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TEETH OUT AT THE CLINIC

As I used to go to Prince Albert School, I didn't have to walk "The Green Mile" Dave. We were just sent round the corner. The first part of the ordeal was the check-up, and you got a form to take home for signature, and it had either "20 minutes" or someting else that I can't remember now. It was like a code, but it didn't take long for us to figure it out so you always knew well in advance what was going to happen to you. I can still see 'THE CHAIR' and the dreaded 'MASK' and I can smell it and taste it even today, 50 yrs later. I'm with you Dave, I used to be terrified of 'The Clinic'. You never came out feeling better than when you went in, that's for sure. I remember at one time, I had to go there every day because I got athletes foot from standing on the wet floor in the cubicles at victoria rd baths, and the skin was coming off my feet in sheets. It was awful. To this day, I can't walk on a wet floor with my feet flat on the ground, I walk on my heels, even in my own bathroom. It's amazing how something like that changes your behaviour for life.
Hi
Re; the code you speak of, it was a capital D! I remember it well. It was for an extraction. Albert Road Clinic is responsible for frightening a whole generation of Astonian’s to fear the dentist!
Regards
Linda
 
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Our local school Dental Clinic was Harvey rd, yardley, I remember myself and my sisters sitting in the little waiting room to go in. I was around 6 and had to have 6 of my milk teeth out :eek: I remember the awful smell of the gas and sitting the small basin to rinse out ....I looked after my teeth after that haha
Wendy
 
Our local school Dental Clinic was Harvey rd, yardley, I remember myself and my sisters sitting in the little waiting room to go in. I was around 6 and had to have 6 of my milk teeth out :eek: I remember the awful smell of the gas and sitting the small basin to rinse out ....I looked after my teeth after that haha
Wendy
My first experience of visiting a dentist was at Harvey Road clinic. I can remember that horrible rubber mask and being held in the chair as it was clamped onto my face. Although I go for regular check ups now the memory of that first encounter has never left me and I still hate that dentist's chair.
 
There were regular health and teeth checks when I was at an infants school and were carried out at the school. In 1945 there was such a school visit which coincided with my eight birthday and unknown to me a 22" wheeled bicycle had been purchased as a present for me by my Nanny. I think two or three of my primary (deciduous) teeth were removed. The bad news was that I was not allowed to ride the bicycle that day when arriving home as it was said that I could catch a cold (or some issue) with my gums as a result of losing the teeth. So a disappointing birthday, but tomorrow was another day and the new bicycle was extensively tried out. :laughing:
The interesting thing to me, when considered at a later time, was that the extractions were carried out at the school. No dentists clinics to be visited on those occasions as that was pre NHS and would have cost money.
 
My first experience of visiting a dentist was at Harvey Road clinic. I can remember that horrible rubber mask and being held in the chair as it was clamped onto my face. Although I go for regular check ups now the memory of that first encounter has never left me and I still hate that dentist's chair.
I woke up one morning with a tooth abscess, I was probably no older than 10 I reckon and that experience you've described there was exactly what happened to me, been forced back into the chair and the smell of that rubber Mask!!! I was already in pain with my face been twice the size and having some stranger pushing your head back into a chair was to much, there's no way they'd get away with that now, some of those old dentists were brutal, and like some of the teachers back in the old days I'm sure they got a kick out of it
 
I too well remember walking 'The Green Mile' up Whitehead Road with Mom. As far as I recall, the dental staff were all women, the worst being a very stout 'lady' with bright red curly hair, and a surgical overall that went down to her feet. She was frightful, and very rough, and would shout at the poor, frightened kids - as I was, probably more frightened than the rest of them put together! After two terrifying visits my mother put her foot down and refused to allow me to attend that clinic. Instead, she got me into Mr Edwards on Witton Road, who was at least quiet and polite. To this day I still dislike the dentist, but at least with modern equipment and local anaesthetic the pain and discomfort is much reduced.

G
 
I too well remember walking 'The Green Mile' up Whitehead Road with Mom. As far as I recall, the dental staff were all women, the worst being a very stout 'lady' with bright red curly hair, and a surgical overall that went down to her feet. She was frightful, and very rough, and would shout at the poor, frightened kids - as I was, probably more frightened than the rest of them put together! After two terrifying visits my mother put her foot down and refused to allow me to attend that clinic. Instead, she got me into Mr Edwards on Witton Road, who was at least quiet and polite. To this day I still dislike the dentist, but at least with modern equipment and local anaesthetic the pain and discomfort is much reduced.

G
Hi
The dentist or nurse with the red hair was indeed very rough and spiteful. It was a terrifying experience and has stayed with me all my life. Mind you I got my own back on her as I did kick her in the chops when she was trying to hold my legs down! It was horrendous. Then after the extraction sitting at a long sink with several other kids watching each other’s blood swim past. This is no exaggeration.

When I was about seven years old I had an eye test after having Measles. It took place at Coombes Opticians on New Town Row. When the optician put the testing frame on me to examine my eyes I started squealing. I thought he was trying to gas me!

