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School dentist

(20 Posts)
Primrose53 Fri 13-Oct-23 18:30:00

I went to a small rural primary school and I remember kids who needed treatment were taken in a minibus to a dentist about 10 miles away. There was no public transport and most of our parents didn’t have cars so they allowed a parent to come too. That was quite exciting as we hardly left our village.

I can vividly remember (and smell) the ghastly rubber mask they put on you to put you to sleep. I think I must have had a tooth out.

Sparklefizz Fri 13-Oct-23 18:20:31

My top teeth were crowded so the school dentist extracted 2 of my front teeth to make room instead of teeth further to the back. It has cost me a fortune in dentistry to try and rectify the look of this and my bite.

I also suffered from the Drill-and-Fill mentioned above.

watermeadow Fri 13-Oct-23 17:36:25

I think most of my generation had our teeth ruined by Drill-and-Fill dentists, who were paid for each tooth filled or extracted.

Kate1949 Fri 13-Oct-23 17:08:46

It's a big fear for many.

silverlining48 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:58:39

So sorry Kate I knew it was you but realise it was another posters mil.
I have to take 2 diazepam before a dentist appointment snd 3 if anything needs doing.

Kate1949 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:52:05

Crossed posts sl. Yes it was hellish.

Kate1949 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:51:09

It wasn't my MIL silver it was me. All my teeth aged 11. Cruelty beyond belief.

silverlining48 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:50:14

I am really sorry about your teeth Kate must have been terrible.

silverlining48 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:48:42

MY school dentist was horrible we called her the witch . I t has left me with a dreadful fear of dentists. By the time I left primary school every single tooth had been filled and I had 4 taken out.
So very glad my children and grandchildren are not phased in the least and I think there are only have two fillings between the lot of them.
My mother was German, we had come over in the late 40s . She was 25 and Her new dentist removed all her perfectly good teeth.
We always thought it was vindictive but much later found this was common practice among my friends parents who also had their teeth removed at the time. They were all British so we were probably wrong. The dentist told her and them that false teeth on the NHS would be better do perhaps this was the case with your mil Kate.

MrsKen33 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:44:05

School dentist every year, Medical on entering school and before moving to secondary, Regular visits from school nurse , re nits, scabies etc. Also measles jabs in junior school, and BCG in secondary,
There was also a hearing test In the infants’ I believe

Primrose53 Fri 13-Oct-23 16:20:31

Kate1949

I do not believe that GSM may have been lucky. A horrible, sadistic ex-Army dentist extracted all of my teeth when I was 11 with no good reason. One child's life ruined.

Oh no, you poor thing!

My late MIL was German and came to live in England just after the war. She had a cycling accident as she was used to german bikes where you pedal backwards to brake. Flew over the handlebars and damaged loads of teeth.

The dentist got her in the chair and then pulled out loads of teeth (more than were damaged she always maintained) without any anaesthetic at all as he hated Germans.

Visgir1 Fri 13-Oct-23 14:30:46

In my School area if you had your own Dentist you saw them, if not you saw the "School" Dentist.
My Mum had us at the Dentist once we had teeth so never had to see a school one.

M0nica Fri 13-Oct-23 14:26:14

Admittedly, I went to 10 schools, but I was at 1 for 6 years, but I never rememeber any kind of medical visits to my school for any purpose.

When my children were at primary school in the late 7os early 80s, I remember only one medical visit to the school. memorable because DD was overweight and after a discussion about the family diet, it was clear that neither I nor DS were overweight, the doctor suggested that perhaps DD was going around the neighbours cadging food. A suggestion so ludicrous and offensive that it left me speechless, which was a good thing, because if it hadn't I would have been so blisteringly rude to him I could have got myself into trouble.

Happytravels Fri 13-Oct-23 14:21:46

School dentist put me off going to the dentist for a very long time as an adult. Even now, after years of going regularly I have to remind myself that the dentists now are fine and it doesn’t hurt too much. I have to make myself stop clinging onto my hands when I’m in the dentist’s chair and concentrate on the music which they seem to play these days.

Kate1949 Fri 13-Oct-23 14:18:36

I do not believe that GSM may have been lucky. A horrible, sadistic ex-Army dentist extracted all of my teeth when I was 11 with no good reason. One child's life ruined.

Bodach Fri 13-Oct-23 13:57:55

Germanshepherdsmum

A dentist visited our primary school. He had a mobile surgery in a large van. I didn’t see him as I went to my parents’ (horrible, sadistic, ex-Army) dentist.

You may actually have been lucky in that, Germanshepherdsmum. All my early dentistry was done by the peripatetic dentist/man-in-a-van who visited my remote primary school with his pedal-powered drill, which was excruciatingly slow and vibrated horribly. Compared to that, all subsequent visits to an electrically-powered dentist (the equipment, not the individual) have been bliss! I came across one of these antiques (the equipment, not..etc) recently during a visit with my grandchildren to a museum, and was able to pass on blood-curdling personal accounts of the fate awaiting those who do not assiduously brush their teeth...

Germanshepherdsmum Fri 13-Oct-23 12:54:54

A dentist visited our primary school. He had a mobile surgery in a large van. I didn’t see him as I went to my parents’ (horrible, sadistic, ex-Army) dentist.

Greenfinch Fri 13-Oct-23 12:41:20

We used to have a visiting dentist when I was at primary school. We also had our eyes tested, our feet looked at to see if we were flat-footed,we were weighed and measured and had our hair examined for lice. The good old days!

Aveline Fri 13-Oct-23 12:28:06

I used to be in the medical rooms of schools when I was working and the dentists were often next door. I was peripatetic and so we're they. A very nice lady and her cheery assistant.

Whethertomorrow Fri 13-Oct-23 12:25:49

My memory is a little foggy but I’m sure as a primary school child I had to visit a school dentist every year. I remember having the inside of my cheek cut with the drill and my friend nearly losing her tongue after the drill cut hers too. I went to school in Singapore and Northern Ireland so I’m not sure where I encountered the fiendish dentists. I think they did that job because they were totally incompetent.
Anyone else remember them?