Thomas Berdmore

Who was Thomas Berdmore?

Thomas Berdmore was dentist to King George III. He was born around 1740 and died in 1785.

He may have been apprenticed to Mark Skelton of Sheffield, Surgeon, in 1755 for the sum of £85. In due course he became renowned as the King's Dentist.

A marble plaque in the church of St Mary the Virgin, Nottingham, records how he "acquired a liberal and ample fortune by the profession of dentist. He died the 7th Novr 1785, aged 45 years". His will had directed that his epitaph show his fortune had been acquired "by tooth drawing", but the family had found that too indelicate. As early as 1768, in what seems to have been the first English dental textbook, he had proclaimed the use of sugar as being bad for the teeth.

His book is entitled: A treatise on the disorders and deformities of the teeth and gums: explaining the most rational methods of treating their diseases: illustrated with cases and experiments, by Thomas Berdmore, member of the Surgeons Company, and dentist in ordinary to His Majesty. London: Printed for the author; Sold by Benjamin White ... James Dodsley ... and Becket and De Hondt ..., 1770.