Regards
Linda
 
oh gosh reading these posts i must have been very lucky to escape the horrors some of you had at the dentist...of course we had check ups at school but it was not until i was about 14 or 15 that i needed a couple of teeth out...well remember the nasty smell of the gas mask but to be honest i cant say as it bothered me that much...the dentist i went to was on the corner of farm st and villa st and to my amazement its still there to this day...at 16 it was suggested that as i had 2 small fangs at the top i would benefit from wearing braces i put my foot down on that one and took my chances...after about 18 months or so they straightened themselves up :)

lyn
 
mike it was a mr mahmood who was my dentist and i think his name was still on the building a few years back...street view shows his name has gone now...in fact the building has had a nice spruce up
 
Secondary school was where the dentist caught up with me ,the school hall was the designated examination room . A chair with cards on cards also on the floor . The visiting dentist can never be forgotten while examining your mouth I could see his tobacco stained teeth as he seemed to be grinning with mouth open . Then the dreaded words "take a card of the floor " that was it either an extraction or a filling dental at clinic Gt Charles St , after one particular extraction on a Friday morning my gum bled all night so much so I had a clot of blood at back of my mouth by my cheek . Dental hospital next call ,they removed the clot and I had to stick cotton wool swabs in between the hole and my cheek . Later on in life I developed an abcess which had to be removed at the dental hospital under gas, when the job was done coming round the dentist asked was I in a pub in my dream yes I answered , I thought you were he said you told me to get the fffffiiiiiin beer in under ananesthetic . What an embarrassment
 
Secondary school was where the dentist caught up with me ,the school hall was the designated examination room . A chair with cards on cards also on the floor . The visiting dentist can never be forgotten while examining your mouth I could see his tobacco stained teeth as he seemed to be grinning with mouth open . Then the dreaded words "take a card of the floor " that was it either an extraction or a filling dental at clinic Gt Charles St , after one particular extraction on a Friday morning my gum bled all night so much so I had a clot of blood at back of my mouth by my cheek . Dental hospital next call ,they removed the clot and I had to stick cotton wool swabs in between the hole and my cheek . Later on in life I developed an abcess which had to be removed at the dental hospital under gas, when the job was done coming round the dentist asked was I in a pub in my dream yes I answered , I thought you were he said you told me to get the fffffiiiiiin beer in under ananesthetic . What an embarrassment

It's a wonder any of us go back to the dentist year after year :confused:
 
About 8 years old, taken to dentist just off Alum Rock, up Belchers lane a little way.9
Drilled and hit a nerve, or some very sensitive bit! I pushed him away and fled! Mom caught me outside with the napkin thing still around my neck and dragged me back in, i made so much noise he threw me out. The tooth had broken off in the melee and it stayed like that for the next 35 years. Next dental trip at age 43, most of them out, dentures, and never a ptoblem since . always pain free these days, and seemingly , nicer dentists!
 
I guess you get out what you put in as a dentist. Be uncaring and fringeing on the brutal, and the patient will be awkward, will scream the place down , and endeavour to hit you. Be caring and the job is done a lot easier. But I remember my Uncle Albert, only in his 40s when he died of a heart attack, always saying "Damned teeth - always a problem from the minute you're born till the minute you die". I remember his graphic descriptions every time he went to visit "that butcher", Mr Lacey. That put me off going to the dentist until I was in my 20s, and then followed another bad experince described elsewhere on this Forum.

Maurice :scream::scream::scream:
 
It's a wonder any of us go back to the dentist year after year :confused:

Wendy the point I forgot to mention last night was , I had to have a couple of fillings at different times , it seemed to me though the more they drilled in to the nerve after me grunting once or twice they still continued to bear down . Then much later in life dentist again , what a difference . I kept to the same dentist , no white coats shirts and trousers to put patients at their ease . I told him about my earlier experiences , he agreed that he'd heard the same story umpteen times , hence the casualwear he said we are trying to get away from that "nasty dentist appearance " . Needless to say nowadays it's not such an ordeal to go.
 
Wendy the point I forgot to mention last night was , I had to have a couple of fillings at different times , it seemed to me though the more they drilled in to the nerve after me grunting once or twice they still continued to bear down . Then much later in life dentist again , what a difference . I kept to the same dentist , no white coats shirts and trousers to put patients at their ease . I told him about my earlier experiences , he agreed that he'd heard the same story umpteen times , hence the casualwear he said we are trying to get away from that "nasty dentist appearance " . Needless to say nowadays it's not such an ordeal to go.

Oh it is more relaxing even in the waiting room....a little low background music and magazines scattered around.
Wendy
 
Reading all the threads relating to the School Dental Clinic I can truthfully say, BEEN THERE AND DONE IT.
When I played rugby for Sutton Coldfield one of my team members was a Dental Surgeon. He once said that it was the only profession where you spend all day meeting people who don't want to meet you, don't want to be in your company and who never want to see you again. Mike.
 
Reading all the threads relating to the School Dental Clinic I can truthfully say, BEEN THERE AND DONE IT.
When I played rugby for Sutton Coldfield one of my team members was a Dental Surgeon. He once said that it was the only profession where you spend all day meeting people who don't want to meet you, don't want to be in your company and who never want to see you again. Mike.

That's very true Mike , I've never thought of it like that
 
Hello Williamstreet,
The Dental Surgeon in question was a smashing bloke and he shared a seat with me on the coach from an away match. I thought it was a good one and it still makes me smile to this day. I wish I could say something like that that people would remember for the rest of their life. Regards, Mike.
 
I remember going to the School Clinic in Sheep Street. I don't remember a lot about the actual procedure but I do remember afterwards being put in a room with a row of small enamel sinks, each one with a child leaning over spitting! What a terrible experience. Next came the dentist in Alum Rock, that big leather chair and gas. Horrible. No wonder I was 16 years old before I plucked up the courage and went to see a lovely man called Dr. Gawthorpe by the Pelham. Ended up having to have must of my teeth drilled out, re-filled and two removed. (There was a "boutique" near by that was owned by a B'Ham City footballer, I remember buying a "cat suit" from there)
 
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