Ledger and casebook of an unknown dentist practicing in Peru, Illinois, 1854-1856. The volume was published by H.N. Wadsworth, dentist of Georgetown, D.C., under the title Wadsworth’s Day Book, Ledger, and Dental Recorder: Simplified and Combined for the Use of the Dental Profession (New York: Clark, Austin and Co., 1851). Illustrations of the upper and lower teeth are printed at the top of each page and by using symbols provided by Wadsworth, the dentist could tell at a glance which teeth had been extracted, filled, or replaced with false teeth. The rest of the page was used to keep financial accounts for each patient.

There are accounts for 112 patients as well as several pages of single-line entries for “transient business.” The bulk of this dentist’s work appears to have been extractions and fillings but he also made plates and sold toothpaste.