George Washington did not wear wooden teeth. His dentures combined human and animal teeth—cow, donkey, or horse—as well as ivory and metals such as lead, tin, copper, silver, and gold. Some stained pieces may have fueled the legend; what is certain is that he spent years in pain, with missing teeth and ill-fitting dentures.
When he assumed the presidency, in 1789, he had only one tooth left. John Greenwood extracted it in 1796 and kept it as a memento.
A dental letter intercepted in 1781 misled Sir Henry Clinton: he believed Washington would not march south, although preparations were underway for the advance toward Yorktown. The delay contributed to the British defeat. In 1784, payment was made for nine teeth from enslaved people for the dentist Le Mayeur; the records do not clarify whether they could refuse.