Itinerant Surgeon Dentist

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 18

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

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

New-York Journal (April 18, 1771).

“His Stay in this City will be but a few Weeks.”

Michael Poree, a surgeon dentist, occasionally placed newspaper advertisements in New York in the late 1760s and early 1770s.  He offered a variety of services, including “cleaning the Teeth,” “supplying New Ones,” and providing patent medicines related to dental care.  Poree did not, however, make the busy port his permanent residence.  Instead, he moved back and forth between New York and Philadelphia, serving patients in both cities.

In the spring of 1771, he published advertisements simultaneously in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury and the New-York Journal upon arriving in the city.  He began by renewing his acquaintance with former clients, extending “his hearty Thanks to the Gentlemen and Ladies of this City, for the Encouragement they have given him in his Profession.”  He then informed them “and others,” prospective new clients who needed dental care, that his stay in New York would be short, “but a few Weeks.”  He planned to return to Philadelphia and would not be back for nearly six months, not until “October next.”  Not unlike itinerant performers and peddlers, the surgeon dentists proclaimed that he would be in town for a limited time only as he persuaded customers to engage his services promptly or else miss their opportunity.

According to the colophon for the New-York Journal, Poree paid five shillings to insert his advertisement for four weeks.  He likely paid a similar amount to run the same notice in the New-York Gazette and Weekly Mercury.  That he advertised in two newspapers indicated that he considered the cost well worth the investment in terms of attracting a sufficient number of clients to make his stay in New York profitable.  Experience may have taught him that he served a greater number of patients, new and returning, when he placed newspaper notices.  Documenting the reception of advertisements remains an elusive endeavor.  That an itinerant surgeon dentist like Poree repeatedly paid to inform the public of his services and his schedule, however, suggests that he considered advertising an effective means of promoting his business.