The Godfather: Peter Corris on dentists again
Some time ago I wrote about my experiences with dentists – how primitive the operations had been in the 1950s and 60s and how greatly they had been improved. In the early 1990s I had all my many amalgam fillings replaced with ceramics because it was widely believed that the old fillings could leach metals with adverse health effects. The replacement was expensive but painless.
Flash forward to 2017. I was in hospital being rehabilitated for various injuries when I felt what I’m sure many people have felt – something hard in the food being chewed. Two of the 20-plus-year-old ceramic fillings had fallen out.
With enough to handle at the time I resolved to hope that the damaged teeth wouldn’t trouble me until I was out of the present woods. So it proved and when we moved to Earlwood Jean did a web search and found one of the several local dentists had enthusiastic endorsements from his patients and we made an appointment.
The dentist was youngish, plump and Greek. I’ll call him Gregori; his receptionist was blonde and wore high heels with a tight skirt or skin-tight trousers – not always a good sign – but she was highly efficient.
To my surprise the examination revealed that one of the damaged teeth needed to be extracted and that several other fillings were required. Bookings were made. Having a high level of medical insurance cover and confidence from my previous painless experiences, I was relaxed about the business. I was assured that the gum would be anesthetised before the novocaine went in.
I presented for my first appointment to have two fillings and things got underway. I was surprised to see that Gregori didn’t have a nurse on hand, the first time I’d seen that. He said he didn’t need one and he seemed to manage without. To my alarm the novocaine was administered without topical anaesthetic first being applied and it hurt severely. I taxed him with this and he said, ‘I forgot’ and that most people didn’t require this preliminary.
I was anxious when the time came for the extraction and he guaranteed that he’d applied the topical anaesthetic ‘generously’. It went without a hitch, no pain.
I told Gregori about ‘Doc’ Holliday, dentist, gambler and gunman who used a shotgun to good effect in the gunfight at the OK Corral. I also told him that Holiday’s dental tools – a chilling array – were on display in the Smithsonian Museum. He was mildly interested.
The next appointment involved fillings and cleaning, both of which were unpleasant, Gregori arguing that the topical anaesthetic did not work as well on the bottom teeth. It had back when I’d got the ceramic fillings. I asked him about the properties of novocaine and he was vague. He told me that dental students had to perform 50 extractions at the dental hospital before they graduated and this sometimes delayed their qualifying when insufficient patients were available. This made me wonder … but best not to go there. I told him that I’d had my detective character Cliff Hardy joke that the two great technical advances in the 20th century had been painless dentistry and being able to pause live television. He was mildly amused.
It was a mixed experience and I trust that the work done will see me out.
