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Dentist stories



PILTDOWN MAN

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Sep 15, 2004
19,642
Hurst Green




ferring seagull

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2010
4,607
Having just returned from the dentist after a filling that seemed to take forever I am curious as to why the numbness needs to go on for so long. Is it just for laughs so they can watch you spill drink all down the side of your face for the rest of the day, or are they being over cautious to avoid inflicting pain?

Also why talk to you when you clearly can't reply? Why say open wider when your mouth is already more open than an alligator? And finally what the hell is that instrument they attach to you and leave there for ages. Is that just for laughs again?!

Anyone got any good or insider dentist stories that might shed some light on their seedy world?

It is to allow your wallet time to recover from the shock inflicted !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9SDEKlCCqE
 


ferring seagull

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2010
4,607
My brother was a dentist until retired and he made a decent income from an almost totally NHS practice however he had some friends in high places who probably didn't pay.

He recalled to me that on one occasion after having completed a procedure with the area 'circuit judge' he then entertained a well known local fellon who, on entering the surgery enquired " who was that geezer I met on the stairs, I'm sure I have seen him somewhere before !

(Having sent him down a few times)
 


ferring seagull

Well-known member
Dec 30, 2010
4,607
My dentist brother advised me against root canal work as he said it was not uncommon for it to go tits up - Have it extracted he said - he had retired by that time !
 


whitelion

New member
Dec 16, 2003
12,828
Southwick
For many years my dentist was called Warr (Alan) of Boundary Road fame or infamy actually.

I changed him to a less attritional name before I could return to see a dentist after a five year absense.
 




Thunder Bolt

Silly old bat
I had an upper wisdom tooth out which was very stubborn. In the end, the dentist gave his pliers a big wrench, which split my gum, but the tooth finally came out. I had an abcess under it, which hadn't cleared up with antibiotics.
He didn't stitch the gum and just gave me cotton wool to bite on to stop the bleeding. I caught the bus home, feeling weak, dizzy and sick. My neighbour took one look at me, when she got on, and sat next to me until we got home. I was drip white and had gone into shock. It took a couple of days before the bleeding stopped, but at least all the infection went too.
 


METALMICKY

Well-known member
Jan 30, 2004
6,847
I was once involved in the investigation of a fraudulent NHS dentist who submitted bogus claims for a current Premier League player and his ex footballer dad..................... can you guess who and you won't need to look far ;)
 


bardo

Active member
Jul 6, 2004
720
Seaford
On one occasion when I was about to give an important after-dinner speech I managed to crack two of my denture teeth on a particularly hard piece of bone (they are better made these days). When I explained my predicament to my neighbour at the table he smiled and said "You are a very lucky chap" and proceeded to open his case to reveal, amazingly, several sets of dentures. After looking at my mouth size (large!) he extracted one of the sets and I fitted them into my mouth seemingly perfectly. The speech was received really well and so afterwards I turned to my neighbour and thanked him profusely for his wonderful intervention, remarking how fortunate I'd been to find a dentist next to me at the meal. "Oh no", he said "I'm not a dentist, I'm a funeral director!" ....... quickly leaves the building muttering "you said you wanted dentist stories".
 




Sussexscots

3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 3, 3, 3, 3 ,3 ,3 3 coach chuggers
Like most people I speak to in their mid fifties, I'd had all my back teeth filled by the time I was sixteen. 'You're a brave lad, aren't you? You'll not need an anaesthetic will you?'. This left me with a longstanding dental phobia which meant I didn't go back to a dentist for twenty five years. I was lucky to find a very patient one and I'm OK now, check up every six months.

What bugs me is that, whilst I've had most of the old metal fillings replaced, I've not needed a new filling in 40 years. The cynic in me wonders whether dentists in the early Seventies just gave kids fillings as a revenue raising matter of course.
 


Super Steve Earle

Well-known member
Feb 23, 2009
8,933
North of Brighton
I came across a dentist whilst in the RAF in Germany in the 1950s whose attitude to fillings was "I don't use anaesthetics. If you don't move, it won't hurt" If you winced or jumped, he said "You moved". He was the Senior Dental Officer for 2nd TAF, the RAF based in Germany, so he presumably had some good qualifications.

I don't have anaesthetics for fillings. Anaesthetics are for softies - no numbness afterwards either.
 


Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
Like most people I speak to in their mid fifties, I'd had all my back teeth filled by the time I was sixteen. 'You're a brave lad, aren't you? You'll not need an anaesthetic will you?'. This left me with a longstanding dental phobia which meant I didn't go back to a dentist for twenty five years. I was lucky to find a very patient one and I'm OK now, check up every six months.

