Lower denture
Maker
Kenneth Russell (b.1885, d.1945)
Date
Circa 1917
Description
Made of vulcanite with porcelain teeth. Three sockets in the dentive indicate that it would have fitted onto another major appliance already in the mouth - i.e. the whole lower denture was in two parts since as a single item it would have been too large to fit into the mouth. This lower part of the whole denture is missing. The dentive would have been made for a patient who had lost a substantial portion of the bone and soft tissue of the lower jaw. The arch of the mouth is very narrow, suggesting a loss of both bone and soft tissue, although it is difficult to be precise about the nature of the injury without the major lower portion of the fitting. This dentive constitutes part of the permanent treatment of a patient after the initial reconstruction and healing of war injuries.
One of the most significant advancements for dental prosthesis in the 19th century was the development of vulcanite as a base for dentures. The lack of a durable and affordable denture base material (porcelain denture teeth were already developed). Swaged gold, and carved ivory were used but were expensive and only affordable to the rich. Vulcanite or “rubber” dentures became a popular base for dentures because of their durability, affordability, strength, elasticity, and lightness and were in widespread usage by 1863. “Vulcanite” in vulcanite dentures does not refer to the mineral vulcanite but rather hardened rubber obtained through a process called “vulcanizing”.
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