Among the many things I find I have in common with Doc Searls…
One: Dentistry. Although Novocaine (the familiar brandname for procaine) had come into use in the 1950s, it didn’t become widespread in the dentistry profession until the 1960s. For reasons of convenience and cost, my parents sent me Dr. Phillips, whose office was upstairs over the candy store at the corner of Pleasant and Maywood Avenues, in downtown Maywood, New Jersey. And Dr. Phillips didn’t believe in Novocaine. In fact, he didn’t even use a high-speed drill until after 1960. His torture instrument of choice was a pulley-powered mother that dated from the 1930s. Since I required a lot of dentistry, I spent many very long hours gripping the arms of Dr. Phillips dental chair while he repeatedly said “Open…”
For me, it was Dr. Ryan on Monona Drive, and he was upstairs over the soda fountain, not the candy store, but the irony plays out just as well I think.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
bmo 07.04.06 at 1:01
Gas. For me. My dentist’s was Majeuri and he was located beside a metal junkyard/car scrapheap.
madame l. 07.04.06 at 1:26
http://lavachequilit.typepad.com/la_vache_qui_lit/2006/01/toothiness.html
Frank Paynter 07.04.06 at 2:28
I just realized that I’ve been scammed out of hundreds of dollars worth of gold… my current tooth-torturer has replaced my crowns and bridges with porcelain. I’m sure he found a use for the precious metal he swapped out for clay.