What bugs me is that, whilst I've had most of the old metal fillings replaced, I've not needed a new filling in 40 years. The cynic in me wonders whether dentists in the early Seventies just gave kids fillings as a revenue raising matter of course.

It was thought that any cavity, however small would only grow and so fillings were done, it is now known that small cavities can heal if you leave off the sugary stuff for a while and take care to clean well. Plus back in the day NHS dentists were paid per treatment.
 




exKT17

Well-known member
Nov 27, 2016
341
Argyll & Bute
I had three of my wisdom teeth out 30-ish years ago, under a newly qualified dentist, on the NHS.

At the time I was advised to avoid a general anaesthetic, on the basis that with a local anaesthetic the dentist was more likely to take care, be less brutal.

It hurt but he did a good job.

(And PS the gold tooth he gave me at approximately the same time hasn't given me a minute of worry since, he was a bloody brilliant dentist, I lucked out.)
 




Baldseagull

Well-known member
Jan 26, 2012
11,839
Crawley
I don't have anaesthetics for fillings. Anaesthetics are for softies - no numbness afterwards either.

Me neither, it really does not hurt at all, unless they get right up to the nerve.
Quite a few dentists don't like not giving it though, I have noticed, they get used to being able to crush your lip with their fat fingers, or shove the clamp right under your gum I reckon.
 




BigGully

Well-known member
Sep 8, 2006
7,139
A friend of my mum (yes really) went to her dentist back in the late 60's and he examined her breasts.
 


Dick Head

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jan 3, 2010
13,896
Quaxxann
A man walks into a dentist's and says, "I think I'm a moth."
The dentist replies, "I'm a dentist, you need the psychiatrist next door"
The man says, "I know, I was on my way there when I saw your light was on!"
 




Mr Blobby

New member
Jul 14, 2003
2,632
In a cave
I am pleased to say that hopefully my dentist ordeal is over. Booked in for root canal treatment yesterday but over the weekend I was convinced by tooth had properly cracked. That was confirmed yesterday and I had the ordeal of a tooth extraction. Amazing to find that in todays wonderful work of science and medicine this basically stills means a pair of pliers and the Dentist pulling as hard as possible! Mine was done in two parts, the cracked third came out easily enough, the remaining part took some pulling with the assistant having to hold by jaw in the end whilst he twisted and pulled on the stubborn tooth! Finally it popped out, luckily no stitches needed. It was very painful yesterday afternoon but today I am on cold mushy porridge and cold coffee followed by a salty mouth rinse! One big bonus is it cost me £56 for the extraction rather than £350 for root canal treatment.
 




Mo Gosfield

Well-known member
Aug 11, 2010
6,364
When they were quite young, I took my two boys swimming. We were all in a family cubicle changing and the youngest was sitting on a bench seat, whilst I got his trunks out. In a split second, he pitched forward and landed face first on the tiled floor. Amidst the blood and the tears, I noticed that his two front teeth were missing. I was mortified and scrabbled around trying to find them, to no avail.
Together, with a very unhappy wife ( " why did you take your eyes off him " etc ) we rushed him to a dentist for an emergency examination. I was in bits, blaming myself for the loss of his two front teeth. The dentist was calmness personified and after a cursory look declared...." nothing to worry about " ( Cue...me thinking...." nothing to worry about!!....I won't be allowed to forget this for the rest of life!!" )...." They are still there " said the Dentist. " Where? " I replied, amazed. " Up in his gums "..." Its alright, they will come down again after a while "....and much to my huge relief, they did.
Never have I been so relieved and thankful, walking out of a dental surgery.
 


Snowy

Active member
Jul 14, 2003
292
Perranporth
Like most people I speak to in their mid fifties, I'd had all my back teeth filled by the time I was sixteen. 'You're a brave lad, aren't you? You'll not need an anaesthetic will you?'. This left me with a longstanding dental phobia which meant I didn't go back to a dentist for twenty five years. I was lucky to find a very patient one and I'm OK now, check up every six months.

What bugs me is that, whilst I've had most of the old metal fillings replaced, I've not needed a new filling in 40 years. The cynic in me wonders whether dentists in the early Seventies just gave kids fillings as a revenue raising matter of course.

I was exactly the same. Every time I went to my Dentist (in Shoreham) up until I was about 23, I always had three or four fillings. I then moved away, found a new Dentist, had my first checkup and was amazed when he said my teeth were fine and nothing needed doing. Now, it may have been that there wasn't much left that could be filled but I found out a while later that my original dentist had eventually been suspended for doing unnecessary procedures. Since then I've hardly had any more fillings at all, just repairs to all the old ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 


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