My dentist quickly disabused me of the notion of wooden teeth, instead explaining of how battlefields throughout history became prime pickings for human teeth to be used in dentures.
So curious, I poked around the internet and found, indeed, that during the Regency era this was common practice.
According to one source, “Teeth of young solidiers struck down in the prime of life were apt to be vibrant and health, and at Waterloo, 50,000 corpses provided a bounteous harvest…” (Wynbrandt, 2015). You can even now view some of the famous Waterloo teeth at the British Dental Association museum (https://bda.org/museum/collections/teeth-and-dentures/waterloo-teeth).
Replacement teeth were also often made from ivory from elephants, hippos and walruses. Human teeth looked more natural. Both decayed at a similar rate.
Human teeth would be set in an ivory base with a spring system along the jaw. Expensive, these would have been largely for the upper class.
Resurrectionists were also a common harvest method for non-war time.
For more info: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33085031#:~:text=In%20the%20middle%20years%20of,the%20place%20of%20real%20teeth.
Wynbrandt, J. (2015). The Excruciating History of Dentistry. London: St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
