DENTAL IMPLEMENT

An incomplete silver dental plate, of late Post-Medieval to modern dating (AD 1800 to AD 1930).

The plate was probably designed to fit the lower jaw. The plate has one straight edge and one irregular edge, which would fit between remaining teeth. Three rectangular panels extend from the irregular edge. Each of these panels have a tooth crown secured in place. The crowns have been secured in place with a silver pin. The tooth crowns consist of a upper incisor and two upper canines. The tooth crowns would have originally come from an adult human.

The dental plate is 30.4 mm long, 38.8 mm wide, 11.3 mm thick and weighs 4.2g. The metal is 0.7 mm thick.

Dental plates such as this date from circa AD 1800 and start going out of fashion around the 1930's when other materials such as Vulcanite (a hardened rubber) and acrylics start being used. They are made by dental laboratories from stock ingots and are without hallmarks. The amount of gold in the alloy is usually just enough to give the metal a yellow appearance.

Human teeth were preferred during the 19th Century, as they tended to survive better in the mouth than the other options. Animal teeth or carved wooden or ivory teeth tend to rot quickly and smell bad.

Other dental plates have been recorded on the PAS database, for examples see: WMID-BC8AC7; IOW-A114B2, DEV-E68EC1, WAW-B755A1 and IOW-D164D2.

As this artefact is less than 300 years old, it is not classified under the requirements of the Treasure Act 1996 and is therefore not Treasure.