My grandparents both had all their teeth out in their 20s as a proactive health move. This was in Edinburgh. They are in their 80s now, so I guess this was 60 years ago.
I was chatting to my mid-80's grandmother only recently when she casually mentioned that she had all her (still relatively healthy) teeth removed before her wedding, essentially as a benefit to her husband-to-be as the above post suggests.
My grandmother made it sound like it was a standard thing to do here in Australia in the 1930s/40s - whereas I'm still shaking my head.
What is the nationality of your grandparents? Was this a Scottish/UK thing? While the practices seems crazy and very painful, I suspect that over a life time it is quite cost effective. I wonder if anyone with a dental background hangs around here who knows a bit about this arcane seeming practice
