What was dental care like in your childhood ?

I can't finish reading this post as the stories are making me feel most peculiar.

I also had extractions and huge amalgam fillings by the time I was 16. I was asking a dentist recently and he said the huge fillings were done as a preventative measure. I have had one tooth break because the filling was so big in relation to the tooth that was left. I don't think my teeth were even bad.

I was terrified of going to the dentist. We had a family appointment, always on a Saturday morning. I ran away from home one time as I was so scared.

I can still smell the gas mask and the gas now, and remember the feeling of going under.

I have a check up in a couple of weeks. It is a new dentist which makes me nervous. My old one has left. The surgery have assured me that he is very good with nervous patients. Here's hoping

My childhood dentist was an alcoholic and a sadist. We were given fillings but were not allowed any pain relief. Some of the fillings weren't necessary.

Oh gosh reading these answers will bring back awful memories so I'll post my story then I'll read from the beginning .

I was about 7 living on RAF camp in Aden . Dad took me to the dentist, I must have had pain or discomfort I don't remember . Dad sat in the chair and pulled me onto his lap and Bear hugged me so tight I couldn't move my arms , but I was kicking and screaming. A horrible ugly man came into my face with a plastic thing that was hissing
and smelt horrible .He pushed so hard into my face I fought but failed . I woke up in pain and didn't understand why my dad would hurt me like that .

A dentist I visited when I was 35 was an unpleasant person . I was anxious and said
" I'd rather give birth than visit the dentist " his reply was " make up your mind I've got tools to do both jobs "

Yuk

We never had toothbrushes. My mother could barely afford to feed us never mind toothbrushes. My life was completely ruined by losing all my teeth at 11.

Horrible, horrible, horrible. It was the only thing that really scared me as a child. The dentists were butchers no other term would suffice.
If it was any other area of medicine there would have been a “class” action against the NHS by now, I’m certain.

Strange how different my memories are re. dentists. I was born in 1941, very working class family. Until we moved into a lovely council house when I was 11, never had tap hot water or our own bathroom. Yet. I can so easily remember my toothbrushes and toothpaste.

As my parents could not take unpaid time of work for holidays, they found an organisation where I was sent to a special holiday school. I was younger primary school age, so must have been late 40's. Toothpaste we used (supplied by parents) had fruit names, and we would actually eat it. And, then have to ask for replacements from our parents in our weekly letters. Think I had my first toothbrush pre-school.
That fruit toothpaste was in small tubes and very pricey.

My dentist (NHS obviously), actually came from Australia. He was lively and looked after my teeth very well. I hated going, but cannot remember any really painful things there. Mind you never had any fillings due to my Mum insisting on good dental hygiene at home.

Looking back, I should have had at least tooth removed as my mouth is overcrowded, with teeth overlapping each
other.

My children, growing up in the 70's had a lovely dentist who insisted on using a special coating on all their teeth when they had their second teeth all through. Sure her care and that coating has ensured that all of them have good healthy teeth, even now they are all in their fifties.

As for me, well, at 84 and having given birth to five children, I have all but two of my own teeth. Yes, a good few fillings now, but for the past six years have not required any dental treatment. Have managed now to get back under NHS for dentist (having had 18 months when there were none in my town), had appointment just last week and again - given total 'all clear, no work required' - sure this is down to fact that I used toothbrushes from early childhood.

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Good God, this reads like a litany of child abuse, just not in a sexual context. Some of these monsters should have been prosecuted surely!

I thought I was alone, but I too had a pretty awful experience as a child with one dentist, fillings galore with no pain relief. I was thankful when we moved and the new dentist was kind, gentle and used anaesthetic.

In the early fifties I had my front teeth (and others) drilled and filled. The pain was unbelievable and when talking about it at school, a friend queried why I hadn’t had an anaesthetic. So the following week I asked my dentist about this. His answer was “next time I will REALLY hurt you”. The only way I got through the pain was to imagine I was Oddette who was tortured in the Second Word War as the film was doing the rounds at the time.

I had a marvellous dentist throughout my childhood who was also the Dental Consultant in the local hospital. When he retired, I was in my teens and registered with a practice of New Zealand dentists. That was a time when huge numbers of young Ozzies and Kiwis went to work in the UK because of a change in the payment rules. I was one of many patients who naively accepted that they needed fillings – although six months earlier my check-up with my original dentist had shown no sign of problems. That way the antipodean new graduates could work fast and earn lots of money. The unnecessary fillings did last a long time but the teeth are now breaking up.

M0nica

GagaJo why not have it now?

Mainly due to cost MOnica. Limited income and no pension in sight for another 11 years.

It seems as if a lot of us have unpleasant memories of childhood visits to the dentist.

I remember the dentist most local to where we lived, and therefore the one we went to at first, really was a butcher- I had a lot of fillings and some extractions as I was growing too many teeth (which ultimately led to me needing orthodontic treatment and, to be fair, a much more pleasant experience as far as these things go, as my mum was given the name of a much better dentist by the orthodontist, whose practice was near to that of the orthodontist).

Back to the butcher, though. After any fillings, my face looked as if it had undergone ten rounds with Mike Tyson, the same after any extractions. My mum decided enough was enough though and took the recommendation from the orthodontist to try his colleague down the road from him, who, I’m pleased to say was so much better.

I remember that awful black gas mask that “the butcher” used on me. However, I suspect his shins were black and blue because as I was coming round, I remember that I was kicking out with such force one of my shoes came off - must have been the effects of that gas.

He was none too gentle with the anaesthetic needle used when I had fillings, either, and, like another poster mentioned, it felt as if it was going right through my jaw towards my ear. That resulted in all the bruising around my face.

