The Country Tooth Drawer Antique Dentist Poster

In the 17th and 18th Centuries, the blacksmith’s forge was the recognised dental office and teeth which caused pain were regularly extracted by the village smithy. In this scene, a blacksmith, working in his forge, improvises dentistry using huge forceps to extract a patient’s tooth while a woman watches. The theme of such tooth extractions was a popular theme of artists of the period. Up until the 1860s, Dentistry was largely unregulated. The text below the image reads: The text below the image reads: The Country Tooth Drawer – Printed for & Sold by Bowles & Carver – No 69 in St. Paul’s Church Yard, London “Why dame how you hollow! and hold by my horn I never heard such a noise since I was born. How you pinch up your hat, and squeeze up your eyes, You’ve broke both the drums of my ears with your cries. That I hurt you, you ne’er shal make me believe, It’s easy as drawing a pin from one’s sleeve; I challenge the Country for drawing you fool, I’ve drawn teeth with prongs like a three-legged stool. No doubt on’t quoth Gaffer, and lifts up his hand, Yet half of an hour is a great while to stand; And tho’ you’re surprised to hear my Dame bawl, Yet thrice round the Shop is a pretty good hawl.”