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Dental History
The following articles are excerpts from World of Invention or World of Scientific Discovery. To purchase a copy of the book(s) or to obtain a catalog from Gale, please call 1-800-877-4253 or visit Gale on the Internet.
Dental Drill · Dental Filling · False Teeth · Fluoride Treatment · Nitrous Oxide
Novocain · Orthodontics · Tooth-Extractions · Toothbrush and Toothpaste

Dental Drill

When a tooth develops a cavity, the decayed tissue must be removed. The earliest devices for doing this were picks and enamel scissors. Then two-edged cutting instruments were designed, they were twirled in both directions between the fingers. The father of modern dentistry, the Frenchman Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761), described an improved drill in 1728. Its rotary movement was powered by catgut twisted around a cylinder, or by jewelers' bowstrings. A hand-cranked dental drill bit was patented by John Lewis in 1838.
George Washington's dentist, John Greenwood (1760-1819), invented the first known "dental foot engine" in 1790. He adapted his mother's foot-treadle spinning wheel to rotate a drill. Greenwood's dentist son continued to use the drill, but the idea went no further.
The Scottish inventor James Nasmyth used a coiled wire spring to drive a drill in 1829. Charles Merry of St. Louis, Missouri, adapted Nasmyth's drill, adding a flexible cable, in 1858. The first "motor-driven" drill appeared in 1864, the design of Englishman George F. Harrington; hand-held, it was powered by the spring of a clock movement. In 1868 the American George F. Green introduced a pneumatic drill powered by a pedal bellows. Fellow American James B. Morrison patented a pedal bur drill in 1871. A further improvement of the Nasmyth-Merry design, it featured a flexible arm with a "hand" piece to hold the drill, plus a foot treadle and pulleys.
In 1874 Green added electricity to the dental drill; powered by electromagnetic motors, it worked well but was heavy and expensive. Plug-in electric drills became available in 1908; by then most dental offices were electrified.
Once efficient, mechanically-driven drills became widely available, teeth could be properly and accurately prepared for well-fitting crowns and fillings. American teeth blossomed with gold. Modern dental drills are turbine-powered; they rotate at speeds of 300,000 to 4,000,000 revolutions per minute. The Morrison drill, by comparison, operated at 600 to 800 r.p.m.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) p. 194.

Dental Filling, Crown and Bridge

Fillings.
Cavities in teeth have been filled since earliest times with a variety of materials: stone chips, turpentine resin, gum, metals. Arculanus (Giovanni d' Arcoli) recommended gold-leaf fillings in 1848. The renowned physician Ambroise Pare (1510-1590) used lead or cork to fill teeth. In the 1700s, Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761), the father of modern dentistry, favored tin foil or lead cylinders. Philip Pfaff (1715-1767), dentist to Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786), used gold foil to cap the pulp.
Gold leaf as a filling became popular in the United States in the early nineteenth century; Marcus Bull of Hartford, Connecticut, began producing beaten gold for dental used in 1812. In 1853 sponge gold was introduced in the United States and England to replace gold leaf. This was followed by the cohesive, or adhesive, gold introduced by American dentist Robert A. Arthur in 1855. Gutta percha was used for fillings beginning in 1847.
The invention of the power-driven dental drill led to increased demand for fillings and so for an inexpensive filling material. Aguste Taveau of Paris, France, developed what was probably the first dental amalgam--in 1816. He used filings from silver coins mixed with mercury. When the French Crawcour brothers emigrated to the United States in 1833, they introduced Taveau's amalgam. The poor quality of the amalgam led to its condemnation by many dentists, kicking off the so-called "amalgam war," a 10 -year period from 1840 to 1850 of bitter controversy about the merits and deficiencies of mercury amalgam. Numerous experiments were made from the 1860s through the 1890s to develop improved amalgam filings materials. The Chicago, Illinois, dentist G. V. Black (1836-1915) finally standardized both cavity preparation and amalgam manufacture in 1895.
After truly effective dental cement was developed, baked porcelain inlays came into use for filling large cavities. These were first described by B. Wood in 1862. In 1897 an Iowa dentist, B. F. Philbrook, described his method of casting metallic fillings from a wax impression that matched the shape of the cavity perfectly. Dr. William H. Taggart of Chicago described a similar method for casting fold inlays in 1907. This techniques made possible the modern era of accurate filling and inlay fitting.
Crowns and Bridges
Crowns (used to replace and cover missing portions of teeth) and bridges (mountains for artificial teeth attached at either end to natural teeth) were made of gold and used by the Etruscans 2,500 years ago. Crowns and bridges fell out of use during the Middle Ages and were only gradually rediscovered. The gold shell crown was described by Pierre Mouton of Paris, France, in 1746, and not patented until 1873, by Beers. The Logan crown, patented in 1885, used porcelain fused to a platinum post, replacing the unsatisfactory wooden posts previously used. In 1907 the detached-post crown was introduced, which was more easily adjustable.
Bridge work developed as crowns did; dentists would add extra facing to a crown to hold a replacement for an adjacent missing tooth. The major advance came with the detachable facings patented by Dr. Walter Mason of New Jersey in 1890 and the improved interchangeable facings introduced by Mason's associated Dr. Thomas Steele in 1904. The common problem of broken facings was now easy to fix, and permanent bridge installation became possible and successful.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) pp. 194-195.

