What was dental care like in your childhood ?

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.

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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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Care of teeth didn't seem to exist in my mother's world, she had a full set of dentures. I know when we were young we didn't have toothbrushes.

I remember the black rubber smelly gas mask and the spitting out of blood, all over a woman's coat in the back of a taxi we were sharing to get home from the dental hospital. I was seven.

I remember running out of the dental clinic after the dentist hit a nerve. I was 13, totally lacking in self-confidence but I ran all the way home in a panic and my mother was mildly surprised that such a timid child would do that. I went alone because my father was dead and Mam had three part-time jobs, so there was no choice.

By the time I was 16, most of my teeth had to come out.

It was another world. It took many years before I lost my fear of dentists. I'm so glad that my grandchildren have no fear of dentists.

my memories of dentists are the same as everyone else's on here. I remember a dentist came once a week to a room at the back of a sweet shop and I remember both my mum and dad taking turns to take me there to have a tooth out, I don't remember when I actually got the tooth out. . then when I was a year or two older I had toothache, there was hardly any tooth left ,,just a shell,and he drilled it without an injection and it seemed to go on for ages I ended up being sick all over his floor, and he was angry with me, He did enjoy inflicting pain,
Oh how I'd love to meet him now.

Not read the full thread but I was a victim of Australian trench fillings.

* thread from

Sat 23-Jan-21

thread from Sat 23-Jan-21 2021!

Urmstongran

Was it a thing to go on our own too at a fairly early age? I remember being 11y and going, taking my NINE YEAR OLD SISTER along with me! Wouldn’t be allowed nowadays I’m sure.

On the walk there I used to try and reassure my little sister. A few years ago we were talking about this subject. She said ‘I can remember you said relax and just look out of the window at the tree branches and see if a bird comes to sit on one. It really helped me.’

God, shows how traumatic it must have been, in that we still recall the fear even now.

I took myself to the dentist too. When I was eight.
His clinic was minutes walk from my school so it suited my parents to get me an appointment straight after school ended.
( Father was terminally ill and Mother was nursing him at home). For the same reason I also took myself to and from school (7 miles from home across Bolton; two public service buses plus three walks).

I'd broken two front teeth ( fell flaton my face running on ice with both hands in pockets) so had a lot of solo dental appts after school while he tried and failed to repair them. I was terrified of the dentist because he gassed me every time. A lone 8 yr old going home by bus after. He told me that only very naughty girls had gas, and if my parents never found out I'd be in big trouble. My dad died, we moved house, I escaped that bastard dentist and for the next 6 years I flatly refused to go near any dentist while my teeth decayed and rotted . At 16 I was in so much pain from abcesses, I caved in. New dentist who dealt with the wreckage was infinitely gentle, patient and painless (no gas) and so have all my subsequent dentists been.

To this day, I am still filled with that childhood dread and fear of 70 years ago, every time I get into that chair.

At the dentist this week I tried to explain to the new person treating me how those childhood experiences had been and how the memory lingers. The mask, no explanation, abrupt manner, no kindness, unnecessary fillings and total terror. She simply couldn't understand, training is very different now. Her comment was - but that was abusive. Indeed!

Barbaric and ended up with bad teeth.

I was about 5 and remember catching the bus with mum without any explanation of where we were going. Next memory is being sat in a chair and a gas mask being put over my face and 3 staff forceably holding me down while I fought the gas. My last memory before going under was the look on mum's face - covered in guilt and tears. She never took me to a dentist again so my teeth suffered over the years. I went to dentists on and off over the years but was always put off until finally finding a very trusting dental practice. Wish I'd found them years ago.

Oh dear, reading all these stories has brought back so many memories – and not good ones! Like so many of you, my childhood dentist visits in the 60s/70s were terrifying: no proper pain relief, the awful drill noise, gas for extractions that made me sick, and ending up with a mouth full of amalgam fillings by my teens. I still get anxious just thinking about it, and it's no wonder so many of us ended up with ongoing dental issues later in life.
It's heartbreaking how things were back then, but thankfully dentistry has come a long way. These days, if someone needs more advanced work like dental implants (to replace missing teeth properly instead of just dentures or bridges), there are some options for financial help – though the government doesn't offer straightforward grants for everyone.
From what I've read, the NHS only covers implants in very specific medical cases (like after cancer treatment, severe accidents, or if dentures can't be tolerated), and otherwise they're private and expensive. But for those on low income, the NHS Low Income Scheme can reduce or cover costs of eligible treatments, and there are charities that sometimes help too.
I found this useful page that explains it all clearly, including alternatives like payment plans: [url=https://cheaterbuster.co.uk/government-grants-for-dental-implants-uk/]Government Grants and Help for Dental Implants in the UK[/url]
Has anyone here had to look into implants or major dental work later in life? How did you manage the costs, or did you find any good support? Sharing tips would be brilliant for those still dealing with the fallout from our childhood experiences!
Take care everyone, and looking after our teeth now is so important

