My Daddy, the Dentist

We did not go to the Dentist when we were little or ever for that matter. Since Daddy felt he was the healer of Chicken Pox he also felt he was qualified to be a Dentist.
I still remember my first visit to his "Office". I made the mistake of telling Daddy that my tooth hurt and he said why. He then stuck his long knobby fingers in my mouth and I tasted sawdust as he started touching each tooth and as I tried to garble out that it was on the bottom front.

He finally found the tooth and moved it back and forth a couple of times as I winced and tasted blood. Then he said "come into the kitchen."

Now I did not have good experiences when Daddy said to follow him somewhere and I did not like the sound of this visit either, but I knew that there were no chickens in the kitchen and that I would not be asked to find a switch in there either, so I went willingly. I had visions of maybe an old cookie or a crust of biscuit but Daddy went over to the big white glass door-ed cupboard that contained all the medicines for the house.
He opened the drawer that had the tallow, the Mercurochrome, the Doans and Carters pill, the baby aspirin, turpentine and various other homemade remedies. He did not find what he wanted, so he went to the bottom shelves and opened the door. There he found this ball of thick coarse twine and he took it out of the drawer and went back to the Kitchen.

I had NO idea what he was doing but I dared not disobey or ask questions. Children were seen and not heard in my house and not to speak unless we were spoken too. So I waited as he kind of did a quick measure by walking from the double wall that made the transition from the dining room to the kitchen. He took the end of the twine and laid it on the floor, then he unrolled the twine to where the door was half opened in the kitchen.

I was totally intrigued by what he was doing but had no idea of why I was asked to be his assistant cause I wasn't doing anything but watching. But just when I was bored out of my mind watching him find and measure twine, his attention turned to me and he motioned me over.

He said, "open your mouth" and I was mildly curious as to what on Earth he was going to do to my mouth now. It was already sore from the initial examination and I watched him tie a slip knot in one end of the twine as he placed it on the tooth in my open mouth. I was getting a little sweaty at that point cause it was already sore and he pushed and pulled on that twine in my mouth til it was nice and tight on my tooth. Did I mention that he had huge hands? lol..

He then asked me to step over near the kitchen to the half walls leading into the dining room and I did. He came over and turned me toward the door and said "stay right here and don't move or turn around."
When he tied the other end to the door, I started to panic a little. I was smart enough to know that one end was tied to my tooth and one end was tied to the door and if anyone moved that door, MY tooth was going to hurt.

He pretended to instruct me to keep still and then quickly slammed the door shut. I felt a tug on my tooth as it pulled my head forward and then a bloody mess was in my mouth. The tooth was on the end of the twine and daddy looked pleased with himself. He made me some warm salt water and had me rinse my mouth and then he went on about his work.

I had, had my first visit to the Dentist. It was not my last visit but I knew what was to come each time he motioned for me to come into his "office".. lol.

Ps.. That may be the reason for the look on my face in this picture.. lol.

LikeCommentShare