False Teeth

Replacements for decayed or lost teeth have been produced for millennia. The Etruscans made skillfully designed false teeth out of ivory and bone, secured by gold bridgework, as early as 700 B.C. Unfortunately, this level of sophistication for false teeth was not regained until the 1800s.
During medieval times, the practice of dentistry was largely confined to tooth extraction; replacement was seldom considered. Gaps between teeth were expected, even among the rich and powerful. Queen Elizabeth I (1533-1603) filled the holes in her mouth with cloth to improve her appearance in public.
When false teeth were installed, they were hand-carved and tied in place with silk threads. If not enough natural teeth remained, anchoring false ones was difficult. People who wore full sets of dentures had to remove them when they wanted to eat. Upper and lower plates fit poorly and were held together with steel springs; disconcertingly, the set of teeth could spring suddenly out of the wearer's mouth. Even George Washington (1732-1799) suffered terribly from tooth loss and ill-fitting dentures. The major obstacles to progress were finding suitable materials for false teeth, making accurate measurements of patient's mouth, and getting the teeth to stay in place. These problems began to be solved during the 1700s.
Since antiquity, the most common material for false teeth was animal bone or ivory, especially from elephants or hippopotami. Human teeth were also used, pulled from the dead or sold by poor people from their own mouths. These kinds of false teeth soon rotted, turning brown and rancid. Rich people preferred teeth of silver, gold, mother of pearl, or agate.
In 1774 the French pharmacist Duchateau enlisted the help of the prominent dentist Dubois de Chemant to design hard-baked, rot-proof porcelain dentures. De Chemant patented his improved version of these "Mineral Paste Teeth" in 1789 and took them with him when he emigrated to England shortly afterward. The single porcelain tooth held in place by an imbedded platinum pin was invented in 1808 by the Italian dentist Giuseppangelo Fonzi. Inspired by his dislike of handling dead people's teeth, Claudius Ash of London, England, invented an improved porcelain tooth around 1837.
Porcelain teeth came to the United States in 1817 via the French dentist A. A. Planteau. The famous artist Charles Peale (1741-1847) began baking mineral teeth in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1822. Commercial manufacture of porcelain teeth in the United States was begun, also in Philadelphia, around 1825 by Samuel Stockton. In 1844 Stockton's nephew founded the S.S. White Company, which greatly improved the design of artificial teeth and marketed them on a large scale.
Fit and comfort, too, gradually improved. The German Philip Pfaff (1715-1767) introduced plaster of pairs impressions of the patient's mouth in 1756. Daniel Evans of Philadelphia also devised a method of accurate mouth measurement in 1836. The real breakthrough came with Charles Goodyear's discovery of vulcanized rubber in 1839. This cheap, easy-to-work material could be molded to fit the mouth and made a good base to hold false teeth. Well-mounted dentures could now be made cheaply. The timing was fortuitous. Horace Wells (1815-1848) had just introduced painless tooth extraction using nitrous oxide. The number of people having teeth removed skyrocketed, creating a great demand for good, affordable dentures, which Goodyear's invention made possible.
After 1870, another cheap base, celluloid, was tried in place of rubber, but it too had drawbacks. Today dentures are either plastic or ceramic.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) pp. 238-239.

