief to live in a time when we get to enjoy the benefits of so much dental knowledge that we had to divide it into twelve different specialties, from endodontists to orthodontists to pediatric dentists and more. Make sure you’re scheduling regular appointments and keeping up with your dental hygiene habits!

Take advantage of the benefits of modern dentistry!

Top image used under CC0 Public Domain license. Image cropped and modified from original.
The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.

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Sara L.
Homes and Palmer have taken care of all four of my children and giving them beautiful straight teeth!! I appreciate the time, effort and love they put into their patients! We are grateful to them and their dedication to being fabulous orthodontists!
Sara L.
Homes and Palmer have taken care of all four of my children and giving them beautiful straight teeth!! I appreciate the time, effort and love they put into their patients! We are grateful to them and their dedication to being fabulous orthodontists!
Sara L.
Homes and Palmer have taken care of all four of my children and giving them beautiful straight teeth!! I appreciate the time, effort and love they put into their patients! We are grateful to them and their dedication to being fabulous orthodontists!
Sara L.
Homes and Palmer have taken care of all four of my children and giving them beautiful straight teeth!! I appreciate the time, effort and love they put into their patients! We are grateful to them and their dedication to being fabulous orthodontists!
Sara L.
Homes and Palmer have taken care of all four of my children and giving them beautiful straight teeth!! I appreciate the time, effort and love they put into their patients! We are grateful to them and their dedication to being fabulous orthodontists!
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My son has been a patient for over 2 years and has had nothing but excellent care and communication. We are excited to start the braces journey this month.
Meghan D.
My son has been a patient for over 2 years and has had nothing but excellent care and communication. We are excited to start the braces journey this month.
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Everyone was very friendly, answered all questions, and very efficient! Gave us all the information we needed for this experience.
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We are thrilled with the service at Holmes & Palmer Orthodontics! My son got his braces on a few months ago, and the entire process was seamless. The initial consult was extremely informative. The process of getting them on was efficient; they made sure he was comfortable and knew what was happening with each step. 10/10 - highly recommend
Sara W.
We are thrilled with the service at Holmes & Palmer Orthodontics! My son got his braces on a few months ago, and the entire process was seamless. The initial consult was extremely informative. The process of getting them on was efficient; they made sure he was comfortable and knew what was happening with each step. 10/10 - highly recommend
Gail B.
The entire staff is stellar. I had been told previously that my bottom teeth could not be corrected, but Dr. Palmer took a second look and is going to try. Makes me very happy.
Gail B.
The entire staff is stellar. I had been told previously that my bottom teeth could not be corrected, but Dr. Palmer took a second look and is going to try. Makes me very happy.
Kimberly N.
We moved to WV FROM NC and were worried about finding a orthodontist to pick up where we left off, and Dr.Palmer and Dr.Homes made us feel so welcome and comfortable.
We are thankful!
Kimberly N.
We moved to WV FROM NC and were worried about finding a orthodontist to pick up where we left off, and Dr.Palmer and Dr.Homes made us feel so welcome and comfortable.
We are thankful!
Jennifer P.
They are the best. So friendly and nice. My daughter never dreads her visits. They also make it very fun with a brace bucks program. Highly recommend!
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