The Early Dentistry [Dentophobia Alert]
Channel: luthie creeper
Date: 2020-02-15

#DentistryInOldDays #HorribleDentistry
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Many people still find a trip to the dentists a daunting prospect in 2017 - but these horrific Victorian photos reveal a time when getting your teeth fixed was a real life-or-death procedure.  
Just like today, tooth decay was an unpleasant part of life, but for most of the 1800s and early 1900s, extraction was the only treatment available. 
Most people who found themselves with toothache ended up in the hands of their local barber or blacksmith, who doubled as a surgeon. 
These amateur ‘surgeons’ would use pliers or forceps to extract the rotten tooth - without any anesthetic to ease the agonizing pain. 
Tens of thousands of people died from the botched treatment, infections and other complications. 
For most of the 19th century, dentistry was a back-street horror show in Britain until the Dentists Act was passed in 1878 - which limited the title of ‘dentist’ and ‘dental surgeon’ to registered practitioners. 

The remarkable surviving images dating back to the 19th and early 20th century, reveal the terrors of Victorian dentistry - and show just how dangerous and agonizing a visit to the dentist could be. 

In one 1855 photo, the patient desperately stares into the camera clutching on to his dentist’s arm as he pulls out his tooth with pliers. 

And in another excruciating 1892 image, an assistant has to physically restrain the distressed patient whilst the dentist tries to perform an extraction on him.


Music 1: Gathering Darkness by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100849
Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Music 2: Hit Me On My Way by Text Me Records / Jorge Hernandez
YouTube Audio Library
(These two music backgrounds were accidentally mixed up while I'm re-editing my video I forgot to remove the previous music
but, I guess it sounds fine).