box of ivories

A wonderfully old-fashioned slang term for a set of human teeth — playfully comparing the mouth full of teeth to a box of ivory pieces, like the white keys on a piano or actual carved ivory. The phrase belongs to the witty, visual slang of 19th-century British and American informal speech. While nobody talks this way anymore, it has a charming quality and occasionally surfaces in period fiction, comedy, and historical wordplay. Dentists could theoretically use it for branding, but probably shouldn't.