From: howl@dontemailme.com   
      
   In article <20040208171901.28530.00001678@mb-m01.aol.com>, drsmith666@aol.com   
   says...   
   >   
   >What kind of dental hygene did they use in the old west? Did they carry   
   >toothbrushes on the trail? I would assume that whisky would act much the same   
   >as mouthwash in killing germs, etc.   
      
   One of the tooth care tools still recommended   
   by dental hygienists is a piece of wood (toothpick   
   will do) with which you "scrub" your teeth.   
   Far more effective than any toothbrush for   
   removing plaque from teeth at the gum line.   
   And yes, any old stick will do. One of the other   
   old-timer favorites was baking soda, always   
   on hand from the cook on the trail.   
      
   My granddad was a turn-of-the-century dentist   
   who practiced his trade from a horse-drawn buggy   
   in what was then still wild and wooly west Texas.   
   He had some rather interesting stories to tell   
   about his experiences with the more "desperate"   
   patients he treated in those years.   
      
   When I was discussing the Neely Ranch recently,   
   one of the stories I didn't tell was that Mrs.   
   Neely used to travel from her ranch into El Paso   
   in a wagon so that my granddad could attend to   
   her teeth. It took her three days to make the   
   round trip, as she related the story to me many   
   years later. Of course at that time my granddad had   
   a regular dental office in downtown El Paso.   
   He loved to get patients from Mexico because they   
   would pay for his services with gold - which he   
   could then use for gold crowns!   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)