For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for December 03, 2024

Yes, Mom’s not here – no need for theatrics!

There’s an episode of LEAVE IT TO BEAVER, where Ward takes the terrified Beaver to the dentist. Also there is Ward’s insufferable co-worker Fred Rutherford, who was bragging about how brave his daughter Violet is during these visits. To save his own face, Ward ORDERS Beaver to face the dentist boldly. Not surprisingly, it doesn’t work at first, but the dentist and his nurse were patient people, and they managed to calm Beaver down. At the end, Ward apologized to Beaver for making such a demand on a small child.

Don’t remember that episode, although we all watched the program regularly. (Loved Eddie Haskell).

Sometimes it pays to be a Dad.

I feel the same way about dentists and I’m 76 years old. Anytime a dentist wants to put something in MY mouth, I want general anesthesia first. I’ve had some unpleasant experiences with dentists.

Dr. P: Been there, done that.

Usually I’m in and out at the Dentist but this last crown has been a ongoing comedy of errors, will have the ( hopefully ) final appointment later this week !

I’ve never had a problem going to the dentist. One time I was having a crown done and my dentist’s assistant asked me “How can you be so calm? I’ve never sen a patient as calm as you.”

I was calm up until the dentist said “Oh, this wisdom tooth looks a bit bad we may have to do… oh * … its just fallen apart when I touched it”.

Ketamine?

I loved going to my dentist, a former member of the Purdue (Men’s) Varsity Glee Club. When a familiar song came on the radio in his office, he would put down his instruments and sing along in his beautiful baritone voice. Still makes me smile when I think about him.

I hate going to the dentist

My sister had a (now ex) step-daughter who if you looked up the definition of “Spoiled Brat” you’d see her picture. She acted the same way. If she had a crowd the tears would flow no one around she could be the toughest nut around.

Good one.

Went to dentist and screaming issuing throughout the office. 9 year old girl getting teeth cleaned. When I was that age, I would have teeth filled with nothing and didn’t flinch. I hated needles and the numb feeling more than the drill. Just had my last filling done without anything too. Dentist was shocked that I didn’t flinch. Of course when I had my caps done, that was a different story, LOL!! I have limits.

When my older daughter was around 9 she needed fillings. She tends towards anxiety, especially when faced with new situations. This was also soon after my husband almost died and we had a really rough summer. My girl was trying to be brave but was crying a little. The dental hygenist kept scolding her, yelling at her that there was no reason to cry. My girl said, “I’m sorry, but things have been tough lately.” The DH sneered and said, sarcastically, “Oh, I bet…REALLY tough.” I proceeded to chew her out, AND I reported her to her superiors.

In a dentist office, just as in space, no one can hear you scream!

My sister was like that when she was little. She’d throw awful tantrums, throw herself on the floor, bang her head against it. And it all magically stopped as soon as Mom left the room. When the audience leaves, the performance stops.

Back in late 60s or early 70s came across an album by Arch Oboler – Drop Dead! An Exercise in Horror! There was a track, ‘A Day at the Dentist’s’ that was very terrifying. The whole album was great IMHO.

I had a terrible dentist as a kid. He was mean. The one I have now is truly a human being!

Oh, on first read I thought you were a clam.

When my mother took me to the dentist, I knew better than to make a scene or she’d provide one once we left the office.

Thank you. That is a great insight into how parents sometimes infantilize their growing children.

I’m reminded of a gag I saw on TV, or maybe a movie, years ago. A guy sitting in the dentist’s chair just before the dentist starts the procedure reaches between the (male) dentist’s legs, grabs his ‘privates’ and says “we’re not going to hurt each other, are we?”

she’s a stinker… :J

Pediatric dentists have gotten so much better since the time this comic strip was done back in the 1950s. When my kids went to the pediatric dentist in the 1990s, they had all kinds of distractions while the dentist did the work. The profession had matured to the point where they understood that most kids were reacting out of fear and not out of a desire to attract the attention of their parents.

LOVE IT!!!

Amazing the revelations when one thinks for him/her/themselves.

A good trick. Hope my dentist doesn’t read this.

Putting on a show isn’t any good if you don’t have an audience.

Putting on a show doesn’t mean much if the person putting on the show doesn’t have the audience they want.

Good one, John.

My dentist had the same motto about catering to cowards. Fergus Falls mn, dr. McGovern.

I’m surprised that no one has mentioned Tim Conway and Harvey Korman doing the dentist sketch on the old Carol Burnett Show. One of their best!

It’s ok, Bethany. It’s Dr. Patterson, not Steve Martin!

I hate dentists!

As a kid, I was subjected to one who I swore drilled holes for fillings where there were no cavities.

I was proved correct when they were doing my dental chart in the Army and the doctor informed me that a dentist had done precisely that and drilled and filled perfectly good teeth!

I learned later that the greedy hole driller in question was arrested for fraud, sued for malpractice, and subsequently barred from dental practice. The only satisfaction I got was being able to tell my mother “See, I told you so! I told you my teeth weren’t as bad as he claimed!”

I unexpectedly had a tooth extracted last Saturday.I could say I had a good time,but I’d be lying.

“Say,what did you do before you became a dentist?”

“Why,I was a butcher”.

“AS far as I’m concerned you’re STILL one !”

Credit The Three Stooges

Performance art.

Yep typical kid. Never waste a good cry when your parent(s) aren’t around to see/hear you.

I remember an endodontist who worked on my upper left rearmost molar. He had no mercy on someone with arthritis in their neck. The next day I had to see my chiropractor.

When we were kids, our dentists would inevitably find many cavities every year. Once my brother had 25 cavities and I had 12! Rarely was novocaine given. He would tell us how many more times he had to drill. He would let us take a “charm” from a little gift drawer of crap when we went. But my parents never thought he might be ripping them off! All of my friends had an occasional cavity, 1, 2 or none! Never as many as we did. So I finally got a decent dentist when I was about 22. I hope that old one rots in hell. I have had to have soooo many root canals, dental implants, caps, crowns b/c that dentist’s drilling led to the fillings needing to be replaces and the teeth just couldn’t hold up and had to be capped or otherwise worked on.

You nailed it L J!!! That’s exactly how it works with kids!

All for Mom’s benefit.

I’ll bet this was taken from real life ! ;-)

i asked my dentist once if he’d ever had anyone take a nap during a root canal. “Yes.” he’s that good.

my mom was the dental assistant and I ran around the dental chair I was scared sh*tless by the doctor and mom thinks i had my older sisters to thank for that. i just think the dentist was mean.

MOMMMMMMMMMYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me at the dentist. I’m a wimp. But in my defense, this person is playing with sharp objects inside my mouth.

Yell for effect!

The doctor is a parent as well. Understands the tantrums.

What’s so bad about root canals? I’ve had 3 or 4, none of them hurt at all! Yet, everyone I’ve ever heard mention them, they says the pain is terrible!

Dentists, does this really happen?

Kids act this way for more than the dentist. I’m a Pediatric Physical Therapist and see it nearly every day!