Fluoride Treatment, Dental

Fluoride is a chemical found in many substances. In the human body, fluoride acts to prevent tooth decay by strengthening tooth enamel and inhibiting the growth of plaque-forming bacteria. After researchers discovered this characteristic of fluoride, fluoridation -the process of adding the fluoride to public water supplies-began.
It all started with Frederick S. McKay, a Colorado Springs, Colorado, dentist, in the early 1900s. McKay noticed that many of his patients had brown stains, called "mottled enamel," on their teeth. McKay set out to find the cause, helped by researcher Greene V. Black (1836-1915) of Northwestern University and other dentists. By 1916, Mc Kay believed the mottling was caused by something in the patients' drinking water. By 1928, he concluded that mottling was linked to reduced tooth decay.
In 1931, at the suggestion of an Alcoa chemist in Bauxite, Arkansas, McKay verified that drinking water from places with a high degree of tooth mottling contained unusually high levels of naturally occurring fluoride. H. Trendley Dean, a dentist with the United States Public Health Service, also studied the connection between mottling and fluoride in the 1930s. By the early 1940s, Dean and his research team had established that one part per million was the ideal level of fluoride in drinking water, substantially reducing decay while not causing mottling.
Following safety test on animals, the Public Health Service conducted field tests. In 1945 the public water systems of Newburgh, New York, and Grand Rapids, Michigan, became the first ever to be artificially fluoridated with sodium fluoride. Simultaneously, a group of Wisconsin dentists led by John G. Frisch inaugurated fluoridation in their state. Results of these tests seemed to show that fluoridation reduced dental cavities by as much as two thirds. Based on those results, the United States Public Health Service recommended in 1950 that all United States communities with public water systems fluoridate. Later that year the American Dental Association (ADA) followed suit, and the American Medical Association added its endorsement in 1951.
Even though virtually the entire dental, medical, and public health establishment favored fluoridation, the recommendation was immediately controversial, and has remained so. Opponents objected to fluoridation because of possible health risk (Fluoride is toxic in large amounts) and concerns about being deprived of the choice whether or not to consume a chemical. While referendas have blocked fluoridation in a number of communities, nearly 60 percent of people in the United States now drink fluoridated water. Fluoridation is also practiced in about thirty other countries.
The initial claims that fluoridation of drinking water produced two-thirds less tooth decay have been modified to about 20 to 25 percent reduction. Other ways of applying fluoride have been developed. In the 1950s Procter and Gamble had the idea of adding the chemical to toothpaste. First, researchers at Indiana University had to find a way to keep stannous fluoride from bonding with toothpaste abrasives. Once this problem was overcome, Procter & Gamble introduced its new "Crest-with Fluoristan" in 1956, launched with an advertising blitz that included the popular line "Look, Mom-no cavities!" Four years later, P&G scored a coup when the Council on Dental Therapeutics of the ADA gave Crest its seal of approval as "an effective decay-preventive dentifrice." The ADA now estimates that brushing with fluoride-containing toothpaste reduces tooth decay by as much as 20 or 30 percent.
In addition to toothpaste, fluoride can also be taken in tablet form, and as a solution either "painted" directly onto the teeth or swished around as a mouthwash.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) pp. 254-255.

