No need for a dentist in the old days?

Question

  

Answer 1

I still need a dentist.

Answer 2

Seen some of these old ads in the past and you sort of can't blame them for using it with Dentistry like it was way back when.

Comments

But they could give you a good dose of laudanum before they pulled the rotten tooth.  

Answer 3

Yikes! 

 For a long time, barbers performed most of the dental procedures.  I would have to be really desperate to climb into that chair! 

https://historydaily.org/history-dentistry-barber-surgeons-dentists

Comments

I think that's why barbershops still have the red and white and blue spiral poles.

They also used to do surgery and blood-letting. The red on the pole was for the blood, the blue was for the veins and the white was for the bandages.  

Answer 4

March 1885? Just a couple of weeks ago, I had to fight off a dental surgeon who was insisting on opioids...oh, no not me no thanks!

Comments

Who is your dental surgeon?  I'll put him on my list if I need oral surgery.

I'm a coward, not like you Virginia.  

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He's quite an interesting fellow too, Tink...my guess, he may be an Aspie, Aspergers! Very thorough, perfectionist, wanted me to go under a general anesthetic -- just to get a difficult tooth pulled! 

When I sidelined THAT, then he wanted to start the opioids immediately, even before the local anesthetic wore off...well, I had been reading about the opioid epidemic fueled by over-prescribing, and some people become addicted from just one prescription...

You come on out to Tenino and I'll take you to see the Pacific Ocean and Fort Stevens at the mouth of the Columbia River we talked about in another question...the world's biggest cedar tree...the Olympic rainforest, with Sol Duc Hot Springs...the Ballard Locks in Seattle, and the Space Needle too...Mt. Rainier and Mt. St. Helens, but let's skip the oral surgeon!

...then we can swing by Wales, and look at all Sir Furry's old stones and trees and things...

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Ok, sounds good... but do you mind if I stop in to get a scrip from your oral surgeon to feed my opioid habit...?  

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Sure, he probably give you two prescriptions and then insist you start taking them before we leave his office! 

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Actually, the only experience I had like that with an oral surgeon was when I had an impacted wisdom tooth pulled under novocaine. He gave me a prescription for oxycodone, with instructions to take one pill every 4 to 6 hours as the novocaine wore off.

Well, my usual practice with a new prescription is to take a half dose at first, to see how I react, and then take the other half an hour or two later if there are no ill side effects.

But this time, I just took the whole dose and I was LOOPY!  The oral surgeon called that evening to see how I was doing, and I said, "Oh, I'm jush fine, thanksh, no pain at all..." 

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Well you clearly had an oxycodone adventure there, Tink! 

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Another experience I had with a dentist was when I was getting a filling.  He asked whether I wanted novocaine or nitrous oxide. 

Never having tried laughing gas before, and not wanting to have a needle stuck into the roof of my mouth, I opted for the N2O. It was a remarkable experience.

I felt like I had had about 4 shots of scotch, and I was aware of the pain, but I was completely detached from it, as if I was saying, "Sure... drill all the way through my jaw, I don't care..."

And then within a minute after the gas stopped, the euphoria stopped, and no hangover.

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Tink that's hilarious! I have never been given the option of nitrous oxide...I would probably have grilled dentist for 2 hours on the why's, wherefore's, and comparative side effects...you are definitely something of an out-there, give-it-a-go kinda faerie!

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I can see how someone could become addicted to N2O... the euphoria starts within a minute or two after you start inhaling it, and then there is no hangover when you stop.  Kinda like catnip with cats.