Dentistry

September 4

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a revolutionary American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Maryland Journal (September 4, 1776).

“DOCTOR FENDALL, OPERATOR upon the TEETH, is just arrived in this town.”

During the first week of September 1776, “DOCTOR FENDALL, OPERATOR upon the TEETH,” arrived in Baltimore and began seeking patients.  He placed an advertisement outlining his services in the Maryland Journal, announcing that he “cures the scurvy in the gums,” “prevents teeth from growing rotten,” “transplants natural teeth from one person to another,” “Makes and fixes artificial teeth,” and “extracts teeth and stumps.”  For each of those procedures, he offered additional details intended to reassure prospective patients of his skill and the effectiveness of his treatments.  When it came to artificial teeth, for instance, Fendall declared that he “makes and fixes [them] with the greatest exactness and nicety, without pain or the least inconvenience, so that they may eat, drink, or sleep with them in their mouths as natural ones.”  Even better, Fendall’s artificial teeth “cannot be discovered by the sharpest eye.”

In addition to an array of dental procedures, Fendall also hawked his own “DENTRIFICE” or toothpaste, entering the market of patent medicines.  He promised that his toothpaste was “quite free from any corrosive preparation” that would eat away at the teeth.  Instead, it would “restore the gums to their pristine state, … prevent the tooth-ach, and render the breath delicately sweet,” but only “if the tartarous substance is off the teeth.”  That suggested that patients who purchased Fendall’s toothpaste should first visit him for a cleaning.  Among his services, he highlighted that he “scales the teeth from that corrosive, tartarous, gritty substance, [which] impedes the gum from growing, infects the breath, and is one of the principal cause of the scurvy, which … eats away the gums, so that many peoples teeth fall out.”  Fendall hoped to make two sales at once, charging patients for cleaning their teeth and the toothpaste necessary to maintain the treatment.  He also advised that each pot of his toothpaste was “signed with his own hand to prevent fraud.”  Consumers could protect themselves from forgeries through that means of confirming the authenticity of the “DENTRIFICE” they purchased.

Fendall aimed to create a sense of urgency around scheduling appointments for procedures and purchasing his toothpaste.  He concluded his advertisement with a nota bene that warned, “His Stay in Town will be only one Week.”  He may have planned to stay longer, especially if prospective patients responded to his advertisement, but he wanted them to think that they could avail themselves of his services for a limited time only.  He tried to drum up as much business as quickly as possible to make his stay in Baltimore, however long it lasted, a viable venture.

April 9

Carl Robert Keyes Daily Advert Update , , , , , , ,

What was advertised in a colonial American newspaper 250 years ago today?

Essex Gazette (April 9, 1771).

“It may be had also of Doctor Kast, or Miss Priscilla Manning, at SALEM, and of Mr. Dummer Jewett at IPSWICH.”

Daniel Scott operated “the Medicine-Store, at the Sign of the Leopard” in Boston.  In an advertisement in the January 21, 1771, edition of the Boston-Gazette, he promoted a “compleat Assortment” of imported “Drugs and Medicines, Chymical and Galenical” as well as patent medicines.  In the following months, he turned his attention to marketing “Dentium Conservator, Or the Grand Preserver of the Teeth and Gums,” a medicine that he prepared at his shop.  For several weeks he placed advertisements in the Boston Evening-Post, hawking the “excellent Powder” and asserting that it was “the best adapted for preserving the Teeth and Gums, and preventing them from aching, of any Preparation offered to the Publick.”  He also advertised artificial teeth and other dentistry services.  The apothecary concluded his advertisement with a reminder that he also carried a variety of medicines beyond the “Dentium Conservator.”

Scott did not confine his advertising to newspapers in Boston.  He also placed notices in the Essex Gazette, published in Salem.  For the most part, those advertisements replicated the copy that ran in the Boston Evening-Post, but the apothecary made one addition.  In a nota bene, he informed prospective customers of local agents who carried the “Dentium Conservator” and sold it on his behalf: “It may be had also of Doctor Kast, or Miss Priscilla Manning, at SALEM, and of Mr. Dummer Jewett at IPSWICH.”  Philip Godfrid Kast, another apothecary, operated a shop at the Sign of the Lion and Mortar.  Manning peddled a variety of wares, mostly textiles, but apparently supplemented those revenues through her association with Scott and his “Dentium Conservator.”  Both Kast and Manning previously advertised in the Essex Gazette.  Jewett was likely also a familiar figure to readers of that newspaper.  The following year the governor appointed him justice of the peace for Essex County.

Scott could have chosen to produce and sell his “Dentium Conservator” exclusively at his shop in Boston.  Instead, he recruited associates in other towns, distributed his product to them, and assumed responsibility for marketing in an effort to increase sales.  The patent medicines that Scott stocked at his shop bore names familiar to customers.  His “Dentium Conservator,” on the other hand, did not benefit from an established reputation.  Scott intended that the combination of advertising in newspapers published in Boston and Salem and designating local agents to sell his product in Ipswich and Salem would enhance both the visibility and the reputation of his “Dentium Conservator.”