Today is Presidents Day, a time for Americans to honor and remember the founding fathers.

And in Baltimore, it's also a good reminder to floss.

For while George Washington gave so much to his country, the family of Washington's dentist gave his false teeth to Baltimore. And if that's not worth a plug in the history books, at least it was worth a dollar off admission to the National Museum of Dentistry on Greene Street Sunday, in honor of its most cherished artifact.

The pre-Presidents Day promotion (the museum isn't opened on Mondays) has become somewhat of its own tradition at the Smithsonian-affiliated gallery attached to the nation's first dental school at the University of Maryland. Filled with historic and sometimes cringe-inducing gadgets from the history of tooth repair, the gallery also contains educational displays promoting oral hygiene.

And if a gaze at the first president's spring-loaded dental contraption is not an inducement to brush, nothing ever could be.

"When you think about today, if President Obama took office in that sort of condition, people would be appalled," said museum executive director Jonathan Landers. "And that's really what this museum is about - the great strides that we've made in oral health."

Legend holds that Washington's second inaugural address was so brief - and the shortest ever - largely because of the discomfort and embarrassment caused by his teeth. The dentures on display downtown have sharp wires protruding from the back and a round hole on the right side so that Washington's lone remaining tooth could hold them in place.

Legend also holds that Washington's dentures were carved of wood, but that tale is dispelled by a visit to the second floor.

Patrons who enter the 7,000-square-foot space first encounter an exhibit called "Fabulous feats of amazing teeth," with stories of circus acts and uncanny displays of super-toothed strength. Beyond are displays of vintage brushes, toothpastes and early television commercials. (One features Bill Cosby portraying tooth decay who would like to do its job, but instead is on vacation because of Crest toothpaste.)

Up the stairs, past the exhibit called "Cloves, whiskey and laughing gas: The road to pain relief," but not as far as the one titled: "Saliva: A remarkable fluid," is the Washington room. There, under glass, lay the former president's false teeth. A donation from the family of their creator, New York dentist John Greenwood, the teeth are made of hippopotamus ivory, as were the dentures of any 18th-century American of means or consequence, Landers said.

Seva Polotsky of Pikesville has lived in the Baltimore area since 1998 - two years after the exhibition hall opened - but hadn't heard of the museum until Alex, his brother in New Jersey, proposed a visit. On Sunday he, Alex and their five children roamed the exhibits, the kids flossing giant molars, dressing up like hygienists and peering deep into each other's dental work.

They hadn't been upstairs yet to see the prized presidential prosthesis. But upon being reminded that Presidents Day was looming, Polotsky paused to reflect on the historical consonance of it all.

"I hadn't thought of that," Polotsky said. "But everyone knows he had bad teeth!"

Museum spokeswoman Amy Pelsinsky, the driving force behind the Presidents Day promotion, said George Washington is still giving something back, drawing people into the museum.

"They're not sure what to expect but they leave smiling," she said, before adding, perhaps optimistically: "And brushing!"

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