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Image via Wikipedia.com. Jane Austen, from A Memoir of Jane Austen (1870).

Classic Author Jane Austen’s Family Horrors With The Dentist

The famed author was horrified at what she witnessed when accompanying family to the dentist

Although necessary, many people dread visits to the dentist. The poking, prodding, and in some cases pulling, can bring terror to even the stoutest of heart. This was especially true for classic author icon Jane Austen, who once detailed the horrors experienced by her family when she accompanied them on multiple visits to the tooth doctor.

Austen was an English novelist (1775–1817) whose work often focused on women and the travails of marriage and relationships. She also had a number of hits that remain popular in the present, including Emma, Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. Dead at the age of 41, she only had six completed novels, which were of such substance that she is still considered an influential author two centuries later.

Dental care has only recently become a dedicated industry with trained medical professionals offering services. During the days of Austen, dentists were often more likely to be barbers or saloon keepers moonlighting in such a capacity. Additionally, people who saw them usually did so to treat some malady instead of taking preventive measures.

In 1813, the writer visited her brother Henry in London, accompanied by another brother, Edward, and his three daughters; Fanny, Lizzy and Marianne. During this reunion, the author and her nieces made two visits to a local dentist named Spence. The experience made such an impression on her that she wrote about it in multiple letters, including describing in one September 15th missive the difficulty her nieces had:

“Going to Mr. Spence’s was a sad business and cost us many tears; unluckily we were obliged to go a second time before he could do more than just look. We went first at half-past twelve and afterwards at three; papa (edward) with us each time; and, alas! We are to go again to-morrow. Lizzy is not finished yet. There have been no teeth taken out, however, nor will be, I believe, but he finds hers in a very bad state, and seems to think particularly ill of their durableness. They have been all cleaned, hers filed, and are to be filed again. There is a very sad hole between two of her front teeth.”

Another letter she wrote the following day described the terror endured by her nieces upon their return visit:

“The poor Girls & their Teeth! — I have not mentioned them yet, but we were a whole hour at Spence’s, & Lizzy’s were filed & lamented over again & poor Marianne had two taken out after all, the two just beyond the Eye teeth, to make room for those in front.When her doom was fixed, Fanny Lizzy & I walked into the next room, where we heard each of the two sharp hasty Screams.”

Austen observed the methods of the dentist. While they hopefully made the lives of the girls better in the long run, their experience did nothing to make their aunt believe she ever wanted any part of being in the dentist’s chair:

“Fanny’s teeth were cleaned too–& pretty as they are, Spence found something to do to them, putting in gold & talking gravely–& making a considerable point of seeing her again before winter.–He had before urged the expediency of L. & M.s being brought to Town in the course of a couple of Months to be farther examined, & continued to the last to press for their all coming to him. — My Br[other] would not absolutely promise.

“The little girls teeth I can suppose in a critical state, but I think he must be a Lover of Teeth & Money & Mischeif [sic] to parade about Fannys. I would not have had him look at mine for a shilling a tooth & double it. — It was a disagreeable hour.”

Just recently, one of Austen’s letters detailing the dental visit was sold in auction for a small fortune. This is not due per se because of the subject matter, but rather because only a small fraction of the letters (161 of an approximate 3,000) she wrote in her lifetime are still in known existence.

Although the time Austen went to the dentist with her nieces occurred more than 200 years ago, her reaction to what transpired still holds relevance all this time later. Even though it sounded like the family went to somebody eminently more skilled and trained than what the average person had access to at the time, it did little to lessen the mental scars the appointments made on her mind.

History
Dentistry
Writing
Women
Culture
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