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Elvis Presley’s false tooth delivered to Bracknell dentist too late

By | Published on Tuesday 3 June 2014

Elvis Presley

An exciting day of mouth cancer checks was ruined for a Berkshire dental clinic when FedEx failed to deliver a false tooth made for Elvis Presley. Instead, the delivery company mistakenly provided a box of boring old dental equipment meant for somewhere else.

‘The King’s Crown’, as it’s apparently known, was meant to be the centrepiece of a mouth cancer awareness day at the Appledore Dental Clinic in Bracknell, but was instead sent to an address in Dundee. FedEx was alerted to the mistake, but the package arrived at its intended destination five hours late.

Dr Teresa Day, from the clinic, told the BBC: “It was supposed to arrive before 10am with a load of memorabilia, including costumes and a lock of Elvis’ hair, but instead we got a small package containing dentistry equipment meant for a clinic on the Isle Of Wight. It put a dampener on the days’ events and left us ‘all shook up’ because we weren’t all able to dress up as we’d hoped, and patients coming to the clinic to have their free mouth cancer checks were left disappointed when the crown wasn’t there”.

Presley’s false tooth is currently on a tour of the UK to promote mouth cancer awareness. The replacement tooth, and mould of Presley’s mouth in which it sits, was donated by Canadian dentist Michael Zuk, who bought it at auction for $11,000 in 2011. Presley never actually used the crown, having died the day after he visited his dentist to have the mould made.

Attempting to allay fears that future dental events might be ruined, a FedEx spokeperson said: “Once we were informed of this situation we quickly located the correct package in accordance with our normal procedures and made the necessary arrangements to ensure it arrived at the correct destination promptly. We are in touch with the customer to ensure that the Elvis Presley dental crown delivery arrives safely and on time at its next destination”.

If all goes to plan, you’ll be able to see the fake incisor for yourself at Advance Dental in Barry on 6 Jun, Smile Style Dental in Stafford on 10 Jun and Castle Park Dental in Cottingham near Hull on 17 Jun.

This is not, incidentally, the only celebrity tooth owned by Michael Zuk. As previously reported, he also owns one of John Lennon’s real teeth, which he plans to use to clone the former Beatle in 2040 (to mark what would have been Lennon’s 100th birthday, obviously).



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