Oh dear, reading all these stories has brought back so many memories – and not good ones! Like so many of you, my childhood dentist visits in the 60s/70s were terrifying: no proper pain relief, the awful drill noise, gas for extractions that made me sick, and ending up with a mouth full of amalgam fillings by my teens. I still get anxious just thinking about it, and it's no wonder so many of us ended up with ongoing dental issues later in life.

It's heartbreaking how things were back then, but thankfully dentistry has come a long way. These days, if someone needs more advanced work like dental implants (to replace missing teeth properly instead of just dentures or bridges), there are some options for financial help – though the government doesn't offer straightforward grants for everyone.

From what I've read, the NHS only covers implants in very specific medical cases (like after cancer treatment, severe accidents, or if dentures can't be tolerated), and otherwise they're private and expensive. But for those on low income, the NHS Low Income Scheme can reduce or cover costs of eligible treatments, and there are charities that sometimes help too.

I found this useful page that explains it all clearly, including alternatives like payment plans:
cheaterbuster.co.uk/government-grants-for-dental-implants-uk/

Has anyone here had to look into implants or major dental work later in life? How did you manage the costs, or did you find any good support? Sharing tips would be brilliant for those still dealing with the fallout from our childhood experiences!

Take care everyone, and looking after our teeth now is so important

I can answer from two perspectives - mine and my mum's. Note that we live in Canada so we do not have a national dental plan; most people cover the cost for dental exams and treatment with health benefits, typically obtained through their employer but you can purchase your own as well.

Mum is in her late 60s and as a child she was only taught to brush once daily. She had several cavities as a child. She's experienced some problems with her teeth as an adult because of this; she explained to me that one of her recent dentists told her that the practice at the time was to drill pretty much a massive hole and fill it. The materials that were used at the time have a tendency to expand over time, meaning that some of her teeth have started to break down due to filling expansion and she's needed some additional dental work done because of that. (Dad has had similar issues. One time he bit into an egg and one of his teeth cracked in half.)

When I was a child, we were taken to the dentist annually. When I attended public school until the end of Grade 3, we also had fluoride treatment provided at school. (I was homeschooled from Grades 4-8 and attended an online school for Grades 9-12.) I was recommended to see an orthodontist, and did go for a consult, but my parents weren't keen on my getting braces because my sister had had braces and had numerous cavities and even a tooth that grew in through her hard palate. Our dentists were very kind and gentle. I've had three fillings and only had any pain with one - and that was just when they injected the local anesthetic. I've also had one wisdom tooth removed. I only ever had three (seems genetic; Dad had the same) and our dentist explained that if it wasn't removed it would just keep growing as there was no bottom tooth to stop it from growing. I had that done as a simple extraction because it grew in fully.

Yes entist arrives at school. We are then given a note for us to attend for an extraction. I can still remember that awful smell ofrherubber mask and gas. Then after that many visits to another dentist on my own. I was about 11. He drilled my front top teeth without any anaesthetic. The only way I got through it was to imagine I was Odette and I wasn’t going to give away any secrets. Told my friend who said she had injections for fillings. I told my dentist and asked if I could have the same. He then told me he could really hurt me. Still no injections though but I bet he was paid for them.

I remember the dentist coming into school. We were all given a red Colgate beaker, toothbrush & paste.
I don’t remember going to a dentist until nine years of age.
As we weren’t encouraged to eat sweets, only on the weekend. I didn’t have
have any fillings until my mid twenties. Luckily I still have all my own teeth at 60 odd.
Can’t believe why there is such a shortage of dentists, its like being in a third world country trying to get an appointment with a NHS dentist today.

At junior school the dentist would visit my school but luckily my parents took me to a local dentist. I seemed to have lots of fillings and I thought of him as a butcher. I must have been traumatised by having the gas mask when having extractions as, later in life when married, I had to go into hospital for a day to have a procedure that required me to be anaesthesised. I was absolutely petrified about it and my health visitor helped allay my fears by explaining the procedure. It all stemmed from my experiences at my dentist.

Awful experience with the school dentist.I now have a phobia about going to the dentist which unfortunately I have passed on to my daughter.