Author Topic: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2  (Read 338597 times)

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Offline edubs31

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #915 on: October 01, 2012, 10:23:03 AM »
That must be something that all dentists worldwide are trained to do in Dental School - ask their patients questions while their mouths are otherwise engaged.   

lol, totally. I'm always getting multiple questions that I cannot physically answer and then trying to play catch up once I'm given a break to rinse. "Oh wait a second Doc before you start drilling my teeth again let me answer question #2 of 5 that you asked before our last break".

Nicholas was said to be terrified of receiving dental treatment I believe. I'm sure he had pretty bad teeth by today's standards because of it, but then their diets contained less sugar and crap than most ours do today. Nicholas didn't seem to have much interest in cuisine and ate pretty much whatever was placed in front of him without objection. Still I'm sure the family was getting the best of the best in terms of quality. Someone today who ate what they did and went to the dentist regularly would probably have pretty perfect teeth I'd imagine.

@BlessOTMA - I too am pretty astonished with their complexion and hair (at least as far as we can tell from black & white photos of early-20th century quality). I'm not terribly educated about the world of cosmetics but how did women, who had money, deal with unsightly pimples and other blemishes back in the day? Lather on the make up to hide them I would imagine? There couldn't have been much treatment otherwise. I'm guessing they had to just pop the damn thing and give themselves a nice wash with soap. Of course I'm not sure how much better the stuff we have today is. I had my fair share of pimples during my adolescent phase and the crap I used to use never seemed to be any more effective that just washing with normal soap and keeping my face as clean as possible.
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Offline Kalafrana

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #916 on: October 01, 2012, 10:45:54 AM »
One of the points which emerged from the examination of the remains, as recorded in FOTR was the awful state of Nicholas's teeth. The state of one's teeth is not simply a matter of diet and how often one goes to the dentist. I grew up with parents who were very serious about teeth-cleaning and no sweets between meals, and going to the dentist regularly. Guess what - my remaining natural teeth are all filled and I have quite a few missing. My theory is that people start off with basically sound teeth or not. Basically sound teeth will survive a certain amount of abuse (it's like people such as Winston Churchill, who smoke and still live to be 90!). Basically non-sound teeth can be prevented from being worse than they have to be by sensible eating, regular cleaning and regular treatment, but will never become good teeth.

I think Nicholas started out with basically non-sound teeth, and did himself absolutely no favours by avoiding the dentist!

Arthur N David records that when he first treated him the Kaiser's teeth needed quite a lot of work, but he was subsequently a regular visitor to his surgery - about 100 times in 12 years, which averages out at once every six weeks. Davis, however, says very little about the actual treatment (patient confidentiality).

Ann

Offline Maria the Beautiful

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #917 on: October 01, 2012, 12:03:45 PM »
Arthur N David records that when he first treated him the Kaiser's teeth needed quite a lot of work, but he was subsequently a regular visitor to his surgery - about 100 times in 12 years, which averages out at once every six weeks. Davis, however, says very little about the actual treatment (patient confidentiality).

Does anyone know if they had dental floss or the like back then?   I doubt they realized back then the importance of flossing, so it could be that those visits at six-week intervals were for mainly a good cleaning.   Yilk!  What a conversation to be having while I'm eating my lunch!

Offline blessOTMA

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #918 on: October 01, 2012, 11:11:15 PM »

I think Nicholas started out with basically non-sound teeth, and did himself absolutely no favours by avoiding the dentist!
Ann
I believe that is right...and yet their dentist visited them in Siberia. They had access to dental care even in captivity.  AF was identified in part by the cutting edge dentistry  she had...and I think the girl's had it as well

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Offline edubs31

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #919 on: October 01, 2012, 11:47:55 PM »
Would I be correct in assuming that Alexei probably had very poor dental care. I don't imagine they could have risked any kind of work on his mouth without the constant threat of his hemophilia acting up. I wouldn't even think he could have brushed his teeth for the fear of a simple bleeding of the gums. It would have to be a brush with very soft bristles, no?

Also do we know anything of the problems he might have had losing his baby teeth. Often some mild bleeding comes with that, but of course nothing is mild when talking about a hemophiliac. Fortunately cuts in the mouth do seem to heal very quickly so maybe the Tsarevich wasn't in as much danger as I'd assume?

Oh and just so we keep this all on topic, YKYOWTR when you're up posting questions about their dental treatment at 12:45am on a work night :-)
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Ortipo

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Jen_94

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #921 on: October 02, 2012, 11:01:04 AM »
Ooooh wow! I want that!

Offline blessOTMA

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #922 on: October 03, 2012, 09:49:44 PM »
Would I be correct in assuming that Alexei probably had very poor dental care. I don't imagine they could have risked any kind of work on his mouth without the constant threat of his hemophilia acting up. I wouldn't even think he could have brushed his teeth for the fear of a simple bleeding of the gums. It would have to be a brush with very soft bristles, no?
very interesting points, however I believe the main danger with the disease is internal injury, so perhaps " getting thier teeth picked at "as Olga called it, might not be as much of a problem since any injury would be external could be treated ...but then again anything could cause an internal injury ...
Quote
Oh and just so we keep this all on topic, YKYOWTR when you're up posting questions about their dental treatment at 12:45am on a work night :-)
LOL!

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GrandDuchessIzabella

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #923 on: October 05, 2012, 04:01:48 PM »
YKYOWTR when they are all you think about in your Chemistry lesson once you see Damstadium on your periodic table.

historyfan

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #924 on: October 31, 2012, 09:04:27 AM »
When, anytime you see a figure with a date of birth in the late 1890s or early 1900s, you think, "Oh, they were the same age as (name a Grand Duchess)."

Offline edubs31

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #925 on: October 31, 2012, 09:55:07 AM »
Haha, good call! I was looking up Babe Ruth stats the other day and I'll be darned if I didn't pause to think for a moment realizing that he was born the same year (1895) as Olga N.

How is it that despite being somewhat more famous, living considerably longer, and excelling in a profession that is still hugely popular today (unlike, say, royalty that seems so out of date with the times), Ruth seems so ancient to me and Olga and her siblings seem so contemporary?
Once in a while you get shown the light, in the strangest of places if you look at it right...

Offline TimM

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #926 on: October 31, 2012, 05:22:25 PM »
Perhaps because OTMA died much younger than Ruth did.
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historyfan

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #927 on: October 31, 2012, 05:25:00 PM »
Perhaps because OTMA died much younger than Ruth did.

And that's the other thing - when so-and-so, born same year as Grand Duchess Whoever Nikolaevna, died in their ripe old ages, I often think, "Wonder if Grand Duchess Whoever would have lived that long also?"

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Offline edubs31

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #928 on: October 31, 2012, 06:03:45 PM »
That's probably part of it...the whole dying young thing.

But even if they'd all lived til 90 we would still have the photos from their youth to look at. Olga and Xenia A survived the revolution and yet 90% of the pictures I see are of them as younger women during the empire. My mental image of both are as 20 or 30-somethings.

The other explanation is that there is just something timeless and special about OTMAA that transcends age, area, and history :-)
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Offline TimM

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Re: You know you're obsessed with the Romanovs when... Part 2
« Reply #929 on: November 01, 2012, 01:06:13 AM »
The late Queen Mother was a contemporary of the Little Pair, she was born in  1900, right between Maria and Anastasia.  The QM lived for over a hundred years.  I've seen pictures of her as a young woman, but I always picture her old.

Same with Queen Victoria.  I think most picture her as an old woman, even though she was quite young (18) when she came to the throne.
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