The Real Reason Amish Women Pull Their Teeth

Let's do a quick recap of our general Amish knowledge. One: Lots of them live in Pennsylvania. Two: They've mastered the art of not only woodcraft but also marketing boutique woodcrafting businesses. Three: The men all have beards. Four: The women don't cut their hair. And five: As Weird Al wrote in 1996's classic parody track "Amish Paradise," they shun fancy things like electricity, fool. Those are all true, right? Right. Then there's this odd nugget that keeps circulating online: The Amish have bad dental hygiene and their women yank out their teeth on a whim. Is this true? Stated like that, no. But in some ways, yes.

Amish dental care is definitely an object of strange interest in online spheres. There are articles straight-up calling Amish parents negligent for not taking care of their kids' teeth. There's a now-dead Cambridge article titled, "Why Do Amish Women Have Perfect Teeth?" There are scholarly articles from multiple journals about Amish dental practices published on the National Library of Medicine, and a 2018 paper published on ResearchGate addressing the relationship between tooth loss and obesity in Amish women. There was even a girl named Rebecca on the reality show "Breaking Amish" whose parents removed all of her teeth at age 19. Cue the rumors that the Amish punish their children with tooth removal.

So what's the real deal with Amish, and Amish women specifically, pulling teeth? The truth is that yes, Amish people do typically pull their teeth sooner than non-Amish. But it's not a random, willy-nilly choice. It's part frugality, part vanity deterrent, part reliance on home remedies, and 100% intentional.

So here's a scenario for you: You live a life removed from modernity except for those ways that don't defy the religious precepts that guide your life. You own farms, sometimes quite large, but use traditional, non-mechanical, horse-drawn plows across your fields. You make money from these farms and through woodworking, textiles, baked goods, and such. Some of your peers are fairly well-off, but the median household income for most of them, including you, is nothing crazy (some estimates say $42,000). Also, each of your households typically has seven to eight kids, and you don't have health insurance. Now, let's say just one of those kids gets sick or has a toothache. Do you shell over hundreds, possibly thousands of dollars to patch up a cavity when more might pop up next week? 

Realistically, this is the situation facing most Amish — men and women alike, old and young alike. It's simply not financially feasible to play mechanic with one mouth after another, tinkering with tooth after tooth so that everyone looks like a red-carpet celebrity. Amish engage in preventative dental care like anyone else, in their own way and according to their own methods. But if teeth get to the point where there's decay and someone is in pain? Yanking the tooth is the likely option. This might seem strange to contemporary people, but losing a tooth or two — or even a whole bunch — doesn't really seem like a big deal to the Amish. 

What, oh what, must the Amish think of modernity's absurd vanity and self-absorption, especially in online circles? There's really no need to wonder. The Amish live according to values of modesty, simplicity, humility, and devotion to one's faith. It's all there in the lifestyle and clothing. Amish women make their own clothes from simple materials and in an unassuming fashion, eschewing gaudy colors and revealing designs. Amish men wear humble, traditional pants and shirts. They often even abstain from using buttons because they would have to be purchased. Women also generally don't wear makeup, keep their hair long, tie it up in a bun, and wear bonnets.

Even bearing all this in mind, the connection between Amish modesty and dental practices might not be clear. But let's be honest: Why do many people get their teeth professionally cleaned and cavities filled? Sure, folks want to eliminate pain. But the bad tooth can also be pulled, so pain relief can't be the only reason. You also don't need all your molars to chew. Some folks might be motivated by health reasons to keep all their teeth, true. But ultimately, it's reasonable to conclude that many don't want to have their teeth pulled for cosmetic reasons. It looks ugly, it looks funny, it makes a person look old, etc. But as Amish Rules politely says, the Amish "tend to prioritize function over appearance when it comes to dental care." If a tooth is bad, they get rid of it. That's that.

If it isn't clear by now, the Amish have their own way of doing things, even when it comes to issues of health. We already mentioned that they don't have health insurance. This isn't a mark of well-being in and of itself, as having insurance is no guarantee — it's more of a "just in case" thing peppered with some preventative care options. As Side Effects Public Media explains, some Amish do go to the doctor when necessary. In the Amish community in Holmes, Ohio, all members pay $90 to $110 every month into a pot that's used to pay medical bills as needed. Teeth, however, seem to be a lower priority than any serious medical complication (though research has shown that a lack of teeth can cause health issues, including heart problems).

Rather than rush to a dentist right away, Amish women and men have a suite of home remedies to address tooth-related issues. As expected, such remedies are herbal or non-pharmaceutical in nature. One such treatment available on The Amish Trading Post contains a bunch of natural ingredients: black walnut hull, comfrey, white oak bark, marshmallow root, peppermint leaf, shavegrass, plus alcohol. You put a couple drops in water, take a swig, and churn it all around at meals and before bed — precisely when tooth pain is likely to bother a person. Such remedies can relieve pain, but they can't address root dental problems. So if something serious comes up or if a tooth is beyond saving, then it's extraction time.