Bad experience?

rubyshoes · #41 31st October 2009, 14:11

Quote:

Originally Posted by brit

ooh not heard that one before...holding your nose or yelling is more usual (as far as bad practices go from the past)...you poor thing...that was totally abusive

I got goosebumps when I read this I'd forgotten the nose holding! Why were dentists of that era so awful they've left a generation of soo many terrified adults that it wasn't just unlucky to get the rare one who didn't like children!

ruby

brit · #42 1st November 2009, 00:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by rubyshoes

I got goosebumps when I read this I'd forgotten the nose holding! Why were dentists of that era so awful they've left a generation of soo many terrified adults that it wasn't just unlucky to get the rare one who didn't like children!

ruby

'Hand over mouth' was an accepted technique..it still is in use by some (not all) pediatric dentists in USA along with 'Voice Control'.
No one has ever used them on me though (born 1960s)...so they are not the only cause of dental anxiety..I suppose the fact is for older people the treatment modalities were not as predictably comfortable and the dental surgery environment was a very scary one..the 'handpiece dock' used to be the size of a skyscraper especially to a small child and everyone wore white....they weren't all nasty people either..my first childhood dentist was not mean to me at all...but I didn't like being gassed for stuff...who would? Given that treatment was less comfortable then with just local...the GA option was the kinder thing to do but it didn't excatly make you want to return...in case you needed same again. The modern treatment room of today is light years away from what I first saw in mid 1960s UK.

rubyshoes · #43 5th November 2009, 23:38

Children should be seen and not heard and do as they're told attitude I suppose rather than being nasty I'm a 50's child and when I think back now teachers could be pretty harsh too. I do remember the smell of gas in the surgery though yuck and even as a teenager when I tried to go to the dentist they were never nice just seemed to take my fear as a personal insult.

ruby

Zophiii · #44 15th November 2009, 11:56

I had a bad experience when I was 12, the dentist complained at me because it was my own fault a hockey ball chipped one of my front teeth and knocked out a filling! (Sadly, my normal dentist wasn't in that day, who's usally kind.) There was also another bad experience when i was 5, i had a cold and the dentist wouldn't let me cough so i choked!