Nitrous Oxide

The gas nitrous oxide was first identified by Joseph Priestley in 1772. Years later, in the late 1790s, the British chemist Humphry Davy began experimenting with the effects of inhaling nitrous oxide. He noted it exhilarating effects, and the way it made him want to laugh-which gave the gas its popular name of "laughing gas." Davy published his findings in 1800, remarking that "As nitrous oxide...appears capable of destroying pain, it may probably be used with advantage during surgical operation."
Little attention was paid to Davy's observations, or to those of Henry Hill Hickman (1800-1830), a general practitioner from Shropshire, England, who in 1824 explored methods of painless surgery on animals using both carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide gas. Nevertheless, nitrous oxide became widely known in the first half of the nineteenth century. Davy repeatedly demonstrated the gas's exhilarating effect to gatherings of his friends, and inhalation parties became quite popular. Use spread to the United States as traveling lecturers spread knowledge about the new chemistry to the general public, usually including a demonstration of the effects of nitrous oxide inhalation on audience volunteers. One of these public lectures in Hartford, Connecticut, in December 1844, given by Gardner Quincy Colton (1814-1898), was attended by local dentist Dr. Horace Wells (1815-1848). Wells observed that a volunteer, Samuel Cooley, obviously hurt himself while under the influence of nitrous oxide but didn't notice the pain. Wells immediately thought of using the gas to banish pain during tooth extraction; the next day he took some of Colton's gas while a fellow dentist removed one of Well's teeth. As he had expected, Wells felt no pain.
After confirming the anesthetic effect of nitrous oxide on other patients, Wells arranged through his former dental partner, William T. G. Morton (1819-1968), to demonstrate his discovery to a group of Morton's Harvard Medical School classmates in January 1845. Unfortunately, the nitrous oxide was applied incorrectly, and the patient yelped with pain when his tooth was pulled, embarrassing Wells before the group.
After Morton used ether successfully as an anesthetic in 1846, Wells pressed his claims for primacy as the discoverer of anesthesia. Frustrated in these attempts, Wells began to abuse chloroform. He committed suicide in 1848 after being arrested for throwing acid at two women in New York, New York.
Nitrous oxide was finally made a practical anesthetic by Colton in 1863. Edmund Andrews (1824-1904), a Chicago surgeon, began to use nitrous oxide in combination with oxygen in 1868, and as this method gained popularity, nitrous oxide became a staple in surgical as well as dental practice.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Scientific Discovery, Gale, (1994) pp. 476-477.

Novocain

Cocaine was widely used as a local anesthetic after Carl Koller (1857-1944) demonstrated its effectiveness in 1884. By the end of the 1800s, however, the addictive properties of cocaine had been recognized. Doctors, realizing they needed to develop substitutes for cocaine's active anesthetic ingredient, carefully studied the exact chemical structure of cocaine. Many of the first synthetic cocaine products that were developed were to irritating to be of any practical use. The first successful substitute was Ernest Fourneau's (1872-1949) stovaine, discovered in 1904.
Fourneau's product was soon followed, in 1905, by procaine, the discovery of German Alfred Einhorn. Einhorn gave his substance the trade name Novocain, from the Latin novus("new") plus cocaine. Introduced by Heinrich Braun (1862-1934) in 1905, novocain soon showed that it had all the positive effects of cocaine with none of that drug's drawbacks. Guido Fisher popularized Novocain, or procaine, in the United States. Injected by needle Novocain immediately became popular as a local anesthetic for both medical and dental purposes.
Other similar synthetic substitutes for cocaine produced after novocaine include tropocaine, aucaine, monocaine, and lignocaine.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Scientific Discovery, Gale , (1994) p. 480.

