Did Laura Ingalls Wilder ever brush her teeth? Did “Sarah, Plain and Tall” get dentures soon after meeting Jacob Witting? What about poor Caleb? What if he fractured a front tooth on a barn door left open during a blizzard? I don’t know about you, but as a dentist, I ponder these things.
While these questions are just a little silly, it is interesting to look at how people cared for their teeth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Pictured here are some old toothbrushes.
I think its safe to say that most Pas in a more modern period would use these to scrub the charcoal grill, not to scrub teeth:
What about toothpaste? How about some honey and lemon (pictured below)? I bet this toothpaste really helped the barber dentist keep his regular patients. In my book, honey and lemon do more to dissolve teeth than preserve teeth. Oh well, I am sure that little Laura was thrilled every time she was asked to brush with this sour sugar mix.
Well, this has been a great study into the oral habits of the homesteaders. I have probably worn out my regular blog readers with lame jokes about such classic American literature.
Let me end on a good note. More than likely those Americans who settled on homesteads did not deal with the gross oral decay and toothaches as many do today.
Why, you might ask? A simple answer: their diet. Caleb and the bunch did not have Monster in the icebox and M&Ms under their pillows. Most of their food was low in sugar and combined with healthy vegetables.
Maybe a simple diet right off the farm was good thing. Otherwise, these classic works by Mrs. Laura Wilder and Mrs. MacLachlan would be ruined by frequent references to toothaches and prosthesis adjustments.