Hip Hip Hooray for Modern Dentists

[Martin Milner]

Just had my 6-month checkup & cleaning this morning. All over in 45 minutes, and what a difference the modern experience is to the horrors I suffered as a child. The modern dentist works entirely from behind, so I don't:

a) have to look up his hairy nose
b) see the hideous implements he intends to use on me
c) get pinned into the chair by the dentist's bony knee

I always get a painkilling injection before a filling. In the bad old days this wasn't even offered, so a drill & fill was always a 'mare. If I ever did get an injection, the torturer was sure to show me the giant glass and steel contraption he was going to use, and exult in flashing the steel in the glare of the overhead lights as he plunged it in.

The modern dentist gives me a shaded eyeshield, so I don't have to stare through streaming rabbity eyes into the lights, nor do I get assorted drops of saliva and bits of tooth and tartar flicking into my eyeballs.

Until about five years ago, I had avoided dentists for well over a decade because of the butcher my mother used to take me to. Well do I recall the time he broke a tooth while trying to extract it, and spent the next half hour chiselling away at a growing, gaping, bloody hole in my jaw.

I still don't relish the visit, but at least it doesn't take a bribe to get me in that reclining chair these days.

[Jayhawk]

They're much, much better, but I still think they're evil incarnate...

[dubhlinn]

I had a wisdom tooth removed some years ago .The Dentist knelt on my chest while engaging in a massive tug of war with the tooth.Must have been half an hour before he got it out.

After cleaning me up - my mouth that is - he told me it was so close to the optic nerve that I could have been blinded in that eye if he had not of been so careful...

I have a new dentist nowaday.

Slan,
D.

[djm]

Dentists were forced to moderate their evil ways by market forces - literally, people had stopped coming. That does not, however, entirely mask the inherent sadism in their profession.

And they still earn a small fortune every year. One dentist was telling me of the terrible costs of dentistry school, but then related how a new grad in their first year would expect to make $120-150K in their first year. I can't find too much sympathy.

djm

[Cynth]

It is amazing to me how much dental practice apparently varies. My husband and I are the same age. He went to one of the no-novocaine types as a child. I never had a filling without novocaine and can't imagine living through it. In fact, I always ask them if they use a topical anesthetic on the spot I'm going to get the shot in. Then you don't feel the shot at all.

I once had a dentist who without warning started walking toward me with a syringe pointed at my head. I had no idea I was even getting a filling and I did not take to this well. He said that most people do better if they don't know ahead of time what is going to happen! I never went back there.

Admittedly I have had wonderful luck with my teeth, so I have not had to undergo what some people have. But I say, shop around and find a dentist that understands how you feel! I tell them that I am okay with things but that I need to discuss what they are going to do first so I won't be surprised. If they don't like this, I go to someone else.

[jsluder]

ORIN
When I was younger, just a bad little kid
My mama noticed funny things I did
Like shooting puppies with a B.B. gun
I'd poison guppies and when I was done
I'd find a pussycat and bash in its head
That's when my mama said

CRYSTAL, RONETTE, CHIFFON
What did she say?

ORIN
She said, "My boy, I think someday
You'll find a way to make your natural tendencies pay

You'll be a dentist
You have a talent for causing things pain
Son, be a dentist
People will pay you to be inhumane
Your temperament's wrong for the priesthood
And teaching would suit you still less
Son, be a dentist
You'll be a success


(from Little Shop of Horrors)

[GaryKelly]

"In 1857 two dental organizations were formed in England. One was the Odontological Society of London, dedicated to establishing dentistry as a specialty of medicine or surgery. The other was the College of Dentists of England, with three times as many members, favoring the establishment of an independent profession. Neither organization included a very large percentage of the practicing dentists. Most of them remained aloof and indifferent to the battle.

