Open Wide
True Weird Stuff
Now! Media
4.9 • 655 Ratings
🗓️ 7 March 2026
⏱️ 94 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's True Weird Stuff - Open Wide
In the early 1900s, psychiatrist Dr. Henry Cotton claimed he could cure mental illness by removing hidden infections in the body. His theory led to a shocking medical practice at the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane in Trenton—patients had all of their teeth pulled, tonsils removed, and even parts of their intestines surgically removed in an attempt to eliminate bacteria believed to cause insanity. What started as a revolutionary medical theory quickly spiraled into one of the most disturbing chapters in psychiatric history.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey, true weirdos. Thank you so much for all your support. Because of your support, we were able to win some awards with this podcast in the past year. And be sure to stick around for the conversation we have after the episode. |
| 0:15.5 | It was in 1907. Dr. Henry A. Cotton of Danvers, Massachusetts Hospital for the Insane, will undoubtedly be |
| 0:24.0 | selected this afternoon as medical director of the New Jersey State Hospital for the Insane at Trenton. |
| 0:30.2 | It was a big opportunity, something Henry Cotton could really sink his teeth into. And Dr. Cotton was obsessed with teeth, which you'd expect in a dentist, except Dr. Cotton was a |
| 0:45.1 | psychiatrist. |
| 0:45.7 | The most serious result of infected teeth is to be found in the relation of this infection |
| 0:52.4 | to nervous and mental conditions. We have considered |
| 0:56.1 | mental diseases as something apart from general diseases where such things as worry, grief, |
| 1:03.2 | fear, overwork, and many other elements are usually given as the cause of the disease of the mind. |
| 1:10.5 | Was Dr. Cotton right? Could mental illness be caused by... usually given as the cause of the disease of the mind. |
| 1:12.0 | Was Dr. Cotton right? |
| 1:16.5 | Could mental illness be caused by infected teeth? |
| 1:22.3 | And does that mean he could cure the insane just by yanking out all of their teeth? |
| 1:24.5 | Psychosis isn't a disease. |
| 1:26.2 | It's a symptom. |
| 1:30.7 | Open wide. |
| 1:34.4 | And they got a small beam of light against me. Oh, wow. |
| 1:37.5 | Rule, right. |
| 1:38.8 | Right. |
| 1:39.6 | Oh. |
| 1:40.8 | No. |
| 1:40.9 | No. |
... |
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