Drill and Fill abuse of the 70's - dentists

[Barlow]

The school dentist at Castle Rushen was always quick to get the injection needle out and do some drilling and filling. I got a mouthful of them and a couple of extractions too, not becuase I was in any pain whatsoever but to prevent something called "overcrowding".

The school dentist had a flashy wee sports car, a big house at Bradda and went on multiple world cruises (one would have been the height of opulence at the time).

[Hillside]

3 hours ago, Barlow said:

The school dentist at Castle Rushen was always quick to get the injection needle out and do some drilling and filling. I got a mouthful of them and a couple of extractions too, not becuase I was in any pain whatsoever but to prevent something called "overcrowding".

The school dentist had a flashy wee sports car, a big house at Bradda and went on multiple world cruises (one would have been the height of opulence at the time).

Seem to remember that you had to see him even if you had already been checked by your own dentist?

[ballaughbiker]

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The school dentist had a flashy wee sports car, a big house at Bradda and went on multiple world cruises (one would have been the height of opulence at the time).

Sorry to burst your bubble but school dentists were salaried/employed with no financial incentive to 'look for work' . In any case, data from the last 25 ish years shows there is well more than average amounts of work here anyway without looking for it.

As for salary, it was just 35% more than the national average back in the late 80s (the only data I have) which probably wouldn't support Bradda man's lifestyle on its own..

 

 

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Seem to remember that you had to see him even if you had already been checked by your own dentist?

Correct

[Barlow]

21 hours ago, ballaughbiker said:

Sorry to burst your bubble but school dentists were salaried/employed with no financial incentive to 'look for work' . In any case, data from the last 25 ish years shows there is well more than average amounts of work here anyway without looking for it.

As for salary, it was just 35% more than the national average back in the late 80s (the only data I have) which probably wouldn't support Bradda man's lifestyle on its own..

I am told that he did a lot of private work from home too. Maybe that was the super income.

I still wonder how I have a mouth full of fillings. We couldn't afford sweets, Coke etc and brushed teeth as prescribed.

I have asked various dentists over the years and each one has just said "Hmmmm....."

When I mentioned the extractions to prevent over crowding, they  mostly all wide-grinned.

[ballaughbiker]

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I have asked various dentists over the years and each one has just said "Hmmmm....."

Because you are asking a question that can't be answered based on evidence. 

I too have a mouthful of metal but I'm grateful I dodged the mouthful of acrylic that the vast majority of my parent's generation had. That dodge was down to the professional care about which you have concerns.

Adult full denture wearers now account for just 6% population, down from a vast majority in 1948 when the NHS started.

 

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When I mentioned the extractions to prevent over crowding, they  mostly all wide-grinned.

Dunno why. It is a perfectly acceptable treatment of overcrowding. In fact it is usually necessary if that condition exists.

Edited June 27, 2021 by ballaughbiker

[Barlow]

 

 

2 hours ago, ballaughbiker said:

I too have a mouthful of metal but I'm grateful I dodged the mothful of acrylic that the vast majority of my parent's generation had. That dodge was down to the professional care about which you have concerns.

Adult full denture wearers now account for just 6% population, down from a vast majority in 1948 when the NHS started.

  Some of your parents generation would have had a new set of teeth for their 21st birthday present. It was the accessible cosmetic surgery of the day. Whip all of the old teeth and hey presto! stick in a new set.

Anyway, two bads don't make a good.

2 hours ago, ballaughbiker said:

Dunno why. It is a perfectly acceptable treatment of overcrowding. In fact it is usually necessary if that condition exists.

 There was no condition. Certainly not discussed with my teenage self or parents. I have an underbite directly attributed to missing lower molars (gaps have now closed) along with a corresponding misaligned bite and some crooked teeth.

Overcrowding was a buzz word for dentists in the 70s that seemingly gave them carte blanc to entirely needlessly extract a tooth or two.

Edited June 12, 2021 by Barlow

[Chie]

Granted I wasn't born in the 70s but....

For me it was the Ballakermeen dentist. Being held down in that chair and a huge gas mask forced down over your face. I was terrified of dentists well into my early 20s and even now I still get super anxious when I go near a dentist. Even though my current dentist is pretty good.

[Albert Tatlock]

49 minutes ago, Chie said:

For me it was the Ballakermeen dentist. Being held down in that chair and a huge gas mask forced down over your face. I was terrified of dentists well into my early 20s and even now I still get super anxious when I go near a dentist. Even though my current dentist is pretty good.

Snap! ...McGee...Cannell...were private. Horrible people...I was convinced they had been trained by some evil ****er.

[prism10]

7 hours ago, Chie said:

Granted I wasn't born in the 70s but....

