Let’s get this straight, they are to blame,
Those men and women, name and shame
The torturers who terrorised
A generation.
We had no choice, and no consent
Compassionless, we children sent
As victims to, despite our cries,
Their ministrations.
The instruments of torture held
Against our will, although we yelled
Or whimpered through the silent pain
Our protestations.
The sickness following the gas
The fear remains as decades pass
And once again I wait alone
In trepidation.
They seldom reached for anaesthetic,
Said our cries were just pathetic,
Pulled and drilled without a care…
An aberration.
Those who were born within those years
May recognise ‘school dentist’ fears,
Identifying with my verse
And agitation.
No logic can dispel reaction
As I await a bad extraction
Thinking of those childhood fears…
Anticipation…
So, like a child, inside I sat there quaking,
Could not stop my body shaking,
While knowing that the worst would be
Imagination.
The Daily Echo is currently zoned out on painkillers.
Normal service will resume when it looks less like a lopsided hamster.
Pingback: Remains of the day… – The Militant Negro™
AND the rubbery smell of the anaesthetic mask 😱😷🤐
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Ew…I’d forgotten that…
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😄
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😀
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Oh Sue!!!
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😦 😉
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Wishing you a full recovery. I remember the school dentist and his caravan. It sat in our school yard for endless weeks…
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Horrible things…
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I am just as terrified today as I was … only now, it costs so much money, I live not ONLY in dread of the procedure, but the bill! Good luck!
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Thanks, Marilyn… I know that feeling…
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Oh God, I do hate the dentist! I hope that you have now recovered from your ordeal! xx
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Working on it… xx
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Nasty, horrid memories, get better soon 💜💜💜
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Thanks, Willow ❤
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Sending hugs 💜
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❤
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💜
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The smell of novocaine, the ether mask, the length of that needle, the taste of blood when the tooth comes out…sensory memory nightmares. I hear you, Sue. Glad it is so much gentler these days. (And I floss more.) Feel better soon.
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Bad enough, without all those memories 🙂
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Oh, good grief, I’m going to the dentist tomorrow morning to have a filling replaced. And I remember the school dentist in the caravan, the eveil mask with gas….
Hope you’re hamster look subsides soon.
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I hope you have a much more pleasant experience than memory, Mary 😉
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Oh, gosh, hope you’re feeling better soon!
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Just hoping it clears up now, Eliza…
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Return soon Sue.
xxx Huge Hugs xxx
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I hope so, David xxx
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Hope you’re on the mend. Traumatised after that!
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Back again this morning, I fear… 😦
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Oh no. Hope you are sorted now.
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I remember a dentist putting his knee to my chest to hold me down while he extracted a tooth. I must have been six or so. Have dreaded dentists ever since and don’t even like going for a cleaning today for fear they’ll “find something.”
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I know that feeling, Rae.
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I am still terrified because dentists always hurt me. At the age of 12 I was sent alone to have 4 wisdom teeth pulled.Long walk, long bus ride and alone. That smell was ether!! Then let to leave alone for the long trip home. Even now my dentist whose sign says, “The Gentile Dentist’ drilled into my tongue. Seriously? Is it me? i think not.
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Those childhood experiences really mark us. I tried to bring my sons up without that fear… but there is only so much you can do to help prevent it.
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A toothache is the worst…hope all is well soon! (K)
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Thanks, Kerfe… I have a feeling I may be going backa again today 😦
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Good luck!
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🙂
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I’m so sorry you’re having a bad time, Sue. I went to a child’s dentist until age 12. He didn’t believe in using novocaine. It was also a slower drill than today. I had to have a lot of fillings from him. I was glad I aged out. I totally sympathize. I checked carefully when it was my children’s time so they didn’t have that experience. —- Suzanne
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I did the same for my children, Suzanne..though they never went happily anyway…
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Traumatizing indeed Sue. Although, I must say for the first while in this post I thought you were writing a piece on WWII. Sheesh, I hope you are alright? You’re an ongoing concern latelly,. LOL ❤
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Still feeling pretty ill and not a happy hamster, Debby. And today, I go back to the dentists… 😦
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Oh Sue, I’m sorry to hear. You need to heal and rest and maybe take a day off the computer? 🙂 xx
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Or a day off work? Nah… my boss would never hear of it. I’ve already been told he’ll sack me if I die… 😉 xx
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Lol, reminds me of an old Streisand movie – A Star is Born? Maybe – When she tells her man – If you die I’ll kill you. 🙂 I’ve used it on my hub a few times. 🙂 ❤
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Nick seems to think sacking me is a good enough threat 😉
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Oh no! 🙂
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Sons… 😀
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🙂
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Oooooo, I feel your pain … may the drugs work. I found a hot water bottle on the side of my face to ease the ache once the novocaine wears off.
It’s the smells that do me in.
When I was a child my father held me down while a dentist drilled and filled all of my molars. I have never forgotten, or forgiven either of them. I learned years later that the dentist actually got his kicks from causing little children unnecessary pain.
It took me decades to finally get past all that and even go to a dentist. Of course, I needed a great deal of work done, but my dentist was a good kind man who did his job well.
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My dentists as a child were of a similar ilk… and enjoyed pulling molars. When the boys were small, I masked the fear to the point I no longer felt it, until I was actually in the chair. hese days,apparently, I’m not so good at it… especially when they want to pull infected molars…
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When I was a child, the dentist would say.”Now if you feel any pain, just raise your hand.” I would raise it, shake it, tap his arm and shake it all the harder all the while he ignored me. Hope you doing much better now, Sue. Hugs
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Mine still says that…but at least he stops these days… Still looking like a hamster, but after a second visit and the first round of antibiotics, at least I can think again 🙂
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You poor lady. Have you iced for the swelling?
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Oh yes….
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A brilliant poem, Sue. I am going soon too.
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Thanks, Robbie. Hope all goes well for you there!
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