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Why Human Teeth Were Valued For Dentures
- Dental care in the 18th–19th centuries was primitive and often replaced by carved ivory or human teeth due to rampant decay and rising sugar consumption.
- High-cost dentures with real human teeth became a luxury for the wealthy because enamel made them more durable and realistic.
Battlefields Became Tooth Markets
- Resurrection men and grave robbers supplied bodies and teeth to surgeons and dentists in the Georgian era.
- At Waterloo, scavengers reportedly pulled teeth from battlefield corpses to sell to dental dealers.
Teeth Became A Traded Commodity
- The term “Waterloo teeth” likely emerged later; contemporaries may not have known origins of supplied teeth.
- Dental depots sold catalogued natural teeth by type and set, treating human teeth as inventory.