George Washington's teeth

George Washington, the first president of the United States, lost all but one of his teeth by the time he was inaugurated, and had at least four sets of dentures he used throughout his life.

During the American Revolutionary War, French dentist Jean Pierre Le Moyer provided services in tooth transplantation.

In May of 1784, Washington paid several unnamed slaves 122 shillings (£6.10, equivalent to $184 in 2023) for a total of nine teeth to be implanted by a French doctor, who became a frequent guest on the plantation over the next few years.

While it is unconfirmed that these purchased teeth were for Washington himself, his payment for them suggests that they were in fact for his use, as does a comment from a letter to his wartime clerk Richard Varick: "I confess I have been staggered in my belief in the efficacy of transplantion," he wrote.

[12] He took the oath of office while wearing a special set of dentures made from ivory, brass and gold built for him by dentist John Greenwood.

A letter from Greenwood to Washington in 1798 advised more thorough cleaning; "the set you sent me from Philadelphia ... was very black ... port wine being sour takes off all the polish".

[7] Stuart admired the sculpture of Washington by French artist Jean-Antoine Houdon, probably because it was based on a life mask and therefore extremely accurate.

Stuart explained, "When I painted him, he had just had a set of false teeth inserted, which accounts for the constrained expression so noticeable about the mouth and lower part of the face.