Crime and punishment in the dentist’s chair
SIR – Harry Sales’s letter (March 12) chimed with me. In the 1960s, as a 10-year-old, I had to visit a dentist who could administer gas to take a tooth out. I was scared and fidgeted – and got a whack to the head.
Another time, aged five, I was offered a liquorice sweet while waiting for my sister to be released from the chair. To my mother’s shock and dismay I presented black, sugary teeth to the dentist. I’m still nervous of the dentist 60 years later. Jane Hutchinson
Eastbourne, East Sussex
SIR – I was subjected to dental treatment with a pedal-powered drill (Letters, March 12) in the 1950s.
After suffering the initial drilling, a temporary filling was put in, only to be drilled out on the next visit and replaced with a permanent one.
What a joy when Novocaine was introduced.
Jean Abbott
North Ferriby, East Yorkshire
SIR – I, too, fell foul of the pedalpowered dentist’s drill in Sheffield in the 1950s. I started crying as soon as I knew the appointment was made. Liz Bowrey
Bristol SIR – My mother and I were both regularly on the receiving end of dental treatment with a pedalpowered drill in the late 1970s. I am not sure if it really counts, though, as it was from my father – a retired dentist turned vicar – in the kitchen.
I used to love chasing the little balls of mercury around the kitchen table.
Charles Taylor
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
SIR – Our dentist in Blackley, Lancashire in the 1950s did not believe in providing any pain relief while he drilled, as in his opinion it was only given by unskilled dentists to cover up their lack of skill.
Harry Bibby
Stockport, Cheshire
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