In honor of President’s Day this month, let’s take a look at some historical smiles of Commander-in-chiefs over the years. If you thought presidents would automatically have the best teeth in the nation, think again...
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George Washington – Most of us have long held the belief that our founding father had dentures made of wood (how primitive!), but in reality, he actually had several sets of ill-fitting dentures made of various materials, including: hippopotamus ivory and sea lion ivory, as well as teeth from pigs, cows, elks, and other humans. On second thought, wood doesn’t sound too bad...
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John Adams – President Adams had an incredible sweet tooth, which contributed to the loss of his teeth. However, unlike Washington, Adams refused to wear dentures, which led to his difficulty speaking. And when he did, he apparently did so with a lisp. Thankfully for him, there were no radios or TVs to give speeches on for another 100+ years.
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Abraham Lincoln – Lincoln was a fearless leader in many regards, however, that courage stopped at the dentist’s office: he had an extreme fear of the dentist! Although, we can’t really blame him because, apparently, the root of his fear stemmed from a dentist breaking part of his jaw while extracting a tooth – without anesthesia – four score and seven screams ago.
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Woodrow Wilson – A photo of President Wilson taken during his 1913 inauguration revealed that he had astonishingly bad teeth. With the rise of the newspaper industry, he was one of the last presidents who could even think about getting away with such a gross smile. Can you imagine a candidate running for office today with visibly rotten teeth??
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Herbert Hoover – It takes a true visionary leader to set up the first dental office in the White House. Although back in the 1930’s, it was little more than a dentist chair in a basement. Today, it’s as modern as any other dental office – and we imagine it has a much shorter wait time than what we’re used to.
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Dwight D. Eisenhower – On February 20, 1954, Dwight D. Eisenhower was eating a chicken wing in Palm Springs when the cap on one of his front teeth popped off. What followed was maybe one of the only emergency dentists visits to ever launch a massive conspiracy theory: Eisenhower’s unexpected trip led to many false reports in the press, one of which claimed this off-the-record day trip was a cover-up for a secret meeting with aliens at Edwards Air Force Base.
As you might imagine, it takes a special person to get that up close and personal with the leader of the free world and his family. For training and security reasons, the dentist is typically selected from the National Naval Medical Center of the United States Navy. Unknown to many, the Navy’s Dental Corps is one of the best places to practice dentistry, boasting cutting edge technology and facilities.
Of course, we think any president would be able to keep their smile approval ratings at all-time highs if they used GO SMILE. Not to mention we’re fully capable of keeping any national security secrets... just in case there should be any other intergalactic meetings or anything.
