You?ve never seen teeth ? or dentistry ? quite like this.
At the Dr. Samuel D. Harris National Museum of Dentistry, you can inspect George Washington?s teeth (not wooden), check out Queen Victoria?s dental tools, sit on a kid-sized dental chair and brush models of gigantic teeth.
And you?ll marvel at how far dentistry has come from the early dental office that looks more like a torture chamber.
So when you leave behind the drill and the skeleton head with its complete set of chompers, it?s a relief to step into the sterile, comparatively pain-free modern dentist?s office.
And the museum features plenty of other, lighter stuff for those who still dread a trip to the chair.
Here, comic books feature dentists. Visitors can play a celebrity-smile guessing game. Or see a life-sized model of an Iron Jaw performer, an aerial circus actperformed whilehanging from the teeth iin the first room of the museum. Or solve mysteries at the forensic dentistry exhibit.
“We definitely cover the history of dentistry, but it?s definitely a lighthearted approach to the history of dentistry,” museum Communications Director Amy Pelsinsky said.
Fear of the dentist, she said, is common among adults and children alike.
“The museum could be helpful for people to understand what?s going on with their teeth and what happens with the dentist so it?s not such a fearful experience,” she said.
Adriann Vermillion, 5, who visited the museum with her camp, showed no such fear. She said she liked brushing the giant teeth with their oversized brushes because, “I like to be a dentist,” she said.
Jen Berk, a 35-year-old dental hygienist, of Woodstock, Conn., visited the museum with her children Trisha, 7, and Patrick, 10.
“It has a lot I could relate to,” she said. “I wanted to see if they recognize all the professions involved in dental health, and they do.”
IF YOU GO
» Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday,
» Admission: $4.50 for adults, $2.50 for youths, senior citizens and students. Audio tour: $1 more.
» Location: 31 S. Greene St., Baltimore
» Phone: 410-706-0600
» Web site: dentalmuseum.org (mouthpower.org has the museum?s interactive game for kids)
FAST FACTS
» Samuel Harris, the pediatric dentist for whom the museum is named, made the donation that started the museum, Pelsinsky said. The museum, an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution, opened in 1996.
» About 10,000 people visit each year.
