The Army Dentist

Why do you think a person with a dental degree would practice dentistry in the Army instead of a lucrative private practice? He got drafted and had no choice, he wanted to practice on customers who can’t complain first, he is a piss poor dentist, or he’s a sadist who likes to see people suffer. I ran into a Dentist from one of these categories while I was in the Army. Here’s the story.

The Army Dentist

 

During my Army Basic Training in 1969, my gums had been bothering me and I was having a lot of pain in my mouth when we did the physical activities. So I reported to sick call that morning and went to the Army Dentists office. He told me what I already knew, that my gums were badly infected. He told me he would fix me right up. He pulled out an instrument , and told me he was first going to wash all that nasty infection away. I asked him if he was going to deaden my mouth and he said …..”No, you’re a tough guy you’ll be fine.” He hooked the instrument to a  pressure water supply and began washing the edges of my gums with the high pressure water. The pain was excruciating and I was squirming and making all the noise I could trying to get him to stop. The tears were rolling down my face, but I was not crying. The tears were caused by pure unadulterated pain. He kept this up for about 10 minutes and I was about to pass out when he stopped. He looked at me grinning and said …”That wasn’t so bad, was it.” My mouth was full of infection extract, blood, and water and my whole face was throbbing.

 

I had infected gums that were dealing me a lot of misery.

 

 

I had an Army Dentist than dealt me a lot of horrible pain, but he did solve my problem.

 

He then said …”Now just a little clean up work and we’ll be through.” He got out another tool and hooked it to a pressure antiseptic hose and went to work again. The pain was just as bad as before and the antiseptic added a stinging sensation so it was worse. The tears started flowing again and it was pure torture until he finished. I thought…This guy is a Sadist who likes to get off watching other people in pain suffer.” Although he did cure my gums, I never went to another Army Dentist the whole time I was in the army.

I thought…”Well, I least I got out of some of Physical Training while I was at the dentist. But when I got back to my unit, they made me miss a couple of classroom classes while I caught up on the physical activities I had missed. I never went on sick call again for the rest of Basic Training.

Thanks for reading The Army Dentist,

Bill