Medicine: Teeth for Sale

As long ago as George Washington's time, slaves were subjected to tooth pulling so that their masters could get a replacement for a missing tooth. Now Dentist Ernest M. Pafford of Phoenix, Ariz, has carried the idea to its technological conclusion: wisdom teeth and a few front teeth extracted from patients needing whole dentures are tagged for blood type and Rh factor, then preserved indefinitely in a deep-frozen tooth bank. When a tooth is transplanted, it is first held in place by a blood clot in a carefully made socket in the recipient's jaw. Discomfort usually passes off in about 18 hours, and the tooth's tiny blood vessels establish links with the circulation in its new mouth. It can never ache in the ordinary sense, because there is no nerve connection. After about two weeks it is embedded firmly enough to be used for chewing steak.