Teeth and dentures

The museum has a wide range of dentures alongside a small collection of natural dentition.

In the past, as today, teeth have been valued by some for their aesthetic qualities as well as their functionality. Find out about:

	Mayan tooth One of the oldest items in our collection this beautifully adorned Mayan tooth shows their civilization had considerable dental skills.
	Waterloo teeth The BDA Museum has several sets of 'Waterloo' teeth in its collection - some of these are teeth taken from dead soldiers after the Battle of Waterloo, which were made into dentures.
	Ivory dentures Ivory – elephant, walrus or preferably hippo – was traditionally used to make dentures.
	Vulcanite dentures With the discovery of the vulcanisation process during the 1840s, rubber became a viable material for the production of dentures.

For more examples of dental pathology please visit the website of the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons of England.