Hazardous Hairdo

In Colorado Springs, the young woman in Dentist Walter Cogswell's office pointed to some ugly notches in her upper front teeth. "They are unsightly, doctor," she complained. "What causes them?" No, she wasn't in the habit of holding a pencil or any other hard object in her teeth.

"Please give me one of your bobby-pins," said Dentist Cogswell. The patient took one out of her hair. "Now put it back." The young woman promptly popped the pin into her mouth and opened it with one of her notched teeth before slipping it into her hair.

Like Archimedes in his bathtub, Dentist Cogswell felt a thrill of important discovery. He rushed to the adjoining offices of his father and two brothers (also dentists) and announced that he had solved a problem which has puzzled U.S. dentists for years: What causes the notches on millions of U.S. women's upper front teeth?

To check Walter's bobbypin theory, the Cogswells examined hundreds of stenographers, nurses and housewives. Sure enough, three out of five had the telltale notches. Many, completely unaware of their habit, indignantly denied that they ever used their teeth to open bobbypins. But Dr. Walter's test generally proved that they did. He also found that notched teeth were most common in young women aged 17 to 24. Under the microscope, the bobbypins were found to have sawtooth edges that "raise the dickens with teeth."

Last week the Dentists Cogswell detailed their findings in Dental Digest, and announced that they had devised a handy gadget to save what is left of U.S. women's teeth: a plastic plate (called "Bobopen") that fits over the teeth and has a notch made specially for opening bobbypins.

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