An American in the early 20th century made himself jaws with coyote teeth from toothbrushes

In the early twentieth century a poor but resourceful American had no teeth, so he melted down two toothbrushes, shaped the plastic as required and made himself a new set of jaws with coyote teeth. When, in the 1940s, a professional dentist heard the inventor's story, he offered to exchange the coyote teeth for a pair of proper dentures. From then on this monument to human ingenuity was kept in the doctor's family, until it passed into the collection of the Eastern California Museum in Independence