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TEETH OUT AT THE CLINIC

D

DAVE BRICK

Guest
Cor Blimey, it was horrendous, That slow walk up Whitehead Road as if you were going to the gallows.
The terrifying wait until. . . . . they..called.. your.. name..out.
THE GAS MASK, forced over your mouth.
The dizzyness waking up and then..SPEW IT OUT..blood into the sink.
And the nurse forcing you to drink beaker after beaker of water to wash it out, and then, walking home, it's all over, and all you've got is a hole that you keep putting your tongue into.
 
The dentists here in Tasmania when I was a kid must have been sadists I reckon. Those drills! And the noise! And the injections were worse than the pain of going without. I still abhor dentists to this day. Although I've recently found a lady dentist here and it is amazing how gentle she is and of course her hands are a lot smaller so you haven't got a huge hairy fist jammed in your gob :)
 
GOT TOLD OFF

Hey Kate, I used that word once on the forum, you know, that word, gob.
There I've said it now, well somebody told me off about it, I can't remember who.

I got brave once when I had to have gas and have a tooth out so I went on my own, without me Mom ! anyway they sent me back because I needed an adult with me. So, I had to walk the dreaded Whitehead Road twice.
 
First encounter....

I must have been between 7 to 8 years old when I had my first encounter with the "Dreaded Dentist".
Lived in a small village,(evacuee) which had neither a dentist or electricity.
A travelling dentist visited the village every 6 months or so.
He had to pedal furiously to drive the drill, just like you did the old sewing machines. :evil:
Wow :!: Can you imagine it :?:
The thought of it now sends shivers down my spine :(
My next encounter was with the Army dentist :evil:
No wonder I lost most of my teeth at a relatively early age........
:oops: :oops: :oops:
 
NO I DON'T

More like torture gas, I never laughed once.
 
I remember being taken by my mom to the dental clinic in Albert Road - along from the library. I remember at the age of six having TEN teeth extracted. Waking up after the gas, I was led by a nurse into a room with a long line of sinks, each sink had a child sitting in front of it washing their mouths out and crying after their ordeal. I was put to sit in front of one and added my own contribution to the wailing chorus. :'(
 
I had a front tooth filled without anaesthetic at the Albert Road clinic when I was about 12.  I remember being too scared to say my name and being shouted at, that dreadful stone sink where we washed our mouths out and then fainting from the pain afterwards.  Still had to walk all the way back to Vicarage Road.  Never went near a dentist for about 7 yrs after that. :(
 
I now go to a female dentist near home - bliss! She has not hurt me once! I can't believe it! She has small hands that don't choke me. I have never been to a dentist who is so gentle and aware that what they are doing may cause pain. My advice is seek out a lady dentist :) (Sorry guys)
 
We had a Lady Dentist once for our Lads when young and her breath smelt terrible. :eek:
 
Wow, the one about the gas and being held down.... I remember it well. The horror of it all. better than the pounding toothache though. Afterwards! We used to go to a dentist in Sheep Street near Gosta Green I guess. Funny how that street always comes into mind when that movie The Runner with Dustin Hoffman comes around. The bad guy who used to be a dentist was played by Sir...(famous man ..darn) Anyway I will remember his name later. Ahh Larry Olivier. There.
Regards.
 
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.
 
The dentists and The Slade Road Clinic was our particular torture chamber! What a shock
going there for the first time for an extraction. They lined up at least ten kids to go into the chair one after another. I too remember the CHAIR, the TOOLS all laid out in front of your eyes and finally the MASK. ABSOLUTE TORTURE....Afterwards, the tortured ones would all line up at a "continuous" sink for a clean up which I won't go into. I can remember kids crying and being told off by the nurses in a rather brusque manner. Right cruel really.
 
I recall going to the dentist clinic at the top of Belchers Lane. From the previous postings
it seems that all school clinic dentists were torture places.

I use to dread the gas mask and struggled like mad against it. Being held down and seeing
the mask approach, was cause of many a nightmare!!!!!

I always seem to have the same dream under Gas and it was the terror of going up and down,
strapped in the dentist chair, at great speed. Horrible :'( :'( :'(
 
I know how you all feel, I am in the middle of getting a tooth capped and my dentist is not gentle. Have to go back another twice :'(

Not sure which hurts the most the drilling or the bill :eek:
 
do you also remember this house of terror on birchfield rd just before six ways,think his name was seimens
 
Dolly, do I remember that house of horror in Birchfield Road. In January 1959 I was 8 months pregnant and had raging toothache and this butcher of a dentist was the only one available, he extracted my tooth but I was still in agony, so my husband took me to the General Hospital Dental Department, it was found that the cavity had gone septic and they cleaned it up and stuck what seemed to be miles of gauze in the cavity, I was in so much pain I didn't know what to with myself, I ended up having to go to The General every day for about a week, the head dentist there hadn't seen anything like it, and asked me if I would mind his students viewing my treatment as they rarely saw anything like it. A few days later I gave birth, but if I had been more "with it" I would have reported him.
 
Talking about schools, does anyone remember the terrible school Dental clinic in Sheep street, off Aston St opposite the Central Fire Station? I certainly do, if you went for an extraction they first put a sprung gadget in your mouth (metal) a rubber mask over your face and off you went to La-La land, when you came round you went into a room with a number of crock sinks with continual running cold water and used a chained to the wall steel cup to rinse your mouth out, this was just dropped in the sink when you were finished. If you were there for a filling it was more terrifying, you sat in the chair, which I seem to remember had leather straps on the arms to keep you in, if required, and the drilling commenced --This was done by the dentist, usualy a female, using a foot peddle to turn a wheel at the side of the chair which in turn drove the drill, nasty. Incidentally there were five or six chairs side by side, and usually all in use, I forgot to say, if you went for a filling, you hoped it would be in a morning... the drill went faster than in the afternnon, think about it. Don Clive
 
Frantic said:
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.
Click to expand...
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
 
wendylee said:
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
Click to expand...
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.
 
jmadone said:
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.
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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
 
Big Gee said:
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
Click to expand...
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
 
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