The unwillingness of either group to compromise and unite prevented the early establishment of either system. Eventually they did unite and the outcome was that the original licensing was under the control of the Royal College of Surgeons, and the diploma awarded was Licentiate in Dental Surgery (L.D.S.); but the profession has evolved as an independent profession.

Early dental practice acts in England were so faulty and full of loopholes that effective regulation of the profession was not achieved until 1921."
(from http://www.dental%2Dsite.itgo.com/history.htm )

Frankly, imho, the single biggest technological advance in dentistry remains the invention of the electric motor. The "Drill 'em, fill 'em, rip 'em out" policy doesn't seem to have changed much over the last century or so.

For an interesting look at the history behind this much-loved and deeply respected 'medical science', this page is worth a look (particularly the bit where the lawyer gets shot by a dentist - where do your sympathies lie?):

http://cudental.creighton.edu/htm/history.htm

[susnfx]

Isn't that a coincidence! Just last night I saw film clips of "Marathon Man" where evil dentist Laurence Olivier is torturing Dustin Hoffman with dental procedures. I quickly closed my eyes, covered my ears, cringing and begging my daughter to turn off the tv. I couldn't watch it. Still makes me shudder just thinking about it. That was truly awful.

Susan

[missy]

I don't mind dentists - it's orthodontists that I wonder about.....

My oldest had some very extensive and long term stuff done. 3 years in "railroad tracks", Jasper jumpers, power chains, rubberbands, etc. Now he has a permanent retainer. The orthodontist retired after Nate was done.

Oh - and I just had to pay an oral surgeon cuz Nate had four impacted wisdom teeth extracted.

Now, Noah needs "rail road tracks" and rubber bands, but only for 6 months (and a permanent retainer afterwards). I think the ortho that bought out the group when the above retired needs a new boat or something.........

I have dental insurance and it STILL costs a fortune for these kid's teeth!!!

[Brigitte]

I just come from the dentist.... I was frightened for over 30 years with dentists because of one bad experience in childhood, too and always changed from one to the other but never felt comfy. Then I thought I had found a good one and he convinced me I need some crowns for my front teeth 5 years ago.... nightmare since then as they from the beginning never fitted properly. Didgeplaying more than half an hour was a problem, start bleeding and other unnice things.... this scared me even more and I was horrified to do it all again and get them exchanged.... It took me five more years til I found another dentist I feel I have to give a chance and trust. The crowns were taken out today and I have them now as a trophy. I feel like a fish, still numb up to my nose but some feelings are already coming back in my gums and I will take one of these nice painkillers I have left over from a month ago when I lost my wisdom tooth by the same dentist , definitely will sleep like dead with this. It will take about half a year until I will see myself with proper crowns again, til then it will be all provisional to let the gums heal. I hope it all works out well this time, he promised me. Would be great to have some kind of horse-similar teeth, they just keep growing all your life and you file them down... or having a third pair growing in your midlife time would be great, too.....
Brigitte

[Charlene]

I wish we had another set of teeth come in every 10 years or so! It's just silly that we lose our baby teeth starting about age 6 and that's what we have for the next 70 or 80 years! Why aren't scientists working on combining human tooth DNA with shark tooth DNA or something like that?

I haven't been in about 2 years and I know I need to. It's so expensive. My old dentist has retired and I'm not overly thrilled with his partner who is still there. Had 2 root canals - the first one with the nice dentist went very smoothly but the second with the partner took forever both to do the work and then to get back to normal afterwards.

I've always had novacaine with fillings or crowns. Can't even imagine having any dental work done other than cleaning without something! Years ago my dentist gave me laughing gas a few times along with the novacaine but they don't anymore. There's a TV set mounted in the ceiling and they give me a remote but since I take my glasses off while they are working I can't really see the TV. Plus even with cable there's nothing worth watching anyway.

[perrins57]

Dentistry was better when I was a kid, now they wont give me a sticker!

[missy]

aaww - here ya go:

[perrins57]

Thanks, you've made my day

I got a sticker.

[emmline]

I loved Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon.