Posted on 05/12/2006 6:23:19 AM PDT by Red Badger
The following is a TRUE story.
My mother-in-law lived in a small (population <550) town. Most people worked either in pulp wood industry or the local egg packing plant, so everybody knew everybody else in town. A man who worked with my mother-in-law at the egg plant had bad teeth and one was causing him much pain. He went around for days suffering in pain from his bad tooth. Finally, his co-workers told him to get it pulled or shut the heck up and stay home. It turns out that he was actually AFRAID to go to the dentist, even though he was in his late forties.
Now, he was put in a position where he HAD to go to the dentist or face losing his income. His wife also worked at the plant, so she was kinda embarrassed at the situation. Being in a rural area, the nearest dentist was in another small town 12 miles away. Still close enough that a lot of people there knew him and the family. He made an appointment for the next afternoon, which was as soon as they could squeeze him into the schedule.
The next afternoon his wife got a phone call at the plant from the dentists office. She immediately thought that he had chickened out and missed his appointment, but no, that was not the problem. Her husband was so afraid of the pending dental work that he had gone out and bought a fifth of whiskey and downed about half of it before going in.
The dental assistant had put him in the chair and left him to get comfortable while she went to tend to other patients in other rooms. While she was gone, the man had taken the dentists tools in the tray beside the chair and pulled several of his own teeth! There was blood and broken teeth all over the tray and floor and chair and him. He had eventually passed out from the pain and alcohol, else he would undoubtedly pulled every tooth out of his head. The dentist did whatever he could to stop the bleeding and had the assistant call the mans wife to come pick up her husband. She was mortified with embarrassment.
They got him into the car and she took him home. She inspected his mouth to change the packings when she discovered he had pulled nearly all his teeth EXCEPT the one that was giving him pain
Red Badger
OK, I missed the part that was funny.
Me too,
I guess it would be funnier if you actually know the people involved......
Are you afraid of going to dentists?.....
Her husband was so afraid of the pending dental work that he had gone out and bought a fifth of whiskey and downed about half of it before going in.
What? That sunnuva... trying to get out of a little pain... grrr
They got him into the car and she took him home. She inspected his mouth to change the packings when she discovered he had pulled nearly all his teeth EXCEPT the one that was giving him pain
LOL!!! And now he still has to visit! AND his wife's gonna make sure he's sober I bet... NOW the real fun begins....
You can imagine the repurcussions of tongue wagging that will go on in these two small towns for decades..........
He readily admits he totally ignored his teefs since we got out of the Marine Corps - and that was in 1968.
He should just get dentures and be done with it........
Oh sure, like your story was funny. < |:)~
Actually, if I knew the people involved it would be a lot less funny.
There are plenty of dentist who will put you out to do the work, you need to check around.
They still use Nitrous Oxide (laffing gas) under anesthesiologist supervision for cases like yours, I believe. Not many dentists around here use it, just one we found in a town near here about ten years ago. My wife has a similar problem to yours. Novacaine just doesn't work well on some people.......
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