Is the story about teeth removal true?

[Alex Edge]

My father had all his teeth removed when he was seventeen years old in 1927.  He never spoke about it to his children and we were never learned the reason; his mother gave me the basic information. My father was the oldest child in the family and some of his siblings certainly had false teeth when I knew them as my uncles and aunts.

Alex Edge

[Rena]

I remember our mother having her teeth out in the late 1940s after she'd had our baby brother.  Our father liked them so much that he had all his teeth out too. Both of them were in their twenties.  Years later I asked why he'd decided to have dentures and learned that he didn't like his own teeth. 

'Photos show that they both had a beautiful set of original teeth and later 'photos show their dentures looked exactly like the set of teeth that had been extracted.

Some years later the government banned dentists from extracting perfectly healthy teeth.

[Ruskie]

Yes. I’ve heard this story too, and yes, as a 21st birthday gift. What a treat. 

I think my grandfather had his out quite young. Dentures were an issue due to discomfort and needing new ones as he aged. A grandmother also had hers out due to gum problems rather than her teeth not being good. I think this must have been the 1950s.

Teeth were a fairly regular topic in my family and getting them all out before they caused pain and expense later in life was always brought up. 

Dental care has certainly changed for the better, though I do wonder about some of the new trends like whitening and veneers where the surface of the teeth is removed before they are applied and which need replacing every ten years or so - and no going back. They’re often so fake looking and so white that they look blue.   

[Spiral]

My maternal aunt had hers removed as a 21st birthday gift and my mother was regarded as very misguided when she refused the same.
My mother was very proud of the fact that she kept most of her teeth until her late 70s and was meticulous about making all her children visit the dentist every 6 months for which I am very grateful.

[DianaCanada]

When my father joined the Canadian army in 1940 he had all his teeth removed.  He was 19.  No cost to him, am sure it was free!
My brother also had most of his pulled in the late 1960’s.  My mother had her top teeth removed when she was around 40.  She grew up in England and told me she had never seen a dentist as a child.
I wish more of our dental care was covered by our health care system. 

[Sonofsuffolk]

 From my mother's notes about her mother (Annie) first meeting the man who was to become my maternal grandfather in 1914:

"This was where she met a 19year-old army private, who, according to the army custom of the time had just had all his teeth out. Awaiting army issue dentures, he can not have been feeling his best but something about him attracted 16 year-old Annie and the feeling was mutual."

[tillypeg]

Yes it's true.  My mother, born 1919, had all her teeth removed when she was 21.  She apparently attended a special surgery set up in the basement of Middlesbrough Town Hall - a place also known as The Crypt..... 

She wore dentures for the rest of her life and frequently loosened the bottom set to poke them out at her grandchildren as a joke!

[lydiaann]

My mum (b. 1906) also had all of her teeth removed at age 24; however, she had chronic gingivitis and dental calculus despite, she remarked, all her efforts to keep them clean - they didn't have Interdens brushes or floss back then.  She was routinely disbelieved by her dentist at the time.

However, I too have had a life-long fight with dental calculus but fortunately my dentists have recognised that it is a problem with some people that is almost insurmountable without intervention.  One dentist I had said there was one other patient in her practice the same as me...we both had to attend for descaling and check-ups every 3 months (expensive, as this was in Canada).  All of my dentists have been super-stars, however, and, at almost 78, I have lost only 6 teeth (4 wisdoms before the age of 21) and have only 3 crowns because of their efforts.

[DianaCanada]

I read somewhere that the early form of floss were tiny twigs.  Might have something to do with Jane Austen.
I was fortunate not to have any wisdom teeth so avoided that headache (or toothache).  My teeth were a bit crowded on top and had an eye tooth removed.   My kids did not inherit my luck, though, and my daughters got theirs out the same day. Not a happy couple of days!  My son didn't get his extracted.