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Gordon Brown - root canal

cant understand why they think people would be interested :confused: maybe ill write and tell them what work ive had done ;D
 
Just read the BBC reporting - "In it, Sir Laurence Olivier, playing Nazi war criminal Dr Christian Szell, tortures a character played by Dustin Hoffman by carrying out excruciating dental surgery without an anaesthetic."

Not quite true - he doesn't "carry out dental surgery" (excruciating or otherwise), but rather uses tooth extraction without anaethetic as a torture method. The way it's phrased almost suggests that he's doing actual dental surgery.

Incidentally, it's the only movie where I ever had to throw up (at exactly that torture bit...)

:(

Of course, the problem is that there's no alternative to Gordon Brown  :p
 
Lets
Yes, you are right about the scene in 'Marathon Man'  being torture rather than dentistry but the character was a retired dentist. Steve Martin on the other hand in 'Little Shop of Horrors' is supposedly a mainstream dentist people return to...beyond credibility obviously but it is a weird musical written by a dental phobic maybe?

In 'Marathon Man'...maybe you couldn't look the whole time, I seem to remember (only saw it once) he drilled it first and then put oil of cloves on to make it temporarily better...and then drilled some more with menacingly soothing words....a bit too close to my own bad experience to be honest but fortunately I had found  :-*dentist by then!

From a PR point of view, I just can't fathom how this is good publicity internally or externally....given all the problems with NHS dentistry, far from conveying a tough guy image (the only possible explanation I can come up with), it just shows what poor judgement he has to allow himself to be open to the jibes of 'wish I'd been the dentist' etc etc from opponents....not to mention adding fuel to the media fire about dentistry always being painful....not an encouraging story for the large percentage who avoid treatment because of fear of pain in all western countries.

Glad it included the dentist's name...one to avoid when I return to the UK....don't know about anyone else but I don't want people working on me who are happy to inflict unnecessary pain....the quote from the dentist was really funny about him 'not squirming or anything'....almost as if he'd realised there was such a thing as bad publicity  :p...serves him right!  

 
 
[broken link removed]

A link to the original article in the Sun - it includes some sterling comments by 'never thought I'd say this' Sun readers, which confirm most Brits do still want their dentistry as painless as possible and that he is a moron to think he needed to do this just because he had a speech to give.

I suspect the truth is the nerve was completely dead, he felt nothing and for some reason they thought this 'story' would make him look like a future PM, can't think why...certainly killed my respect for him.
 
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yeah exactly brit! forgot to mention the bit about the tooth being dead ;D
one of the reader comments is from me!
 
Well done you!
 
Sorry to keep coming back on this one but on the GDC register....I've just found the dentist's listing. He qualified in South Africa in 1969 (an unbelievably long time ago)...not a UK trained dentist at all!  Maybe GB is an NHS patient too  :p.  
 
They were discussing this subject at some length on the radio this afternoon. It was on the Jeremy Vine programme on BBC Radio 2 - I was listening to it on my way home from work. In the programme he was speaking to several people including some government PR guy, a dentist (for the technical viewpoint :p) and also several listeners who phoned in as well.

A couple of the listeners admitted to not having anaesthetic because they were scared of needles and that they'd rather put up with the pain than have an injection. Others said that it didn't really hurt as much if they were in control and knew that proceedings could be stopped at any time and some people (including the dentist who he spoke to on the programme) said that if the nerve was dead, he probably wouldn't have felt much anyway.

A couple of interesting things cropped up though; firstly, it was a private dentist that he went to see (so much for the government's 'faith' in our 'wonderful' NHS! :rolleyes:) and secondly.... the reason that he went to a private dentist is because he couldn't get in to see an NHS dentist due to unavailability and not having been for........... 4 YEARS.... :o

Apparently he hasn't had time to go to the dentist :rolleyes: (too busy thinking up more taxes presumably ;)). Doesn't really add up though - even when someone works full time, if they've got time to go on holiday and go to the doctors etc, then they do have time for a quick trip to the dentist. I know that - I used to use the same excuse myself during 'the avoidance years' ;). Also, considering the treatment he had done, he had probably been aware that there was a problem for quite a while. Interesting...
 
Interesting Vicki, are you implying he might be a closet dental phobic or scared of needles or something.....if people are that scared of needles, they should be treated for the needle phobia rather than being encouraged to put up with unnecessary pain. Reputational risk issues when people moan in the pub about how bad things were.

Politics aside .....my objection is to bragging about having suffered this because he had a speech to do, as if it makes him a better person...subtext he cares more about the country than his own personal comfort and this means he should succeed Tony Blair ...it was entirely unnecessary whether he had a speech to give or not....I've never known LA impair speech and he could have had the stuff which wears off more quickly anyway.
I don't expect this level of personal commitment from politicians. He would have got way more public sympathy (but maybe less coverage) if he'd just said he gave a speech only 3 hours after having had a root canal (with LA).

I wouldn't expect him to use an NHS dentist  but I can't believe he couldn't have easily got  in to see one of the London 'celebrity dentists' or some other reputable person.....I don't think this will be good publicity for the dentist concerned who must be nearing retirement anyway.

