A BITE OUT OF HISTORY #4 Dentist Thomas Bramwell Welch (1825-1903) of Vineland, New Jersey, created an unfermented grape sugar in 1869 that he called "Dr. Welch's Unfermented Wine." In 1869, William F. Semple (1834-1922), a dentist in Ohio was the first inventor to patent chewing gum. Semple hoped that people would be able to clean their teeth with it. Dentist William James Morrison (1860-1926) of Nashville, Tennessee, invented the cotton candy machine, called the Fairy Floss Machine, in the nineteenth century. The machine that he designed still works today just as it did then. Reprinted with permission from "Toothworms and Spider Juice: An Illustrated History of Dentistry" - Loretta Frances Ichord, Millerbrook Press. Back to Topics