Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Stuff you missed in History Class, A production
of I Heart Radio. Happy Friday, Everybody. I'm Holly Fry
and I'm Tracy Wilson. Oh, Tracy. We talked about so
much dental stuff this week we did It's a There's
(00:24):
so much history, and there's so much we couldn't cover.
I feel like you could do a whole history podcast
about dentistry. I don't know that people that aren't dentists
would really be super into it because it might get
pretty grisily in a hurry. But I wanted to cover
at least the high points in how far, as you
said at the end of episode two, how far we've come,
and the gaps we have yet to fill in because
(00:45):
there are still people not getting adequate dental care. UM.
I promised I would tell the story of how I
stopped being afraid of the sound sound tell me so
I UM will confess. I'm not proud of this, but
I really let like my dental care not get addressed
by a professional for quite some time, for like over
(01:07):
a decade, because I was just I had had a
couple of bad experiences. I associated it with misery. I
didn't want any part of it. I didn't want to
get yelled at. I didn't want to be treated like
I was stupid because I had failed in this theoretical
responsibility I had as a human. So I found a
dentist who I hope you will not mind me sharing.
(01:28):
I did not know what the time was also your dentist.
Oh no, I started going to him because you recommended him. No,
I thought that was how it worked. No, I will
tell you how I know that wasn't the case. After
I talked about how I met him and loved him.
So the first time I went to him, I literally said,
(01:49):
my teeth are a train wreck if you do not
bust my chops. Although I said that in a slightly
filthier way. I will be your star pupil, and I
will do everything you tell me too, but you gotta
be cool. And he looked at me and said you
are very direct, and I said that is correct, and
he said we're going to get along great, and we did,
(02:09):
and he was super gentle and lovely with me. And
here is how I know you went to him first,
because that day I had just come from a job
interview and I said that, and he said, where did
you interview? And I said, how stuff works, and he said,
I have another patient that I think works there, and
(02:31):
it was you, how funny, I like, how our memories
on this are just like so divergent. Well, if you
were going to him before I started working in how
stuff works, yeah, then we know for sure you were
going to him before me. Yeah, I think I started
to go. I started going to him after moving into
a house that was very nearby, and like proximity to
(02:53):
where I was was a big part of it. And
I had had a bad experience at a different practice
I had been to in the Atlanta Air you know,
like I felt like the hygienists um was saying very
judgy things to me about cosmetic things that made me
very uncomfortable, and I did not want to go back
anymore after feeling like I had had uh these loaded
(03:15):
questions about what my teeth and my face and my
jaw looked like, and I was like, I don't I
don't want to go back there, and like a period
of time passed. I don't know if I have ever
really been afraid of the dentist, but there have been
times where something happened and I didn't go for a
long time because of the thing that had happened, like
(03:37):
shortly after I graduated from college, and you know, I
was making eleven dollars an hour doing administrative work. I
remember going to the dentist and it was a practice
I had been to you since my childhood. And the
dentist was like, you have all these teeth that have
hairline cracks in them, and you need to get crowds
(03:58):
on all of them and it will call twelve hundred dollars.
And I was like, how am I supposed to pay
for that? Um? And I might have even had dental
insurance for work, and it was still like I was like,
I don't I don't have a hundred and twenty dollars,
(04:18):
Like I don't have this number that you've told me. Um.
And so my solution to this was just not to
go to the dentist until I had moved to another city.
I think that is how a lot of people deal
with that moment. No, no other dentists I have ever
ever seen has been like, you have hairline cracks and
(04:38):
all these teeth and we need to put crowns on
them all. Yeah. Can you imagine if you had been like, okay, yeah,
the amount of just misery. And I will say that
dentist has since retired, So shout out to my current
dentist who was one of his his people that took
(04:59):
his patience daughter Juanni, thanks for being awesome. Um and
my orthodonis dr Green very great, love them both delightful.
I now have no fear about going to the dentist.
He was to be very direct with yeah, and be
very much myself at the dentist and they're like, oh,
we get you. You're a slightly crazy person. And will
(05:20):
my orthodonist thinks I'm hilarious because I laugh when the
drill gets turned on. It's some physiological response. I find
the whole thing absurd, especially if you put a rasp
in my mouth and I can hear it. It makes
me laugh so hard, which I know is a very
strange reaction, but my Orthodonis finds that hilarious. Yeah. Um.
(05:48):
I did also have an idea that I don't know
if it will become a shirt or what, but as
we were discussing the early treatments and beliefs about tooth
decay and how it might be caused by demons, I
thought it would be fun to do a demon dentiferous
(06:11):
kind of advertisement. Oh that seems great. It's like part exorcism,
part toothpaste. It could be very, very fun. Um. I
did not know prior to doing this research that Paul
Revere was a dentist. I think I probably learned that
(06:31):
at one of the there's a I'm pretty sure I'm
remembering this correctly. It's been forever since I've been to
the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, but there's a
silver some silver work that he had done, uh in
the collection, and I feel like I read on the
signs about the silver work that he was also a dentist. Yeah.
