That incident took me back to my youth when my parents spent a small fortune fixing my teeth. Aunty Kay used to say I inherited Wally’s teeth for he had false uppers. After he washed them he would put them in his mouth and say he was swallowing them. I was impressed.
My dentist was Dr Heal. His office was located on the west side of the main drag, across from the theatre and upstairs. The waiting room was small and to me the ceiling was high. There were pictures on the walls of bald headed creatures in human form performing tasks. Those pictures made me wonder.
Dr. Heal’s nurse, Mrs. Heal, would greet me and later bring me a small pill in a capsule form along with a glass of water. I would take the pill and shortly after be escorted into the padded chair.
The freezing was applied to my gums. Once the freezing took effect, Dr. Heal began working in earnest. My face was numb for hours afterwards.
The little pill Mrs. Heal gave me always made me drowsy. At first, Dr Heal would scold me for closing my mouth but it made little difference, my jaw continued to relax.
Finally out of frustration he dug out a bite block and wedged it in between my teeth so he could get the job done. That was fine for me, for I just fell asleep and awakened when everything was completed.
That little pill set me up for a lifetime habit of falling asleep in the dentist’s chair. Every dentist I’ve seen since Dr. Heal, I’ve told them about needing the bite block.
The bite block is only necessary for procedures more than half an hour. Once I get settled into the drilling noise, I’m fading out of the picture.
Sometime after I left Oliver to seek my fame and fortune, of which I’ve found neither, Dr Heal moved his office to the south end of town, I don’t exactly remember where, I seem to recall he was on the ground floor.
I visited his office there and had him remove a tooth.
It was at that time when he offered to pay my way through dentistry school if I would take over his practice. I guess he thought I was smart like my sisters, especially the one closest to me in age, but the only smart thing about me at that time was that I was a smart ass.
I didn’t give his offer much of a thought because I knew there would be a lot of math and related subjects involved, math was not a strength then and still isn’t.
The years have passed by, I still am very fond of candy, and as it turns out is still costing me money, more than I like to pay to support my habit. Tomorrow I will find out what a hit my pocket book will take and set a course to stay away from the hard candy.