I’m reading the first volume Burlingame’s 2008 excellent biography of Abraham Lincoln, Lincoln: A Life. There is a lot of new information about Lincoln – or at least new to me.  Lincoln loved to tell funny stories, and he enjoyed relating a story about Ethan Allen, an American who was visiting England after the Revolutionary War between England and the United States.

Many of Ethan Allen’s English friends enjoyed making fun of the United States, and as a joke, one of them put a picture of George Washington in the outhouse. Ethan Allen didn’t say anything about it, so after a few days, he was asked if he had seen General Washington’s picture there. Allen said that he had seen it, and he thought it was an appropriate place for the picture. When asked why, Allen responded, “there is nothing that makes an Englishman s—t faster than seeing General Washington.”

Unfortunately, Washington suffered from severe dental problems and from wearing dentures all his life, and he eventually lost all his teeth. One of his lower dentures is now on display at the National Museum of Dentistry in Baltimore. It’s a great museum that is interesting for both adults and children. When the museum first opened, I donated a brick for the walkway in memory of Dr. Mervin Wahl – if you visit the museum, be sure to look for Dr. Mervin’s name!

If Washington were alive today, he could have benefited from dental implants, which can stabilize dentures or even replace them altogether. You can learn more about them here (http://www.wahlfamilydentistry.com/dental-implants.html) or ask us about them.