What was a visit to the dentist like back in the old days?

Juninho10

Well-known member
I'm talking pre-90s ... as I was born in the late 80s

No one really likes a visit to the dentist - but was it exceptionally bad?

Was crowns / veneers, cosmetic dentistry etc common? Or was it simply standard fillings and removals
 
I remember puking up a load of blood after it once, really hated going to the dentist back then. Stopped going for about 15 years until my kids were born and then started going back, fine now with needles no bother
 
I can still remember the gas mask being put over your face then you woke up minutes later with a mouthful of blood and 1 or more fewer teeth. Those were the days before dentists realised the longer they could keep your teeth in your mouth the more money was in it for them with fillings, crowns etc
 
Woodiwiss circa 1973
๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€

Ever seen Marathon Man???......

He was mine. Used to come in the waiting room with blood all across his tunic and say NEXT, Scared the pants of me as a kid .He would force the gas mask on your face really tight if you struggled at all. I don't think I really recovered. Im in my 60's and still scared of going.
 
The old NHS contract meant that you were guaranteed to get at least 1 filling per visit. I began to suspect something was wrong when a work colleague, a middle-aged guy from Mauritius, told me he'd never had or needed a filling, and that was normal back home.
Time for a class action lawsuit?
 
Woodiwiss circa 1973
๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€๐Ÿ’€

Ever seen Marathon Man???......

Exactly this here too. Lifelong fear of dentists due to the butcher of doggy. Horror show every time. On one memorable occasion, he told my mam I needed 3 teeth out, so she signed the general consent form. Next thing he's holding me down as I'm trying to escape, with that massive rubber gas mask covering my wee face. When I woke up being sick from the surfeit of gas, he'd taken 10 out. Bled for a good couple of days afterwards.
 
Remember the clinic on Woodlands Rd in Boro in the 70s , I think it was somehow linked to the schools or just kids rather bizarrely , and that was barbaric . Dentist had no gloves on and I can still taste the nicotine on his fingers .

Yeah the good old days - NOT
 
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Horrific. Was only recently speaking with my young nephew and niece about this very subject and they had absolutely *no* fear of dentists. I can promise you it was *very* different for kids in the 60s and 70s. Very different indeed.
 
If you made the slightest noise or if you flinched you were told to shut up and behave. Dentists ( all middle aged+ men in the 70s) seemed troubled with short tempers . Now I reckon it was that they were failed doctors .
 
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