Presidents' Day: 7 myths about George Washington

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Monday, February 19, 2024

Wooden teeth

Mount Rushmore National Memorial is in South Dakota. The granite faces depict U.S. presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln. | Unsplash/John Bakator

While it is documented that George Washington had to wear dentures for much of his life, the persistent claim that exists in the culture is that, at one point, he wore teeth made of wood.

William M. Etter of Irvine Valley College has rejected this claim, explaining that “wood was never used in Washington's dentures nor was it commonly employed by dentists in his era.”

“The origin of this myth remains unclear,” wrote Etter. “The standard, and most likely, explanation given by dental scientists and historians is that the ivory employed in the dentures fabricated for Washington by dentist John Greenwood became stained over time, giving them a grained, wooden appearance that misled later observers.”

“Perhaps this myth has endured because it balances Washington's imposing status in American history and the idealized images of the man presented in other myths like the Cherry Tree legend and, in doing so, humanizes an individual who may often seem remote and statuesque.”