Expressions Are Only Skin Deep | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: Expressions Are Only Skin Deep | Previous Challenge Entry
By Mariane Holbrook
11/19/20
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"George, for heaven's sake, are you still brushing your teeth?", his mother called to him from the hallway. George was taking his time even though his tutor would be arriving soon for their daily two-hour lessons in arithmetic, Latin, Greek, bookkeeping, and surveying. His mother and older brother taught George more basic subjects at home.

Though he was considered an exceptional student, his formal education ended when he was fifteen years old. George Washington's father died when George was only twelve years old so he was deprived of the exceptional education his two step-siblings had received in prestigious schools in London. As a widow, George's mother was unable to fund a college education for him, something that he regretted all his life.

George used tooth powders with his toothbrush along with a tongue scraper and mouth wash but
it proved to be a losing battle. All of his life, until his death at age 67, he endured great pain from tooth decay, abscesses, and other oral ailments as well as deep embarrassment when he conversed with friends, presented cases as a lawyer in a courtroom, or skillfully delivered political speeches before becoming the first president of the United States.

Although revered by heads of states from many countries, he was also regarded as an expression-less leader who never smiled before a camera in group photos as well as in single portraits. So ashamed was he of his teeth that he wore a near grim expression in all of the preserved photos of him. His teeth disfigure his face and caused his lips to protrude noticeably.

George Washington's vice president, John Adams, insisted that he was with Washington on numerous occasions when Washington cracked hard-shelled Brazil nuts and black walnuts with his teeth. "He loved those nuts," wrote Adams, "and he kept bushels full in the basement. We'd spend hours talking, cracking, and eating those nuts with no tools to crack them but our teeth."

When George Washington was inaugurated as the president, he had only one of his teeth left. All the others had decayed, cracked, or were pulled by doctors, barbers, veterinarians, and others who practiced dentistry as a sideline.

As George Washington grew older, people noticed significant changes in his facial expression, especially around his jaw and mouth. Many of his teeth did not fit well, and the upper plate occasionally dropped down while he was giving a speech or in private conversation, much to his acute embarrassment and humiliation. Ulcers developed under his ill-fitting teeth, causing him to frown with pain that he couldn't bring himself to explain.

Washington asked many of his slaves to have their best-looking teeth extracted and sold to him
in case he needed a replacement. He kept a box full of these teeth in a locked desk drawer.

In 1799, he became troubled by one man owning another and immediately released all his slaves.

Though his teeth caused him considerable angst all his life and caused many to mock his facial expressions, he became a beloved and revered "Father of our Country."

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