I have a question about long ago dentistry

MelodyL · 08-31-2010, 09:41 PM

I went to another state (West Virginia), I think, and they had a recreation of a village from a long time ago. Everyone was dressed in costume and if you spoke to someone they acted as if they were in character.

I will never forget when my husband and I went into the blacksmith's work place. He had horses and horseshoes and all kinds of instruments on this table in front of him, and he was showing all the people everything that was done WAY BACK IN THE DAY.

Then the guy says 'Oh, and you'll all find this interesting, the blacksmith is also the town dentist".

My husband burst out laughing and said: "Take a look at my wife's face".

It must have been written all over my face.

I just gulped "what do you mean the blacksmith was the town dentist, what are you talking about'? The guy picked up this LONG BIG thing and said "oh this is what he used to pull out teeth and they had no anesthetic" and I said "

'YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING'.

Everyone had a good laugh and I ran out because I couldn't take any more.

so here's my question.

Because we know that blacksmiths were also dentists, go back in time , WAY BACK, to when the Romans and the greeks were wearing togas.

Did people have cavities back then? I mean, I seem to have read that cavities ARE ONLY CAUSED BY SUGAR, and even if you never brushed your teeth in your life, if you never ate sugar, you wouldn't have a cavity?

Is this true? And what about wisdom teeth? Even if a person never had a cavity, what if they chomped down hard and broke a tooth, what did they do for infection, and how did they fix the tooth, and WHAT ABOUT WISDOM TEETH AND TOOTHACHES?

I can't believe I'm actually asking questions about teeth.

Thanks so much if you can educate me.

lol
Melody

Bryanna · 09-01-2010, 01:04 AM

Melody,

You certainly are interested in the "nitty gritty" of something that scares the bajeebers out of you.... lol!!

It's true, a couple hundred years ago, blacksmiths, barbers and wig makers (!!) were also dentists. That's before you had to have a license to practice dentistry. Dental instruments were a variety of crafts man tools, barbaric to say the least and there was no anesthetic! Many people died from tooth or oral infections because either the abcess in the tooth became systemic and/or the infection worsened from the use of unsterile dental procedures.

People did have cavities and did break their teeth back in the day. Sugary foods lead to tooth decay, but so does improper (or no) tooth brushing. Also, keep in mind that all food turns to sugar on the teeth if it is not removed.

Cavities were drilled out with primitive hand held drills made by blacksmiths or other craftsman. But the typical choice of treatment was extraction. If you are really curious.............. take a peek at this site!
http://www.collectmedicalantiques.com/dentistry.html

Here's a little history for you....
The first dentist I worked for back in the late 70's..... was a 65 yr old army dentist. In those days dentists use to stand the whole time while working on a patient and this guy was a character... he always had a cigarette burning in the ashtray behind him. He would put his patient in a headlock with one arm and use that hand to hold their mouth open while working in their mouth with the other hand. When the patient would rinse, he would reach around and take a drag of his cigarette!! In those days, many dentists still used a dry, belt driven drill that would hang over the patient on a spiral pulley cord. These drills were non electric so there was no water spraying out to keep them cool and they would smoke and get red hot! If the drill was kept on the tooth too long, the heat would kill the nerve in the tooth!!!!! To make matters more uncomfortable, his anesthetic injections must have hurt because his patients would always yell when they got one and I won't even get into his surgical (???) skills! He had the mentality.... like most dentists did... the patient was suppose to just sit there and take whatever was given to them. There were times I literally had to excuse myself from the operatory and sit in his private office with my head between my knees cause I was ready to pass out! I use to question his tactics but he would just laugh and tell me.. oh, you'll get use to it!!! I never got use to it and I spent alot of time breathing through my knees in his office!!

As bad as dentistry is today..... it is SO much improved from just 35 years ago!!

Bryanna

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelodyL

I went to another state (West Virginia), I think, and they had a recreation of a village from a long time ago. Everyone was dressed in costume and if you spoke to someone they acted as if they were in character.

I will never forget when my husband and I went into the blacksmith's work place. He had horses and horseshoes and all kinds of instruments on this table in front of him, and he was showing all the people everything that was done WAY BACK IN THE DAY.

Then the guy says 'Oh, and you'll all find this interesting, the blacksmith is also the town dentist".

My husband burst out laughing and said: "Take a look at my wife's face".

It must have been written all over my face.

I just gulped "what do you mean the blacksmith was the town dentist, what are you talking about'? The guy picked up this LONG BIG thing and said "oh this is what he used to pull out teeth and they had no anesthetic" and I said "

'YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING'.

Everyone had a good laugh and I ran out because I couldn't take any more.

so here's my question.

Because we know that blacksmiths were also dentists, go back in time , WAY BACK, to when the Romans and the greeks were wearing togas.