Orthodontics

Although teeth-straightening and extraction to improve alignment of remaining teeth has been practiced since early times, orthodontics as a science of its own did not really exits until the 1880s. It had its origins in the first comprehensive treatise on dentistry, The Surgeon Dentist , published in 1728 by Pierre Fauchard (1678-1761>. This volume devoted an entire chapter to tooth irregularities and ways to correct them. The French dentist Bourdet followed Fauchard in 1757 with his book The Dentist's Art, again devoting a chapter to tooth alignment and appliances to correct it. The causes and treatment of dental irregularities were dealt with for English-speaking practitioners in the 1771 book by John Hunter, The Natural History of the Human Teeth.
The emergence of this branch of dentistry as a separate science began in 1841 with coining of the term orthodontia by Lafoulon and the publications of a book by J.M. Alexis Schange on malocclusion-the abnormal fitting of the teeth in the upper and lower jaws. In 1858 the first article on orthodontics written by Norman W. Kingsley appeared. Kingsley was a gifted dentist, writer, and accomplished artist and sculptor. His 1880 Treatise on Oral Deformities served as the catalyst for the new dental science; Kingsley became known as "The Father of Orthodontics." Another landmark work was J.N. Farrar's two volume, profusely illustrated A Treatise on the Irregularities of the Teeth and Their Corrections. Farrar was very adept at designing appliances, and suggested the use of mild force at intervals to move teeth, Farrar, too, is called "The Father of Modern Orthodontics."
The third influential figure in orthodontics was Edward H. Angle (1855-1930), who devised the first simple and logical classification system for malocclusions, which is still used as the basis for orthodontic diagnosis. Angle contributed significantly to the design of orthodontic appliances, incorporating many simplifications. He founded the first school and college of orthodontia, organized the American Society of Orthodontia in 1901, and founded the first orthodontic journal in 1907. His highly praised reference book, Malocclusion of the Teeth , went through seven editions.
Other innovations in orthodontics in the late 1800s and early 1900s included the first textbook on orthodontics for students, published by J.J. Guilford in 1889; Eugene Solomon Talbot's (1847-1924) suggestion to use X-rays for orthodontic diagnosis; and the use of rubber elastics, pioneered by Calvin S. Case (or perhaps H. A. Baker).
Today, developments in orthodontics focus on lighter materials and removable devices for more comfortable and less noticeable appliances. For the bold, braces are now available in a range of colors.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) p. 457.

Tooth-Extraction Devices

In primitive societies teeth have been extracted with a chisel-shaped piece of wood held against the tooth and pounded with a mallet. Early Chinese tooth-pullers used their fingers, strengthening them for the task by spending hours pulling nails out of planks. The ancient Greeks used double-level forceps 300 B.C. while the Romans used forceps of various designs, including a thin-root forceps, and pliers to remove small pieces. Abulcasis (963-1013), an Arab surgeon from Spain, illustrated a number of dental extraction devices in his eleventh-century Treatise on Medicine and Surgery, including elevator chairs, forceps, and lancets for loosening the gum.
Johann Schrenk of Germany used and described an instrument called a pelican -a form of forcepts-in 1481, and a similar device had been illustrated by famed surgeon Guy de Chauliac (c. 1300-1370). In fourteenth-century England barber-surgeons regularly extracted teeth, and their familiar red-and-white barber poles-advertisements they used to indicate they would also bleed the sick-were sometimes adorned with teeth they had pulled.
Renowned French surgeon Ambroise Pare (1510-1590) used a three-instrument approach to tooth extraction: a root-exposure to loosen the gum, a pusher to ease the tooth out of its socket, and a pelican to lift the tooth out. In the late 1500s Fabricius (1537-1619) described nine different pairs of forceps, most named for the mouth or beak of the animal or bird it resembled. Thomaseus devised a heavy-toothed forceps in 1525.
Dutch surgeon Anton Nuck advocated anatomical dental forceps, designed to fit the shape of the teeth they were to extract, in the 1600s, and American dentist, Cyrus Fay, practicing in London, built the first anatomical forceps in 1822. John Tomes (1815-1895) of London also designed anatomically based forceps, in 1841; the French emigre toolmaker Evrard (1800-1882) made the instruments for Tomes.
The dental key was first described in 1725 by Parisian J.C. de Garengeot, who improved but did not invent the device. Its origins are unknown. Unlike the horizontal extractors used up to that time, the key featured a solid handle set at right angles to its long shaft and was turned until the tooth popped out. Unfortunately, the key-extracted tooth often broke, leaving the root behind. John Aitkins of London further refined that device in 1771. Between 1790 and 1840 the battle of the tooth extractors raged; the contestants were the horizontal key and the new vertical tooth-extracting devices which pulled the tooth straight out. Thomas Bruff patented one of the latter devices in 1797.
An improved elevator chair introduced by the French dentist Lecluse in 1750 was still widely used well into the twentieth century. J.J. Serre of Vienna designed a screw for removing root remnants in 1790; it, too, with modifications, continued in use into the 1900s. Americans Horace Wells and W.T.G. Morton used the first general anesthesia for tooth extraction-nitrous oxide and ether-in the mid-1840s, and James Robinson of London was the first to use general anesthesia-ether-in England in 1846.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) p. 635-636.

Toothbrush and Toothpaste

The earliest toothbrushes were simply small sticks, eventually mashed at one end to increase their cleaning surface. Ancient Roman patricians employed special slaves to clean their teeth. Toothbrushing formed part of some ancient religious observances. The bristle brush was probably invented by Chinese; it came to Europe during the seventeenth century and soon was widely used. French dentists, who were the most advanced in Europe at the time, advocated the use of tooth-brushes in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Dentists urged pre-Revolutionary Americans also to use bristle toothbrushes in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Nylon has replaced natural bristles in modern brushes.
Dr. Scott's Electric Toothbrush was marketed in 1880; its manufacturer claimed the brush was "permanently charged with electro-magnetic current." The first real electric toothbrush developed in Switzerland after World War II. This corded model was introduced to the United States market in 1960 by Squibb under the name Broxodent. General Electric followed in 1961 with its rechargeable cordless model. Although it seemed like an odd idea to many people at the time, the electric toothbrush was an immediate success.
Like toothbrushes, compounds for cleaning teeth (and freshening breath) have been used since ancient times. Early Egyptian, Chinese, Greek, and Roman writings describe numerous mixtures for both pastes and powders. The more palatable ingredients included powdered fruit, burnt shells, talc, honey, ground shells, and dried flowers. The less appetizing ingredients included mice, the head of a hare, lizard livers, and urine. Powder and paste formulas continued to proliferate through the Middle Ages. Unfortunately, many of these recipes used agents that corroded or abraded the non-replaceable tooth enamel.
Modern toothpastes began to appear in the 1800s. Peabody suggested adding soap to tooth cleaners in 1824. Chalk was popularized by John Harris in the 1850s, and soon the well-known S.S. White Company introduced a paste in a collapsible tube. Dr. Washington W. Sheffield, a Connecticut dentist, put his popular Dr. Sheffield's Creme Dentifrice, in its collapsible tube, on the market in 1892. The toothpaste tube reigned supreme until 1984, when the pump dispenser-which had originated in Europe-was introduced to the U.S. market. Fluoride was added to toothpaste in 1956, when Proctor & Gamble's launched its Crest product.
Source: Travers, B., ed., World of Invention, Gale, (1994) p. 635.

Dental Jokes

Did you hear about the dentist who planted a garden?
A month later he/she was picking teeth.
What does the dentist of the year get?
A little plaque.
What game did the dentist play when he/she was a child?
Caps and robbers.
What does a dentist do on a roller coaster?
Braces him/herself.
What did the dentist see at the North Pole?
A molar bear.
Where does the dentist get his gas?
At the filling station.
How did the dentist break a mirror?
Acci-DENTAL-ly.
What did the dentist say to the computer?
This won't hurt a byte.
What do dentists like best about amusement parks?
Molar Coasters.

Fun Facts

Did you know?

Natural teeth are meant to last your lifetime.
An athlete without a mouthguard is 60 times more likely to injure his or her teeth.
A toothbrush with frayed or worn-out bristles will not clean teeth properly...you should replace your toothbrush every 3-4 months.
Every person has a set of teeth as unique as fingerprints and even the "dental fingerprints" of identical twins are different.
Next to the common cold, tooth decay remains the most prevalent disease in the United States, even though a third of all youngsters between the ages of 5 and 17 are cavity free.
Toothbrushes with nylon bristles were first developed in 1938.
China developed the first toothbrushes with bristles in 1498.
Materials used in those brushes were bristles from hogs, horses, and badgers.
Interesting Facts and Trivia