(06:55):
I had no idea for some reason, if I had
ever learned that, it had vanished from my knowledge bank
And so I was like, what what? Um? I did
like reading his ads that were like, no, no, it's
normal for your teeth that have been lashed to other
teeth to get a little loose over time. I've been
trained off except for you, no problem. Boy. Am I
(07:30):
glad for novocaine? That's another I hate the shot, but
then it's over it like a second, and then everything
gets better. Yeah. Um, yeah, I won't tell any dental
horror stories. We all have them, but um, yeah, I
feel very lucky that I have now a dentists in
(07:50):
a dental practice. Everyone at that dental practice is ridiculously
nice and kind and will like stop periodically and be
like are you stressed? How are you doing? What can
we do for you? Which is why I bring them
baked goods that Yeah. Yeah, when I was there, everybody
was really nice. Um to the point that after I
(08:11):
had moved to Massachusetts and I was having trouble figuring
because like, that's one of the things that will just
cause me to lapse in dental care is I've moved
and I got to find a new dentist, and I
was like, what if I just kept going there when
I go to Atlanta on business And then it was like,
(08:32):
but I'm gonna at some point need like an urgent
dental issue and I should have someone local. Yes, I
had a surprise dental issue. I've ben going so much
lately because I had to have a fresh crown party
going on, and that meant that orthodonic stuff had to
(08:53):
get shifted and then that fresh crown popped off and
I had to run back. They have been marvelous at
getting me in really quickly and taking care of all
of it. But again, if I have to go, that's
where I want to go because they're so lovely so
and it's hard to find a dentist that you click
(09:13):
with and that you like, which is why I'm so
delighted that everyone there is wonderful. Um. And I really
like talking to my current dentist because he is very
big on like always being up to date on the
latest stuff, and he'll talk to me about what he's
learning about, like reconstruction and stuff, which I find fascinating.
So it's good stuff. Um. Yes, Crawford Long I was from,
(09:38):
was from Georgia Hospital named after him. That hospital was
bought by Emery and became Emory Midtown uh and is
no longer Crawford Long, but they do, like I said
in the episode, they do still have signage up that
includes his name kind of as a way to still
nod to that. Yeah, it's still Emory Crawford Long in
(09:59):
my head. Oh yeah, because it was for a long
long time. Yeah, Crawford Long. And then they had the
crossover for a while. And if you're it's uh it
speaks to the residents and frequency of like they're advertising
and brand awareness that, like, I think most people in
Atlanta would be like, yes, Emory Crawford long like you
(10:19):
put those ruts together. Yeah, um, that hospital is really
close to where I would often stay coming to the
Atlanta office. And I can't remember what happened, Like maybe
it was one time that I had had something at
lunch where I was like something maybe was not quite
(10:40):
correct with my meal. There am I going to have
a problem? And I was like the hospitals literally across
the street from the second time, that was fine. I
didn't have to go to the hospital. Whatever it was
that had caused me to wonder that. I'm sorry to
laugh at your chugrined, but I'm I'm just glad that
(11:02):
like your brain logic through, like, well, there it is
some hospitals right there rock cross the street. I'm gonna
be okay. Yes, dental stuff so much dread because there
are people doing things in your head. Yeah, and I
I have a gag reflex that makes everything much harder. Yeah, Um,
(11:22):
I have the my tongue is possessed by a demon
that doesn't care what I tell it to do. Oh yeah, yeah,
I have that all up in their business. No matter
what they're attempting and I don't know what you're talking about,
Like it's totally relaxed, dude, and they're like, oh, no,
it is not. I always worry that I will be
(11:44):
the the person that leaves and they're like, oh, that
dang dong in that tongue. I don't know what to do.
But um, I also just want to head off well.
Meeting emails from people with tips and tricks about the
gag reflex, I assure you, I have tried so many
things and emails about will stress me out right. Um yeah, yeah,
(12:05):
most most of us that have had something like that
have probably worked through all of the tried a whole
lot of things. Um. I feel like I should thank
everyone that goes into the dental fields yet it's kind
and caring to their patients. Yeah. There was a moment
in my in my life where I was like, this
(12:28):
was many many years ago, and I was like, I'm
not satisfied with what I'm doing. I'm what should I
do next? And dental higienists pay was pretty good amount
of money compared to what I was making at the time,
and I was like, maybe I could be a dental
higenism and I was like, I don't think I could do,
because I don't think I could be in people's mouths
(12:51):
that much. I could not get up that early on
the regular. Sure I did speak with a dental hygienists.
And again, this is a data set of one, so
don't take this as any kind of um, you know,
gospel truism or anything, but um. She was telling me
that that field, at least in Atlanta in recent years,
(13:15):
has become so competitive for people needing hygienists that she
stopped working for one specific office and she kind of
works as a freelancer. And she was saying, like, every
night when I get home, I have like a minimum
of three calls of offices that are like can you
come in tomorrow? Wow? And she was saying for her,
(13:36):
that works better because she can set her own schedule completely.
If she wants a day off, she just isn't available
that day for calls and that for her, this has
been a way more effective way to manage her life
and her time. And I was like, whoh, I didn't
realize that, Like that is a career that almost never
wants for a job. It's like my friend who's a nurse, right,
(14:00):
we always need them. Um, this has been dent a
week on history. I didn't mean to do that, but
like I said, I got curious about it, and then
I suddenly was just like, I'm in too deep, Tracy,
this isn't too yet. I totally get it. Which took
me so long to like refine and peel out what
(14:21):
was extraneous and didn't make sense and make sure I
was covering all the bases that I turned this outline
over to Tracy at a shocking hour of the morning
this morning that we were very shocking. It was I
think possibly the most shocking hour you have ever sent
me an out right, and I am a little bit
of a vampire hour keeper, so they've been pretty late,
(14:43):
but this really was like, alright, I'm just gonna send this.
I don't have to stop touching it. Um. But I
hope it has been informative and enjoyable and not too
square me for anybody. If this is your weekend, I
hope that your teeth feel great and that you and
(15:03):
then if you have time off, that you get to
enjoy it and relax. If you don't have time off
and you're busy with things that you are required to do,
I hope that those are as relaxed and pain free
as possible. Uh. We will be right back here tomorrow
with a classic and then on Monday with brand new stuff,
so we'll see you then. Stuff you Missed in History
(15:30):
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