Today, pictorial art is often used for archaeological but also odontological purposes.

Let’s take the example of George Washington (1732–1799). It is common knowledge that this former president of the United States of America did not have teeth at the end of his life, that he saw eight dentists so that they would make him dentures that were always doomed to fail. Moreover, he greatly corresponded with one of them, John Greenwood (1760–1819) who was said to have made his last dentures. It is well–known that he greatly suffered from his teeth all his life. The best testimony of this fact is a series of three paintings, achieved at different stages of his life. They represent as such an indelible mark, an undeniable vestige of the age–related oral alteration of George Washington’s face (Towe, 2001).