Did people have cavities back then? I mean, I seem to have read that cavities ARE ONLY CAUSED BY SUGAR, and even if you never brushed your teeth in your life, if you never ate sugar, you wouldn't have a cavity?

Is this true? And what about wisdom teeth? Even if a person never had a cavity, what if they chomped down hard and broke a tooth, what did they do for infection, and how did they fix the tooth, and WHAT ABOUT WISDOM TEETH AND TOOTHACHES?

I can't believe I'm actually asking questions about teeth.

Thanks so much if you can educate me.

lol
Melody

MelodyL · 09-01-2010, 10:53 AM

Bryanna:

I haven't even read your whole post yet. I wanted to address the first line. lol

Melody,

You certainly are interested in the "nitty gritty" of something that scares the bajeebers out of you.... lol!!

This is how I try and understand my phobia. I think I was conditioned to be afraid because my mother brought me along with her to her visit to her dentist the day she got all her teeth pulled. I was 5, a little child, sitting on a long brown bench. I had long brown hair with bangs (see how good my memory is? and I was 5. that's almost 60 years ago and that memory is burned into my brain.

She came out and banged the walls. Never said a word, just banged the walls (which were beige by the way).

NEVER FORGOT THAT EXPERIENCE.

Which set me up for a LIFETIME of fear, phobia, whatever.

So fast forward to Melody, getting a bit of courage, finding my lovely phobia specialist who took the time to address my fears, listened to me, and assured me. The fear never really leaves you, and you are ALWAYS relieved when you get out of the chair, but I'm much better than I ever was.

I have learned that education is key to overcoming any obstacle. You have a fear, you learn all you can learn about that fear, and you try and understand why you have the fear, and, if you are lucky, and able, and all the stars are aligned, then just maybe, you can do whatever you need to do to deal with THAT PARTICULAR FEAR.

That's what I am doing. I learn about what I'm afraid of, and I try and overcome in.

There is no way that a person could take my hand and say "Melody stop being afraid of the dentist". That DOES NOT WORK with any dental phobic.

I remember YEARS ago when I had to have some work done. This was over 13 years ago. I found a dental phobia clinic out of some hospital in Brooklyn, NY. My husband took me.

There was this woman who was running the program and she walked you through the whole thing and you then met up with the dentist (a lovely woman), who came out of her office and talked to me and my husband in the hallway. Since this was not an actual appointment, there was no necessity for me to sit in any chair in any office. I was so relieved at that I cannot tell you.

I remember distinctly standing in front of these two women and next to my husband and I was trying to explain my fear and I started to cry and I said "you have NO idea how I am afraid and I am not even comfortable talking to you right now".

She listened and she said "I completely understand". Well, when I had to go for my first visit, I was shaking so, and you won't believe what I did before my name was called.

I remember this as if it happened yesterday. Dental phobics WANT TO BE ASSURED THAT THEY WILL NOT BE HURT. At least this was always the fact in MY case. Anything to do with work in my mouth brought up all the fear.

So when I was sitting down and I saw the lady dentist (before my appointment), I walked up to her and I said "May I ask you to do something?" and she said "of course hon" and I said "Can you please just reassure me that you won't hurt me". She looked at me and this look of compassion came over her and she said "I absolutely promise" and I said "thank you".

When my name was called I sat in the chair like it was the electric chair and she said "I'm covering all the instruments and I then said "Please don't come at me with that picky thing". She said "no problem, but just know that as you get more comfortable I need to use this instrument to check the surfaces of your teeth". She didn't use it that day.

I got a this panoramic x-ray thing (this was WAY before digital x-ray), and then I was told I needed this or that done.

She always numbed me up BEFORE the injections and I never felt an injection. Also she explained that it's not the injection but how fast the novocaine is injected. She knew her stuff.

Both Alan and I went to that dental clinic. He's not phobic so he got the other person in her practice. She was a teacher and I always went to her.

I'll never forget that last visit. I felt great. I was going home. It was over.

I saw her for a few years but then she closed that practice and I could never find her again. AND I NEVER WENT TO ANOTHER DENTIST UNTIL I FOUND MY GUY IN NYC.

The mind works in mysterious ways.

I haven't even begun to read the rest of your post. I skimmed it and I came upon you discussing dead nerves and I couldn't even read that.

I am now going to face my fear and read the rest of the post.

Hey, I'm trying. lol
Melody

MelodyL · 09-01-2010, 11:00 AM

Bryanna:

Read the rest of your post, while gripping my chair in front of my computer. I haven't clicked on the link yet.

I had to stop and read the part about the dentist having people in headlocks while smoking. And the dry drill.

