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Toothache and Trauma: A History of the Toothkey

    Key with three Interchangeable Claws

    The typical key had one claw that fit a specific tooth size and was attached for a left or a right extraction. To suit each patient’s needs, the traveling practitioner would have carried a variety of keys or an array of interchangeable claws. Circa 1850, this inconvenience was addressed by design of a key with two or three claws attached. Explanations of how the instrument functioned with multiple claws attached simultaneously are unclear. The potential for mishaps would have doubled or tripled! More likely this key functioned as a “kit” with multiple claws attached only during transit. Once the patient was examined, one claw was selected and the others removed before the procedure took place.

    Explore this item in the slideshow below.

    In this key (A147.159), equipped with three interchangeable claws of different sizes,…

    University of the Pacific Permanent Collection, Donor: Maurice J Owens, DDS
    only the middle claw aligns with the pear-shaped bolster.
    This design would suggest that, in most cases, the two adjacent claws were removed prior to an extraction. However, in some cases involving abscess, it was preferable to place the bolster against an adjacent tooth.
    One of this key’s lateral claws may have served that function.
    Each claw has two notches in the margin and a grooved inner surface.
    The hardwood handle, having split through the midline,…
    was repaired with waxed linen cord (here illustrated by polarized light microscopy) wrapped tightly at either end.

    Courtesy of The Biological Imaging Facility, UC Berkeley
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