Folklore: Dentistry

Subject: Folklore: Dentistry
From: J-boy
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 12:04 AM

I have an infected and rotten tooth. Learning some folklore or songs about the ancient art of dentistry might help. I live in the good Ole USA so I don't have easy access to affordable dental care.
America is very backward when it comes to taking care of her citizens. (In more than that to be honest). Unless you have the coin of course.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: catspaw49
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 12:21 AM

Did you know that oral infections can destroy heart valves? Did you know there are some insurance plans that are reasonably inexpensive and have no waiting period? Do you know what heart surgery costs?


Spaw

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: J-boy
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 12:34 AM

I know all of those things Spaw. I'm simply in pain. Call me irresponsible if you wish but life just plain sucks right now.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 02:32 AM

Did the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street" pull teeth, too??

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: J-boy
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 02:46 AM

Sweeney Todd is where I draw the line Joe. I'm sure I can find a pair of pliers somewhere. I'll cut my own hair as well. I'll be damned if I become yet another casualty of Broadway.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 02:52 AM

Than, of course, there's always Springfield Mountain.

Are you sorry you asked yet?

Now, apparently the barber from Man of La Mancha doesn't do teeth, but I like his song:

BARBER
(from a distance)

Oh, I am a little barber
And I go my merry way
With my razor and my leeches
I can always earn my pay

Though your chin be smooth as satin,
You will need me soon I know
For the Lord protects his barbers,
And He makes the stubble grow.

If I slip when I am shaving you
And cut you to the quick,
You can use me as a doctor
'Cause I also heal the sick.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 05:24 AM

I came across an anecdote about a fiddle busker in late 19th century Edinburgh whose usual patch was the rather posh suburb of Morningside. Not the sort of area you'd think would have good busking opportunities, but he had a sideline in pulling teeth with his fingers.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 05:28 AM

Don't you have the tooth fairy round your way?
~M~

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 07:25 AM

Round our way the tooth fairy comes equiped with a pair of pliers in case she doesn't have the correct change!

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:26 AM

Our dentist, a university professor, always says "floss at least 3 times a day" and "brush those gums really hard" - a lot of sense in that.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:28 AM

You may just need Root Canal Treatment. This usually costs £300-£400 in the UK.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: bobad
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:43 AM

J-boy, seek out the nearest school of dentistry - they often do work for free or minimal charge as a training subject for students.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 08:53 AM

Odd that - my dentist advises a soft brush, especially on the gums.

I did some DIY dentistry once whilst on a week long Storytelling residency far from home and a filled molar split one night on a Werther's Original, causing it to catch on my tongue whilst telling the library the following day. During the break I nipped into the loo where I pulled the two bits out with my trusty pin-head pliers and when I got back home my dentist applauded me for a job well done.

I reckon teeth are conclusive proof that there is no God, much less intelligent design. One theory has it that one of the reasons humans suffer so many problems in this respect is that our jaws have evolved these past 50,000 years or so to favour language over dental health. Thus does Nurture triumph over Nurture - at our expense of course...

*

Private Eye occasionally reminds us of the popular misconception (an urban myth in itself surely?) that Oh, I Wish I looked After Me Teeth comes from the pen of Alfred, Lord Tennyson.

Subject: ADD: I Wish I'd Looked After My Teeth (Pam Ayres)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 09:29 AM

I WISH I'D LOOKED AFTER MY TEETH
(Pam Ayres)

Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth,
And spotted the perils beneath,
All the toffees I chewed,
And the sweet sticky food,
Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth.

I wish I'd been that much more willin'
When I had more tooth there than fillin'
To pass up gobstoppers,
From respect to me choppers
And to buy something else with me shillin'.

When I think of the lollies I licked,
And the liquorice allsorts I picked,
Sherbet dabs, big and little,
All that hard peanut brittle,
My conscience gets horribly pricked.

My Mother, she told me no end,
"If you got a tooth, you got a friend"
I was young then, and careless,
My toothbrush was hairless,
I never had much time to spend.

Oh I showed them the toothpaste all right,
I flashed it about late at night,
But up-and-down brushin'
And pokin' and fussin'
Didn't seem worth the time... I could bite!

If I'd known I was paving the way,
To cavities, caps and decay,
The murder of fiIlin's
Injections and drillin's
I'd have thrown all me sherbet away.

So I lay in the old dentist's chair,
And I gaze up his nose in despair,
And his drill it do whine,
In these molars of mine,
"Two amalgum," he'll say, "for in there."

How I laughed at my Mother's false teeth,
As they foamed in the waters beneath,
But now comes the reckonin'
It's me they are beckonin'
Oh, I wish I'd looked after me teeth.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: GUEST,Ted
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 09:55 AM

Not sure if it works the same in the USA, J-boy, but in the UK an easy way of getting free dental care is to talk to a Dental School - their students need people to treat. Not as frightening as it sounds, I've been on this route for years.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: ranger1
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 04:21 PM

Unfortunately, our local dentistry school just does cleanings and basic exams. That was the first place I looked when I got a gander at his face upon waking up yesterday morning.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 05:15 PM

I got a dental appointment at ten o'clock.

Tooth hurty?

No ten o clock ...

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: Jack Campin
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 06:28 PM

The main thing dental schools seem to want their students to practice is extractions.

If you know that's what you want, fine. Otherwise it is worth paying quite a lot to avoid them.

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: CupOfTea
Date: 19 Apr 11 - 06:50 PM

Different dental schools do different things - I had an impoverished middle aged art student friend who had a whole set of choppers made for her at the dental school for nearly nothing - less than a fast food dinner price each appointment - but that was back in the 70s.

I acquired my (totally splendid, artistically cool and way fun) dentist when I was broke and had an infected root from a previous root canal done wrong. She BECAME a dentist because her father had died from a similar situation -the infection migrated to the brain & killed him. She took me on for barter-for-artwork. I found out she's a noted contributor to the local NPR station's folk music programing - another folk musician referred me to her. I've found all sorts of useful folk (Vets for the critters, plumbers, lawn guys, masonry work, painters) through folk music connections. (and thanks for the reminder I have an appointment with her on Monday!)

Ask around, perhaps there's a dentist in your music community who is amenable to barter or patronage.

Joanne in Cleveland

Subject: RE: Folklore: Dentistry
From: GUEST,Ted
Date: 20 Apr 11 - 03:46 AM

Jack, as Joanne said, there may be differences between Dental Schools (and possibly between the training of dentists in different countries: I wouldn't know). I go to Guys in London as it's handy for work & they'll go to great lengths to avoid extracting a salvageable tooth.