Brought me back to when I was much younger (a kid), and I think I had 32 cavities, and I had to go because I had to get a dental note or something and I had pain, and the dentist said "Oh we have this new drill, it's a water drill". And I remember saying "what's a water drill?" and he said "oh it cools your tooth as I drill". Since I was scared of it anyway, I didn't know the difference.

Oh my god. And my husband told me that he was an assistant in a dental unit when he was in the army way back in the 60's.

He got all his dental work done for free because he worked in the unit. He once told me "I got so many injections, I was full of novocaine".

I always stopped him before he would continue talking because I would not let him finish.

I am now going to go and click on the link.

I have no idea what it refers to, but I guess it has something to do with torturous instruments.

I think I'm doing well today, don't you??

lol lol lol lol

MelodyL · 09-01-2010, 11:11 AM

Well, I just clicked on the link to the older type dental chairs and dental instruments.

Let's just say: "GLORY BE TO THE FACT THAT THIS IS 2010". lol

I would never have survived.

I took one look at that pain injecting gadget in which they pressured cocaine.

What did that do? Did the cocaine numb the tooth.

And those keys? Oh my god, they used KEYS to pull out teeth?

I'm going to send my dentist a thank you email for being MODERN!!!

lol

I am now thoroughly interested in all things having to do with old time dentistry.

If I find anything that is different from the site you suggested, I might post it on this forum.

We all have to help each other and by learning what they used in the past, well it CAN ONLY help us get through stuff NOW!!

Thanks very much

Melody

Bryanna · 09-01-2010, 06:37 PM

Melody,

I completely understand your fear of going to the dentist!! I had some of the worst experiences in the dental chair when I was a kid. To this day my family asks me how the heck I ended up in this profession and for so long!! The reason.... very simple..... to help people like ourselves who truly HATE going to the dentist =)

As a young girl, my dentist did not give novocaine shots for fillings. Nope. He just instructed me to hold on to the chair and be quiet! Can you believe that... today that would be considered abuse!! I just sat there in pain sweating bullets the whole time. The first time I had an anesthetic was when I was 13 years old and I broke my upper second molar on a piece of hard candy and the tooth had to be removed. I was petrified to get the novocaine injection and then after I got it...... I was so glad that he didn't give them for fillings because it hurt like heck!!! As if my day wasn't going bad enough... he couldn't remove the entire tooth so I ended up being an emergency patient at a nearby oral surgeons office to get the rest of it out. In those days, the surgeons had you breathe Ether to knock you out. Oh Lord, I was so sick afterwards. Yup, that day left a lasting impression in my brain.

So yea..... I can relate to dental fear big time!! I too need to face my fears as you do and learn as much as possible ahead of time. It makes me feel empowered if I have some understanding of what is going on and it does lessen the trauma somewhat. I am also fortunate that I now have a great dentist (a former employer) that I trust completely.

Mel, thanks for sharing your stories here.... they're great!

Bryanna

MelodyL · 09-01-2010, 07:24 PM

Glad to be of help. Honestly. I think by helping others, we help ourselves.

But let me run something by you that I find very interesting. Just think about it. What kind of individual would refuse to give a kid anything to numb the tooth before a drilling? If the person (like a former friend of mine), chooses not to get numb, well that's HER decision.

But for a dentist to do this on purpose, knowing what the child is going to go through, then this dentist is a sadist. He went into a profession knowing full well that he would be inflicting pain on people.

A very very sick individual indeed.

We have loads of these kinds of people roaming around. Years ago (about 22 or so), I wanted to find a kind caring compassionate dentist. But he had to be one who accepted my insurance. I found one 2 blocks from my house.

I called and explained that I was extremely phobic and I would just like to meet him and talk to him.

He said "fine come on up, I have some time". I went upstairs to his office and he motioned me to sit in his dentist chair so we could have our chat.

I politely said "I'd rather not, if you don't mind". He barked at me "JUST SIT IN THE DA*** CHAIR".

I looked at him, and ran out the door. I could only imagine the person behind the dental garment. Not a kind caring human being whatsoever.

So we truly have to be thankful for people like you and other phobia specialists who take us to heart and treat us like human beings.

And I truly thank you for that.

Melody

Leesa · 09-03-2010, 03:27 PM

I've got one for ya ~ I was in my teens ~ and mind you, I'm 61 now!

I went to this old dentist ~ he must have been in his 60''s. He's working on my teeth, and he'd given me gas. All of a sudden, he starts getting "familiar" with me, if you know what I mean!!! I was terrified, and pushed him away and jumped off that chair and ran out of that office and ran home! i didn't tell my parents, cause my Dad would have killed him!

I never went to another dentist for probably 30 years, because i was just terrified. Luckily my teeth weren't in that bad of shape. But when I did find a dentist, I had to take my daughter with me because I was still so afraid.

Eeeewwwwww