George Washington suffered severe teeth issues his entire life, and by the time he became president in 1789, he had just one real tooth left in his mouth

George Washington suffered severe teeth issues his entire life

George Washington suffered severe teeth issues and he became president in 1789, he had just one real tooth left in his mouth. He had numerous sets of dentures over the years, some of them made from horse and cow teeth as well as ivory from walruses, hippopotamuses, and perhaps even elephants.

But some of his dentures also contained human teeth — and they may have come from the enslaved workers at his Mount Vernon plantation. In 1784, Washington paid enslaved people 122 shillings for nine of their teeth. However, it's unclear whether he had them added into his own dentures or was simply procuring them for his dentist, who used them to create dentures for other clients.