my teeth and Dr. Frankenstein  

     Lower-town kids in the 1950's didn't know what a dentist was or even looked like. To satisfy that dental hygiene need of the students the public high-school I attended had it's own dental office.  Every new student in our all boys school had to have his teeth checked by the school dentist.  

     The usual procedure was for the dentist to call the teacher requesting the next student on his list. The students had standard schedules so it was easy to know where each student was at any time of the day. My teacher had just received such a call requesting my presence in the dentist's office. I gathered up my books and off I went down to the dentist's office located on the main floor.  

     As I walked through the door, a tall wiry man  in a white lab coat looked up and said: "your name is:  Keith O'Connor"?  "Yes", I said.  He went back to reading my file.  In the center of the small room sat the dentists chair. The dentist never sit's in it, but we call it the dentist's chair. Much like the barber's chair  -  the barber doesn't sit in it, but we call it the barber's chair.  

     As I looked at the dentists chair, I had the strange feeling that it  looked back at me,  flexing its parts,  like a strange alien shaped weight lifter. The seat part of the dentist's chair  perched on top of a large horn shaped white porcelain pedestal, much  like a barber's chair.  It had black leather upholstered pads attached to the arms and back. The dentist's chair also came with your standard barber chair foot rest and head rest.  It was fully adjustable, through the use of cranks and hand-wheels, which could move it's various limbs  from a full  upright to a  horizontal position.   

     From a tall pole stand on the floor just back of the chair, a skinny multi-tubed  steal arm, jointed  with pulleys and wires arched over the chair.  A  little side table, with a variety trays sponges, knives forks and drawers, stood  on one side of the chair.   

     On the other side of the chair  a small white sink with running water caught my eye.  I had never seen anything like this before.  My imagination turned the dentists office into a Frankenstein like laboratory where powerful bolts of electricity would painfully infuse life into a lifeless hulk, (possibly mine) . My imagination usually went to work when I wanted to avoid thoughts which would upset me. 

     Dr. Frankenstein, in his white lab coat,  put my file down on a small desk.  "Never been to a dentist before".  "No sir".  I said politely, with a slight high pitched quiver in my voice. 

     "Well, have a seat", he said, motioning me to sit in the chair from which there may be no escape.  I  listened attentively   for any intonation in his voice that would reassure me that I was safe. He sounded pleasant enough, "maybe it won't be so bad", I said to myself, as I surrendered my sensitive body to the chair, which I felt might grab me and never let me out. Having remembered seeing other boys returning from a visit to the dentist, I assured myself that I would survive. 

"Well let's have a look". 
"Open wide". 

     He pushed my lips one way then another. His finger felt like it filled my entire mouth, but that was just the start.  He then preceded to poke around  in my mouth, with a variety of  steal poking tools, putting one down, picking another up from what seemed like an endless pile of steal pointy things. Every few seconds he would punctuate the silence with, "Well Now", "Hmmmm", "I was afraid of that", "Not brushing your teeth I see". 

     I was so busy worrying about the liquid trickling down my throat that I spent most of my time thinking about not being able to breathe. Then, just as I was about to jump out of the chair he handed me a little cup filled with liquid, told me to rinse and then spit it into the small sink on my right. He must have sensed that I didn't know what the sink was for. A good mark in his favor. 

     He went back to stretching  my mouth with his big fingers, then poking and scraping at my teeth, then another pause as I  rinsed and spit into the little sink. Dr. Frankenstein and I continued this  ritual until it's end coincided with the principle walking through the door with a file in his hand.  While they were talking, I just relaxed waiting until this experience was over. Then Dr. Frankenstein said loudly to the principle, "look at the teeth on this boy"! 

     The principle came closer to my face, Dr. Frankenstein told me to open wide. The principle responded with an "Ugh". "This is a perfect example of what happens when he doesn't brush his teeth", said Dr. Frankenstein. The principle shrugged his shoulders and said "he must want rotting teeth".  The principle left the room and went back to doing whatever principles do. 

         Dr. Frankenstein had succeeded in making  me feel that I was not a normal person and that I should feel ashamed of myself. He then reached for a hand mirror about four inches in diameter and held it in front of my face and said, "look at your teeth". 

 I opened my lips so that I could see my teeth, all of which, both upper and lower,  had suddenly become dirty shit coloured teeth. He had done something to make my teeth look like they belonged to some monster from the grave. They had never ever looked that bad. I looked at Dr. Frankenstein, and he  looked back  me with a stupid smart ass  smile on his face, "see how bad they are", he said. "That's what happens when you don't brush your teeth".   I said nothing to him. I had learned long time ago that you never challenge the adults. He was just another lying adult who couldn't be trusted. 

"You can go" he said 

     It wouldn't have taken much to tell me that he had me rinse with a solution that made the plaque easier to see so he could work more efficiently but that would have negated his cruel streak.
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