Deer have no gall bladders.
A rate can go without water longer than a camel can.
The Statue of Liberty's mouth is 3 feet wide.
In one year, hens in America lay enough eggs to encircle the globe a hundred times.
A sneeze can travel as fast as 100 miles per hour.
One-fourth of the 206 bones in the human body are located in the feet.
There are more television sets in America than there are people in Japan.
Only female mosquitoes bite.
There is no one who does not dream. Those who claim they do not merely forget their dreams more easily than others do.
The Chow is the only dog with a black tongue.
Most American automobile horns beep in the key of F.
In 1915, the average annual family income in the United States was $687 a year.
In 1924, a Ford automobile cost $265.
There are 15,000 kinds of rice.
A mosquito's wings move at the rate of 1000 times a second.
The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
A goldfish has a memory span of three seconds.
There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
A dime has 118 ridges around the edge.
All of the clocks in the movie, "Pulp Fiction" are stuck on 4:20.
No word in the English language rhymes with silver or purple.
It is possible to lead a cow upstairs but not downstairs.
City with the most Rolls Royce's per capita: Hong Kong.
State with highest percentage of people who walk to work: Alaska.
Percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%.
Percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%.
Percentage of men who say they would marry the same woman if they had to do it all over again: 80%.
Percentage of women who say they would marry the same man if they had to do it all over again: 50%.
Percentage of Americans who have visited Disneyland or DisneyWorld: 70%.
San Francisco Cable Cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
No NFL team which plays its home games in a domed stadium has ever won a Superbowl.
Haven't You Ever Wondered...

How come abbreviated is such a long word?
Why do you press harder on a remote when you know the battery is dead?
Why are they called buildings when they are already finished?
Why do people without a watch look at their wrist when you ask them what time it is?
Why do banks charge you a "non-sufficient funds fee" on money they already know you do not have?
Why is the alphabet is in that order?
Why are there 5 syllables in the word "monosyllabic"?
Why they call it the Department of the Interior when they are in charge of everything outdoors?
Why scientists call it research when looking for something new?
If vegetarians eat vegetables, then what do humanitarians eat?
If "con" is the opposite of "pro", then what is the opposite of progress?
Why do we put suits in a garment bag but put garments in a suitcase?
Why are the first three letters in the word diet "DIE"? No wonder this diet is killing me.
If your second doctor has a different opinion, does that make a paradox?
When somebody tells me to restrain myself, does that mean I have to strain twice?
Would a fly without wings be called a walk?
Is there another word for synonym?
What do little birdies see when they are knocked unconscious?
If the police arrest a mime, do they tell him that he has the right to remain silent?
If a turtle doesn't have a shell, is he homeless or naked?
Why do we say things are out of whack? What is a whack?
If a pig loses its voice, is it disgruntled?
If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?
When someone asks you for a "penny for your thoughts" and you put in "your two cents worth", what happens to the other penny?
Why do croutons come in airtight packages? They are just stale bread to begin with.
When cheese gets its picture taken, what does it say?
Why are a wise man and a wise guy opposites?
Why do overlook and oversee mean opposite things?
If horrific means to make horrible, then does terrific mean to make terrible?
Why isn't 11 pronounced onety-one?
"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be "I do" is the longest sentence?
Do Roman paramedics refer to IV's as 4's?
Why is it when someone tells you there are a billion stars in the universe you believe them, but is they tell you a wall has wet paint on it you have to touch it to be sure?
A pat on the back is only a few centimeters from a kick in the pants.
There is never enough time to do it right the first time, but there is always enough time to do it over.
If you are good, you will be assigned all the work. If you are really good, you will get out of it.
There's a fine line between marketing and grand theft.
Can you be a closet claustrophobic?
If nothing ever sticks to Teflon, how do they get Teflon to stick to the pan?
If the pen is mightier than the sword and a picture is worth a thousand words, how dangerous is a fax?
What was the best thing before sliced bread?
How come there aren't B batteries?
What if the Hokey Pokey IS what it is all about?
How do you throw away a garbage can?
How is it possible to have a civil war?
How do they get deer to cross at those yellow signs?
If one synchronized swimmer drowns, do the rest have to drown too?
If a word in the dictionary is misspelled, how would we know?
Why is it that bullets ricochet off of Superman's chest, but he ducks when the gun is thrown at him?
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