The BDA Museum has assisted a team from the Joint Casualty and Compassionate Centre (JCCC, based at Imjin Barracks, Gloucestershire) with the identification of a set of dentures recovered from World War One. Their aim is to try to identify remains of service personnel from the First and Second World Wars using any personal or regimental artefacts that may have been located. The team will then organise a military burial for the servicemen and invite any known family members.

This upper vulcanite denture (pictured) with porcelain teeth was found in 2013 in Ypres, Belgium. The description stated that the denture was inscribed with the name 'Rauhe'; this prompted JCCC to pose the question, 'Could this be the patient, dentist or technician, or some sort of military mark'? At the outbreak of the First World War, civilian dentists' and technicians' skills were in demand to treat the troops to make them dentally fit. Extraction and the fitting of dentures was the usual course of treatment. These dentures were generally not marked by the technician. However, a reference to the marking of wartime dentures was made by Mr A. Taylour of Tolworth Surrey in his description of the first major dental laboratory unit in northern England. 'The dental section of the RAMC in the Northern Command was started in the early spring of 1916 at The Second Northern General East Leeds War Hospital. ... It was found much better to allow each mechanic to complete a denture from start to finish. A prefix letter referred to the camps in the Northern Command where a dental officer was stationed, eg A Alnwick, S Scotton, R Redcar etc'.

However, on receipt of images of the dentures from JCCC, the markings were found to relate to the suction disc. In 1905, Carl Rauhe of Dusseldorf patented the process of moulding a stud or button into the vulcanite base. His further patent, filed in the USA on 24 October 1911, was for attaching a rubber disk to the stud. His invention was then patented in England, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary and Belgium. The studs and disks were sold by C Ash, Sons and Co Ltd throughout the war.