Sometimes we just never know what is around the bend! Recently, while driving a Union County road re-surveying historic properties, my friend, Fern Shumate Smyre, pointed out a little late 1800s dentist’s office on Nave Hill Church Road. It was listed in the 1978 survey of the Tennessee Historical Commission, and we were glad to see that it is still there. The dentist was Doctor Ewin Shumate, the eldest of nine children of Daniel and Louisa Shumate of Claiborne County. Dr. Shumate was born February 11, 1867 and died June 14, 1910. He is buried at Andersonville.

After practicing in Union County, he and his family moved to Anderson County, where he also established a dental practice. Dr. Shumate married in 1893 Margaret “Maggie” Hill,; and they had two daughters, Naomia “Ona”, b. 1894 and Estilla Blanche, b. December 23, 1895. Estilla m. Charlie J. Brooks, and died in Jefferson County in November of 1985–a few weeks short of her 90th birthday.

We don’t really know much about just what services Dr. Shumate provided. We know he made a set of teeth for Fern’s grandmother, Martha Rush. He also made a set of teeth for Pearlie Reagan Toliver according to her daughter Irene Toliver Hamilton. I expect he “pulled” teeth and perhaps lanced abscesses. Phyrrea (chronic periodontitis) was a huge problem; and people’s teeth would just fall out from this gum disease, while the teeth might be perfectly sound. Thankfully, this is rare today. In trying to understand what might have taken place in an early dentist’s office, I decided to read a little dental history. Here are some highlights:

The wear, tear and decay of tooth enamel was sometimes repaired with stone chips, turpentine resin (pine rosin) gum and metals. Gold leaf fillings were tried in 1848. Who could afford gold? Dental floss was an ancient invention, but it was probably more like sewing thread. In 1848 Waldo Hanchett patented the dental chair, and the first electric dental drill was patented by George Green in 1875. Novocain was introduced in dentistry in 1905; and in 1846 Dr. William Morton, a Massachusetts dentist, was first to use anesthesia for tooth extraction. Modern toothpastes were developed in the 1800s, and Colgate began mass producing and selling the first toothpaste in a jar. Then the history gets to the real truth–most Americans did not brush teeth until soldiers brought their enforced habits of tooth brushing back home after World War II.

I was comforted when I finally read this line, because the history above was not what I remembered happening in Union County. My recollection of caring for my teeth was bringing home some twigs from the spice bush in the White Spring Hollow when we went to get the cows or gathering some twigs from the willows near another spring closer home. The twigs were cut about 4 inches long and our teeth were scrubbed with them using a mixture of baking soda and salt. During a visit to neighbor, Mollie Graves, my mother brought home cuttings from her Willow tree, and she grew a tree that became quite large. From that tree we made our own willow brushes. Once in the summer we visited Dr. Odra Carr at the Doctors’ Building at the corner of Clinch Avenue and Locust Street in Knoxville. That building became the City Club for years and is now a parking garage. Yes, needed, but a pretty sorry landscape. I well recall the discussions of losing the City Club and Row houses. When a few people expressed an interest in preserving these buildings, the parking-lot-to-be owner sent in a wrecking crew before daylight to destroy the buildings. (Please forgive this diversion, but it is part of my dental recollection experience.) During this annual visit to the dentist, I expect we got store-bought toothbrushes, but I really don’t remember. The home-made ones worked just fine. I certainly remember my fillings were without any numbing; and, yes, it hurt.

Picture caption: Dr. Ewin Shumate .