Ohio College of Dental Surgery - Alethian Yearbook (Cincinnati, OH)

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They will deal out neighborhood gossip and pour their domestic troubles into the willing ear of the dentist. Wlieii he wishes to express surprise, or satisfaction, or anger, he usually fails to use his tongue, which is not rubber restricted, but makes the expression felt through the agency of his instruments. A little dig at just the right point acts as a first-class punctuation to a patient's tiresome sentence and the dentist can make exclamation points and pauses and periods that are not found in the type case by the judicious prods of his in- struments. If a dentist's patient has the smallest kind of an in- quisitive bump in his make up, it is bound to assert itself in a pronounced degree when he gets into the chair. He wants to know what each tool is called, what it is used for, how much it costs and how long it wears, and even insists on examining it carefully before it is used. He paws over the drills and chisels on the table and inquires about the contents of the battle. He is bound to reach out and finger with the mechanism of the automatically sprinkled cuspidor. i The gas generator is another unfailing mark for the attentions of the inquisitive patient and dentists say that many persons with grit and'nerve enough to sit down and have a tooth extracted without the use of anaes- thetics, will call for an administration of gas just to see what it's like. If they happen to come direct to the dentist's from the breakfast or dinner table, as they often do, the experience is one that they seldom care to duplicate. The so-called laughing gas has a deteri- II2 orating effect upon a partly digested meal which is not unlike a well developed case of seasickness. The title given the vapor administered by dentists is in many cases not appropriate 'LLaughing gas it certainly is on some occasions, and the patient, while the block of wood holds open their jaws and even While the dentist is feeling among the roots of the tooth with the prongs of his forceps, will tear out peal after peal of laughter that would be a credit to the inmates of certain institutions Laughing gas H certainly brings out the disposition of the patient, and it sometimes exposes a low moral condition. It is not unusual for a well bred ap- pearing woman, wearing tasteful and expensive clothing, to yell out oath after oath, when she is under the in- fluence of the gas. Others scream and a good majority groan in a manner that strikes terror to the.heart of the patients gathered in the waiting room for their call to the inquisition. Gas, however, is not so generally used as of old. Hypodermic injections of the other and more modern forms of anaesthetics are coming into general adoption, These are purely local applications and are not intended The nerves in the to render the patient unconscious. vicinity of the tooth to be pulled are deadened by the action of the chemical and the pain is greatly minimized. Dentists all agree that there are no two persons alike in the matter of extracting teeth. They claim that most of the patients are more frightened than hurt and that the anticipation of the event of the loss of a tooth is more terrible than the actual ordeal. Often the patients

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ffsgi-'ggws re f- 1- far far Us ways of Eentists Q.. 1 I GQ E29 - 1 'HQJW OLD your head well back. Open the mouth a little wider and keep the tongue down. Now, tell me when it hurtsf' and the dentist thrusts a crowbar into an aching, sensitive molar. The bar threatens to come out at the top of the head and you yell Not a weak little protest, but a great wide open, full lunged yell that has all your heart in its execution. The dentist chuckles with evident amusement as you climb back in the chair, and he asks: Did it hurt ? After such an experience don't be too harsh in your self criticism. Be slow to make the decision that the yell came because of a lack of grit, even if the dentist did volunteer the infor- mation that his last patient stood it like a major. Dentists are a somewhat peculiar lot, and they draw some rather rough comparisons sometimes. But when it's all over and they are caught in a confidential mood, they will say that teeth differ just as widely as do indi- viduals. The dentist will explain that one set of teeth may be so constituted that the drilling, pounding and chipping donit get to the nerves so disastrously, while in another person the first touch of steel on the dentine causes excruciating agony. ' , Ability to bear physical agony, of other varieties, and without complaint, does not apply when the work of the dentist comes in for its consideration. There is an III atmosphere that is peculiar to the operating room of the dentist. The little swing table, with its alcohol lamp, and numerous shining and minute instruments of torture exert a certain fascination, when the patient is once in the big pneumatic cushioned chair, but with the foot power lathe they also succeed in throwing about the dentist's workshop an environment that is instrumental in the ruining of more than one good tooth from neglect. The very smell of the dentist's acids and potions is suffi- cient in some cases to create nausea, and rather than brave the revolting atmosphere that imagination builds about the domicile of the dentist, for persons with sensi- tive teeth, they allow teeth to pass from bad to worse, until extraction becomes a necessity. Most of the dentists ind plenty of human targets for the drill and forceps. The profession is an interesting one, and the average dentist is likewise a student of human nature and a philosopher. The dentist can usually make a pretty diagnosis of a patient's character, after he has dug into the dentine of a tooth and approached to a point not very far removed from the nerve. Let him work for a few hours with the implements necessary to the filling process, and he can give a pretty accurate history of the past and forecast of the future of his subject. Some of them will maintain a steady shield.

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yell the moment the dentist reaches for his forceps In such cases he adopts a surprised air and assures the patient that he is not ready to commence. They quiet down and he starts what he asserts is an examination of the tooth. Suddenly the calm of the patient resolves into an agency of real suffering, surprise and anger. The forceps sink under the tooth and the tooth comes out, accompanied by a magnificent yell. Some persons grab the dentist's arm, and not a few try to bite his hand, an operation which is often successful. Then there is the local patient, who calmly designates the tooth, opens his or her mouth and sits still. They grasp the arms of the chair, tighten the neck muscles and when the pull comes it is met with a resistance that 7t means just as near a painless extraction as it is possible to produce without gas. The filling of teeth, however, furnishes the real test, if the patient happens to have some sensitive teeth. Every turn of the drill seems to sink to the very nerve centers. The drills get heated and the agony increases. It apparently grows bigger with each turn. Wlieii his subject sits back in the chair and bears the wear and tear of the drill upon teeth the doctor knows only too well are in the sensitive class, without complaint, he is given in full measure the respect and admiration of the dentist, who knows just how it feels, even if he donlt seem to appreciate the extent of his and his instruments, ability to torture. El XX-, 1 c.,s,wgaJ!- THX! I fe 'Gi 'sy II3