We've all seen it in old movies and comics where someone with a toothache ties a kerchief onto their head wrapping their jaw. Not something you see these days. Has medicine progressed or have our egos stopped us from walking around like this? I'm going with improvements to dentistry.
Click on image to see it larger.
I haven't found anything definitive online explaining this procedure, but I'm guessing that it was done to perhaps hold ice in place over the painful tooth. Or maybe there was some sort of herbal home remedy that could help with the pain in the interim before getting to a dentist.
All of this does little to explain these two young ladies. Friends with toothaches at the same time? Is the guy a dentist they're flirting with? Is this an old vaudeville comedy routine? Sadly the back of the photo provides little more than mysterious text. The words most likely to solve this mystery are obliterated by the old album paper stock still stuck to the photo. A mystery wrapped in a kerchief.
Click on image to see it larger.
But lest you think I am straying too far from this weeks Sepia Saturday challenge about Louis Pasteur I give you the patron saint of dentistry,
Pierre Fauchard. Another fascinating Frenchman to the rescue!
It is said that the 17th century French physician Pierre Fauchard started dentistry science as it is known today, and he has been named "the father of modern dentistry". Among many of his developments were the extensive use of dental prosthesis, the introduction of dental fillings as a treatment for dental caries and the statement that sugar derivative acids such as tartaric acid are responsible for dental decay. (SOURCE: Wikipedia)
You just never know where
Sepia Saturday and an old piece of paper might lead you.
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