SMILE!
Looking behind the scenes of Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s historic 1863 Vicksburg Campaign, The Dental Cosmos made a telling observation about the Union commander. “In starting on the movement [of his troops] the General disencumbered himself of everything, setting an example to his officers and men,” the medical journal offered in its August 1864 edition. “He took neither a horse nor a servant, overcoat nor blanket, nor tent, nor camp-chest, nor even a clean shirt. His only baggage consisted of a tooth-brush. He always showed his teeth to the Rebels.
“He, like many of his officers, especially those who were practicing dentists in civilian life, knew the importance of good dental health.”
In 1883, William Leigh Burton, who in 1864 was the first dentist appointed to the Confederate Medical Corps, reminisced in the : “It would be next to impossible to form an idea of the wretched condition of the teeth of Confederate soldiers. The great majority had been several years in service with