I’ve never avoided going to the dentist, though, and have no fear. I think this is down to the fact that I required so much orthodontic treatment over many years that I don’t want to risk losing any now if I can avoid it, and became used to regular dental visits.

I do have a problem with gum/tooth sensitivity now, though, which has happened only in the last couple of years - probably an age thing, although I was reading a thread on mumsnet about the menopause yesterday, and interestingly a poster mentioned having tooth & gum sensitivity since menopause and her dentist did say it can be a side effect for some people, so I wonder if that’s the case? Sorry, I’ve digressed a bit!

GagaJo why not have it now?

I had very good dental care. My mum was really strict with us and we saw the dentist twice a year. BUT I refused to have orthodontist work done that I needed and now have very crooked teeth.

We all certainly had tooth brushes and cleaned our teeth regularly.

My first memory of seeing the dentist is at the age of 11, although as I had good teeth, and didn't need fillings until my late teens, I could have, and probably would have, had check-ups and just forgotten them.

My dental memories start with orthodontic treatment when I was 11. I had prominent teeth and the army dentist did the examinations and tests and recommended it, but when he heard we were due a posting back to Blighty suggested that my parents wait until we got home and were settled there.

First I saw the local dentist, but there were complications so he referred me to the Royal Dental Hospital at Leiecester Square and I went there regularly for 4 years, I had to wear all kinds of horrible contraptions and the Professor was wheeled out at regular intervals to advise on what should be done. During that time I continued to see the local dentist every six months. He was a very nice man and, as I said, I had no fillings at all until I was about 15.

When my orthodontic treatment finished, the professor said to me. 'We have put a lot of time and effort in sorting your teeth out, make sure you look after them - and I have.

When I was ten had to visit school dentist. Was sat in chair, draped in rubber apron and mouth wedged open.
A black rubber mask was pressed over my nose and I was told to take deep breaths.
I started to panic and was about to try and make a run for it when the mask was removed. One of the cylinders was empty.
Five minutes later I was back under the mask with a second one over my mouth and a nurse holding me in the chair. No escape

I was about 9 or 10 and went to the dentist accompanied by my mother. I had lost my baby back teeth, and my adult molars had come in. The dentist insisted that they were my baby teeth, I had to have them removed to make room for my adult teeth. I had gas, he took them out. My mother was livid when she realised what he had done, but they couldn't be put back.
I have a small mouth and had teeth removed to make room for others. I have a gap in my lower jaw where no adult tooth grew so I suspect that he took the adult tooth out thinking it was the baby tooth.
I hated going to the dentist back then, and still do to this day.
By the way, I have never needed any other teeth removed!

Can't read of others experiences.

Mine experiences were terrible through till I was well into my 40s. I'm 71 now and have no quarms about going. Past two dentists have been the best to help me through lots of corrective treatment.

My dentist in the late 60s and early 70s gave out lollipops after examining us - no wonder I've got a sweet tooth now!!
I was fine with him and a lady dentist I had.
Then we got a butcher, and I was a teenager by then, and having my wisdom teeth out, very painfully, plus he managed to cause a very nasty infection in my lower lip, and would not accept blame for it or give a prescription to help heal it - needless to say I never went to him again!!!
Then I left home and in the town I now live we had not one but TWO BUTCHERS, and they put me off for life!!
I now wait for teeth to start slackening and work them out myself. Then I put them out for the tooth fairy, who pays very well, and the money is divided between my grandchildren!

Going to the dentist is my worst fear. All the stories on here sound familiar. I had a couple of teeth out aged ten, under gas!

Another memory is of taking my mum to the dentist when she had all her teeth out. I was ten! I had to get her home when she was feeling awful. Wouldn’t be allowed now.

One dentist told me fairly recently that he sees children where three of them had perfect teeth and one terrible teeth and that it is often genetic.

Mine are awful and I am so jealous of the young people nowadays with perfect teeth.

Ps going to the dentist on Friday, wish me luck?

I remember the gritty tooth paste in a round tin think it was Gibbs toothpaste. Also had loads of drilling and filling as a child , not a pleasant experience!!! That big black chair with it's hard neck rest and the overhead drill hanging above me. All my teeth were filled in childhood - goodness knows why !!! My teeth were not in a heavy state of decay. It was unnecessary. I was terrified of the dentist and my present dentist is calm and gentle but has me listed as a nervous patient- no prizes for guessing why !!

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But the joy of finding a sixpence under the pillow next morning, loved the tooth fairy. That sixpence would go straight down the road to the sweety shop to buy a bag of dolly mixture, more fodder to rot my teeth.

My father died from complications after having teeth removed 6 months before I was born. I wasn’t told any details, all I knew was he died having teeth out. Obviously I was scared of the dentist.
I remember being taken by my uncle to have a tooth removed as a child and the dentist, whilst holding me down with his knee, said, “if you don’t sit still, I’ll press you and put you in that case with my butterflies”. My uncle dragged him off and took me to the other dentist in town.
I walk past that dentists regularly, it’s not a dentist anymore, I can still visualise that case on the chimney breast with his pressed butterflies in.

It was the same in the 1970s - pretty much all of my teeth had been drilled and filled by then. Fast-forward to the 1980s, and I had a dentist who drilled without bothering to use anaesthetics... It all left me with an abiding fear of dentists until I was recommended to try the King's College Medical school (dentistry). After nine months of service by brilliant soon-to-be dentist (constantly surrounded by consultants), I lost most of my fears. (I couldn't even use floss, because the sensation would give me a panic attack.) I then didn't see a dentist for ten years and, when I did, she said my teeth were fine and needed nothing doing! When I asked how come everytime I saw the dentist in my yoof I had a filling, she said 'things were different then'. I still hate them all, sorry.