This should actually be a totally private matter between him and his dentist; but he or his PR cohorts have tried to make political capital out of it; and as a result to most people, they either look dishonest (if the nerve was dead) or foolhardy (for thinking this unnecessary suffering would get them public kudos).

All of which makes me call into question his powers of judgement which I hitherto considered to be pretty good.
 
Look on the bright side:

(a) He's called Gordon.
(b) He's Scottish.
 
to be honest i recken that if he wants no local thats fine let him get on with it,i have a freind who doesnt either :scared: i do object to it being in the paper because why should we be so interested in what he does or doesnt do? if hes scared of dentists or needles etc thats his buisness after all.
 
Yes, it is a private matter, as I said in an earlier post.

I wonder though how many dentally anxious/phobic people were set back in their attempts to get to grips with the problem after being reminded of 'Marathon Man' after reading that account.....and all to try to create a media 'hard man' image or whatever the real motive was.
The whole story was inappropriate and unwelcome in my view.
 
The whole story was inappropriate and unwelcome in my view.
I AGREE!
 
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This is the website of the dentist involved Mervyn Druain ..so Gordy did get to one of the so called 'top ones'....so even more confused as to why dentist would wish to have image of drilling without anaesthesia...which means it must indeed have been a dishonest PR job (Hard man rubbish intention) and the nerve was dead.

Website quote: 'patients are treated in a friendly trusting and supportive atmosphere' :confused:

Having read many dental websites over recent months from many different countries....it is worthy of comment that apart from the single phrase above, the website offers no reassurance whatsoever on patient comfort, sedation.......very strange..... nice coloured chair though :p.
Website appeal to dentally anxious person rating 1/10.
 
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i wonder if hes sitting there with toothache like iam today? too scared to phone my dentist with yet another problem for him to deal with,i bet not!
 
Thanks for this link Harper. This article is much better balanced and specifically refers to a dead nerve, so the spin doctors must have been backtracking fast.

Trouble is, on availability of NHS dentists, techniques have become so much more sophisticated, NHS treatment seems a bit like the poor relation...okay for basics only..is kids orthodontistry even covered anymore?..it was in the 1970s...nearly all my friends had NHS braces, just like me.

Clearly they need to sort out the contract to make it worth dentists' while to do more NHS work (while still doing their 4 day week  :p), there always used to be a lot of mixed practitioners....personally I am not happy to only get a 10 minute slot and am willing to pay a lot more for what I perceive to be more patient-centred care.
Maybe to iron out social inequalities, the Government should just reimburse private dental fees to those on lower incomes and maybe fully reimburse for all school age children so everyone stands the chance of getting a good start dentally. All treatments aren't covered now on the NHS as it is. Difficult though as we don't want those crazy USA prices; and the existence of an NHS tier is probably what keeps the private sector prices down a bit.

If the whole population wanted to attend for regular care (almost 50% only attend if they have a problem I understand), there would definitely be a major shortage of dentists, so they need to train more for the future and incentivise them to stay instead of emigrating to a lower workload and warmer climes!
Doubt this is going to be solved by any Government anytime soon, so best make it one of your own personal spending priorities....how much does the average British woman spend on cosmetic and beauty products I wonder?
Hope your tooth feels better soon.
:XXLhug:
 
thanks brit :XXLhug:
thats exactly why i try and get an afternoon appointment ,not because he doesnt spend time with me but i dont feel so bad when we have a chat after,he knows it makes me feel better but i worry when hes busy and my hugs of course :cloud9:
mine does free treatment for under 18s not sure how it works being a private practice :confused: sometimes i wonder if he earns any money what with me having not paid anything yet :shame: i cant see it improving anytime soon either in fact anytime. i wrote to several people last yr including the prime minister and our mp but the responce was very dissapointing :mad: the sad fact is if it wasnt for c id now have no teeth and still be absolutely terrified :scared:
thanks for the kind words about my tooth c says its because it was a big one so fingers crossed. hope your well :XXLhug:
 
I have it on good authority that the Libyian leader Colonel Ghadaffi refuses to have anaesthetic on the grounds that one of his pals might try to poison him. Is this just another example of our current government mirroring another totalitarian oppressive regime? Gordon Brown/Stalin....come to think of it you never see them together in the same room... could be one and the same... We could hence begin a rumour that Joe Stalin isn't actually dead at all... I think I saw him selling hotdogs in Brighton last Sunday...

Oh how my mind goes all funny when i haven't got teeth to look at.. :scared:
 
I thought it was Elvis who was selling hotdogs in Brighton (or was he supposed to be running a fish & chip shop?!)? Maybe they're in business together :p.

For all we know, Gordon Brown may just be one of those strange people who really enjoys pain.... in my experience, it's usually best to give such people a very wide berth indeed :p.

His avoidance of local anaesthetic can't be down to paranoia about being poisoned surely... I thought a person actually had to be alive in order to be poisonable :confused: :devilish: (I think I'll just trim my claws and drink my saucer of milk now!).

Pars said:
Oh how my mind goes all funny when i haven't got teeth to look at..  :scared:

You could always go and have a look at your own in the mirror ;D.
 
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