Mollie Maggia, who had worked at the Orange, New Jersey, plant for four years, began complaining of severe mouth pain. The initial effects of radium seemed harmless, and the substance was popular amongst the younger girls in the factory. The Unbelievable True Story Of Americas Radium Girls. The U.S. Radium Corporation had insisted that its product was safe. GREAT NEWS! By 1924, when dozens of radium girls were sick or dead, an independent study one that USRC didnt pay for established that radioactive paint is indeed hazardous when ingested. In 1928, Sabin Von Sochocky, one of the founders of the U.S. Radium Corporation and the man who had actually invented the radium-laced paint, died from exposure to his own product. Upon closer examination he found extensive deterioration of her lower jaw bone and tissue damage from the radiation. All photos uploaded successfully, click on the Done button to see the photos in the gallery. The email does not appear to be a valid email address. In 2015, she was 104 years old and had worked for USRC at 16. Sorry! | Your Scrapbook is currently empty. Mollie Maggia went to the dentist in 1921 with a bad tooth. One year after Mollie's death, Grace, by then a bank teller, began experiencing back and foot pain. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate, or jump to a slide with the slide dots. They erected a tent over it and removed the headstone. Sometimes, Knef didn't even have to pull her teeth anymore; they fell out on their own. The Radium Girls ingested radioactive radium through the special paint formula they used to paint the dials on clocks, watches, aircraft instruments and other applications. Amelia "Mollie" Maggia was just in her early 20s, and never before had dental problems. Use Escape keyboard button or the Close button to close the carousel. He consumed approximately 1,400 bottles over a two year period, and consequently his jaw practically disintegrated, holes formed in his skull, and he suffered bone decay and infections throughout his body. A 50s Radium Dial, previously exposed tu UV-A light. But its not all doom and gloom for those of us who identify as the fairer sex. Oops, some error occurred while uploading your photo(s). But you wont often read their names in the history books, for today the individual radium girls have largely been forgotten. Filed under jennifer aydin , . She suffered not only from the pain, but also from the unique smell of the rotting teeth and gums. To view a photo in more detail or edit captions for photos you added, click the photo to open the photo viewer. Are you adding a grave photo that will fulfill this request? It was literally boring holes inside them, "Mr. Savoy said that it wasnt dangerous, that we didnt need to be afraid.". With war declared, hundreds of working-class women flocked to the studio where they were employed to paint watches and military dials with the new element radium, which had been discovered by Marie Curie a little less than 20 years before.