For me it was the Ballakermeen dentist. Being held down in that chair and a huge gas mask forced down over your face. I was terrified of dentists well into my early 20s and even now I still get super anxious when I go near a dentist. Even though my current dentist is pretty good.

The Ballakermeen dentist I saw had a boxing glove.

 

He said that was just in case if the gas did not work!

 

 

[ballaughbiker]

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Anyway, two bads don't make a good.

Saving people from a lifetime of loose plastic teeth is not a 'bad'. It just isn't....

Unlike you I am very grateful for the caring professionals who saved me from that self-inflicted certainty to give me a functioning dentition, albeit full of metal, that will see me out.

 

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Overcrowding was a buzz word for dentists in the 70s that seemingly gave them carte blanc to entirely needlessly extract a tooth or two.

Needlessly ? I won't comment on your personal experiences because I have no knowlege of its circumstances and it's anecdotal at best, but the fact that those gaps then spontaneously closed is a clue that it wasn't needless at all.

If you had teeth out and gaps remained, that might support your theory but most treatment plans to straighten crooked teeth caused by overcrowding is extractions and an appliance. Only the actual outcome can determine whether treatment (assuming appliance therapy was complied with) was 'needless'. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by ballaughbiker

[Barlow]

9 hours ago, ballaughbiker said:

If you had teeth out and gaps remained, that might support your theory but most treatment plans to straighten crooked teeth caused by overcrowding is extractions and an appliance. Only the actual outcome can determine whether treatment (assuming appliance therapy was complied with) was 'needless'. 

Actually, lower molars, one gap remains nearly 50 years later, the other is half closed and that has been gradual over all those years. And I have a crooked lower face.

There was no need whatsoever to remove those teeth. There was no pain, no discomfort.

[ballaughbiker]

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There was no need whatsoever to remove those teeth. There was no pain, no discomfort

Pain and discomfort are not the only criteria to take into account in arriving at a clinical decision to remove teeth.

I fully appreciate however that you might not have been able to give informed consent for this particular procedure.

[N jones]

I have recently thought exactly this. My mum was a dental nurse so I had every possible preventative treatment available in the 70’s plus checkups more regularly than the average person.  We had a cupboard of disclosing tablets so were always using them to make sure our teeth were sparkly clean. Despite this I have a mouth full of fillings fitted in the 70’s which now I’m in my 50’s are starting to fall out at an alarming rate. My daughter on the other hand who is now 20 has not had one filling and has not had the amount of checkup’s and treatments that I had in my childhood. It was definitely a money making racket. I never ever remember having any pain from any of my teeth that meant they needed attention. As a child I remember my Mum’s boss, the dentist who filled my mouth driving around in a Porsch, his children were at private school and he lived in Ashridge (a very posh part of Hertfordshire) in a rather large house. Thanks for that Mr Mckracken. My teeth are about to cost me a lot of money thanks to your exuberance with the drill…

[philwebs]

When you are getting your amalgam fillings repaired insist on the composite white fillings (the one which uses the blue uvb light to set it).  Really excellent. The old resin fillings only lasted a year for me. The composite fillings are standard now. Composite fillings bond to the residual enamel, as I understand.

Dentists these days like to push crowns for degraded teeth. Very expensive, say £250 each. I do not know how long they last. When offered a crown I decline and ask for a composite repair. They are tough, last for me, and are easy to repair.

Something to be aware of is, as I understand, that each amalgam filling fives off 15 micrograms of vapour every year. Multiply the number of you fillings by 15 and that is your annual mercury ingestion from fillings. Mercury is toxic. For your amusement look up the signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning, any look familiar?

Any dentist who did the drill and fill would take in mercury vapour every time an amalgam filling was done. Perhaps those who did this succumbed to neurological conditions such as dementia.

Why did the "Health Service" not stamp out this practice? Surely they had all the data on every dentist and paid out for the treatments. Usual story I suppose. It went on for perhaps 20 years.

My fillings stopped abruptly in 1982. I was puzzled so I asked. My teeth had hardened, allegedly, said with a smile. Since then minimal genuine fillings, mostly ongoing repairs to the amalgam fillings and breakages.

The only justice is perhaps the self poisoning by the drill-and-fill merchants. Hard to forgive.

 

 

 

[quilp]

1 hour ago, philwebs said:

Mercury is toxic. For your amusement look up the signs and symptoms of mercury poisoning, any look familiar?

Any dentist who did the drill and fill would take in mercury vapour every time an amalgam filling was done. Perhaps those who did this succumbed to neurological conditions such as dementia.

'Mad Hatter syndrome.' The milliners disease.