17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Thursday, June 19, 1912: Pulled a tooth for Jimmie. It was the first one to go, and then he got another yanked out before the day was over.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
How did Grandma pull her little brother’s baby tooth? Did she tie a string around it and pull? . . . twist and wiggle the tooth back and forth with her finger? . . . give it a quick tug?
A Hundred Years Ago 
Oh the memory of it! My first tooth was pulled by my first grade nun. I was out at recess and the wiggly tooth was at the end of its tether and I told the nun. She said “let me see” and she yanked it out and then there was a gush of blood and she told an older child to take me to the “lavatory” and wash out my mouth. I didn’t mind so much but she took me by surprise. I guess the old “ripping off the bandaid” method is the best. What can you say but ouch?
Whew, that sounds like a tough way to lose your first tooth.
Ouch !! Hope the tooth fairy came.
So do I! 🙂
I guess I pulled my own first tooth… I don’t remember anyone doing it for me and I think I would have remembered that. I surely hope these were baby teeth we’re talking about here. I wonder if there was as much tooth trouble as there is today in adults back then, and if so I wonder how they took care of it? Pretty hard to contemplate, for sure.
Yes, it was a baby tooth. Jimmie was 6-years-old.
Sometimes I think that dental problems were worse a hundred years ago. In 1911, Grandma wrote six diary entries about a tooth ache and several trips to the dentist. The final post about it was on July 6:
https://ahundredyearsago.com/2011/07/06/finally-got-cavities-filled/