Medical Antiques > Medical Dental Instruments

An 18th Century French Dental Key ‘Clef de Garengeot’.

Item#: MES1114

SOLD

 

This is a straight-Shaft early type iron toothkey with original turned boxwood handle (with some chips). The working end of the key consists of a bolster with a hinged semicircular claw. In later 19th century toothkeys the claws were replicable and with different size. To extract a tooth, the bolster was placed against the root of the tooth and the claw over the crown. The key was then turned until the tooth was dislocated and extracted. Toothkey length: 13 cm (5 inches).