What was ideal dentistry like seventy years ago?
Thanks to dentist Dr. Mac Lee of Edna, Texas for bringing this Navy training video to our attention for this edition of TimeWarp Tuesday. You will be both impressed by the way things were done back then and relieved that dentistry has progressed so much since. Even though it’s a bit longer than you’d usually sit through, remember PEARLS! There are pearls here, even in the way, way back times.
Like Smears! They were doing bacterial profiles in 1944! And Check Out That Piece of Autoclave Artwork. That is definitely something that would look good in your practice, and you would have to drive it, like you would a classic auto, not daily, but just BECAUSE. Sure, the new one is faster, but the old is a CLASSIC and you would use it because it’s too cool just to keep it locked up in a museum somewhere.
Be sure to look out for these bitty tids of juice as well:
• Procaine. That looks like some scary stuff to be injecting into people.
• The long exposure time on the radiograph.
• 10 minute sterilization in a water bath? Really?
• The surgery cart and tongs are creepy awesome.
• What the heck kind of toothbrushing technique is that?
With an emphasis of keeping everything super clean, this is probably the most memorable line in the video:
“Never should there be a sign of the last patient.”
We should all hope there’d be no bits of him anywhere afterwards.
This is an awesome back in the day video! It makes you appreciate how far we’ve come in the industry. From just pulling out teeth, and moving on, to knowing how to replace them, make a copy of your current tooth, and replace it!
Amazing video, some of us can remember using our bare- ungloved hands for everything. It was still strange watching them work without gloves. Mixing flecks on a glass slab brought back memories
Thank you dr. Lee for finding and providing this.
When I went ashore at Chu Lai Vietnam in 1965 my hand piece was powered by a foot treadle. There was no compressed air or water. We used large ear syringes to blow, squirt water and aspirate. I would have been very happy having a set up like was seen in the film. I also did not have an x-ray machine. This one my first year out of dental school and I was least able to improvise due to my lack of experience.
I ende up doing medical evacuation flights of wounded marines on 2 occasions. i have absolutely no training for this, but you did what you had to do.