Remember the yearly visits to "Andy" in Wyandotte? I loved the bonging doorbell as we entered and the tiny table and chairs in the waiting room. I was also intrigued by the Mother Goose poster on the wall by the table. It was a dark poster that sort of scared me when I was young. Later I liked to see how many stories I could recognize and esp. loved the "Crooked Man". Rosemary, the receptionist/nurse always said "Who wants to be first?" (as if any of us wanted to be first). I sometimes would volunteer to go 1st to get it over with. After our trip to "the chair", I remember getting to pick a bag of marbles or a cute plaster of Paris pin (made by Rosemary). My favorite part was the "squirrel chaser" that Andy rigged up to shoo the critters away from the bird feeder outside the window. The birds always gave me something to look at as he drilled away. Sometimes Mom would take us down the street to check out Robert Hall's store before heading home. I think of Dr. Frostic now every time I have to have one of my old fillings replaced!
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5 comments:
Oh man, lots of memories of the dentist office! Remember the coat holder on the wall right as you walked in? It was sort of a smiley face and had knobs that came out of the eyes and nose to hang coats. Although we survived it, Dr. Frostic was one of the most old-school dentists EVER. Almost nobody believes me that I never had Novocaine before I was 28 when I got it for extraction of 4 wisdom teeth. And that archaic slow speed drill! You know, the one with the pulleys and belts? I remember the worst time was when I had to be given smelling salts while in the chair to keep me from passing out. I also remember if you needed a filling, you would get it RIGHT THEN! No having to make another appointment for three weeks later - he took care of it NOW! (without Novocaine of course!)
I always wondered if he didn't use Novacaine because Mom and Dad couldn't afford it or if Andy and Dad just thought pain "came with" going to the dentist. I don't remember ever getting my teeth cleaned there. Probably because I always needed a filling (no time). I remember the high speed drill when I was older and Andy would use that and the old, slow, PAINFUL one alternately. My current dentist couldn't believe I had never had numbing. I guess we're tough. Now I get it most of the time. My dentist prefers that--I guess he fears I might kick or jerk if I felt the pain.
My dentist couldn't believe I didn't have novacaine until adulthood either!! The dental assistant did though...turns out she never had novacaine as a child either...and who was her dentist? Dr. Frostic!!! So I think it was Andy's policy rather than mom and dad's request. Lou, I remember the coat hooks and I also remember that you always went first. I didn't mind because it gave me time to look at that poster that Marie mentioned...even after I was well too old to be truly interested. I especially remember the crooked little man because he creeped me out for some reason! I always remember after the exam Andy would ask, "Ring, Pin or ball?" I always took the cheap ring, broke it in half and bent each of the halves to look like earrings and "clipped" them on my ears.
One kind of neat thing about going to Andy was he was open on Saturday. I have never met a dentist after that who was open on Saturday. I remember one time Andy gave me a speed control for the drill (no kidding). I got to control the speed so if it started to hurt too much I could slow it down. Little did I know, the slower the drill went, the more painful it was. Whenever I think of Dr. Frostic and his office, I think of the dentist in Little Shop of Horrors (you know "FEEEED MEEEE!") where Jack Nicholson had his debut part as a lunatic, sadistic dentist.
I don't blame Dr. Frostic for my fear of dentists, but I only remember the horror of being there. I know about the coat rack and the pictures and books, but I never looked at them. I watched the birds through the window, and imagined myself sitting on the feeder watching Dr. F. drill in the bird's mouth. When he got the high speed drill, he demonstrated on my thumbnail how painless it would be (it hurt like like pulling teeth-oops, bad metaphor).
Then when he turned on the cooling waterspray, it splashed back on his extremely thick glasses, and, in his half-blind struggle, he nearly made me a facial piercing pioneer. Now that I have no more teeth to be drilled or pulled, I can look back on it all, and smile. Now that I have had my last 30 or so Novacaine shots, I am searching for a retired dentist that would put me under nitrous oxide, just once.
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