Early 1900s NYC Dental Record Odontogram & Patient Ledger C.E. Shepard
$ 11.09
Description
Early 1900s NYC Dental Record Odontogram & Patient Ledger C.E. Shepard. The physical condition of this piece is consistent with its age and storage history. The paper has aged to a warm yellowish-brown tone and shows the expected edge wear, minor chipping, and brittleness along the margins. This is an original early twentieth-century dental record, a combined odontogram and patient payment ledger from the private office archive of a practicing dentist. The sheet was manufactured by the C. E. Shepard Company of New York, bearing the form number 72873, and has been used to document a patient’s dental treatment history and financial account over a period of approximately three years. The printed column headers for date, chart number, time, debit, payment date, and credit are filled in with period handwritten entries in ink, recording specific services, fees, and payments received. The odontogram, or tooth chart, which would have graphically depicted the patient’s dental conditions and restorations, is present on the form and is a central feature of this type of dental ephemera, showing the clinical markings used to track treatment such as fillings, extractions, or planned work. The ledger side of the card provides a detailed financial record of the dental practice, including debits for services rendered and credits for payments made. The entries reflect the routine business of a period dental office, with notations for procedures and associated costs. The patient’s name and address are recorded on the form, and while the full street address is not reproduced here, the record is associated with a specific individual, offering potential research value for genealogists or historians of medicine and dentistry. The item is from the early decades of the 1900s, a time when restorative dentistry was advancing with the use of gold and porcelain inlays, amalgam fillings, and other period techniques that may be referenced in the treatment notes. The physical condition of this piece is consistent with its age and storage history. The paper has aged to a warm yellowish-brown tone and shows the expected edge wear, minor chipping, and brittleness along the margins. There is a clear original fold line across the sheet, and the item may be shipped folded along that same line to preserve its integrity. Some light staining and handling marks are present, along with the remnants of a filing hole or attachment point, indicating it was once part of a larger office filing system. This is a genuine piece of medical ephemera, a named patient account card that offers a direct window into the administrative and clinical practices of early dentistry in the United States. It will be of particular interest to collectors of dental antiques, medical history ephemera, and those researching the social history of healthcare or the genealogy of a specific family. PLEASE NOTE: This item may be shipped according to how it was originally folded.
