These Photos of Old Dentist Offices Show Why We Should Be Grateful for Modern Dentistry
From non-existent pain meds to dusty tools that looked straight out of a horror movie, going to the dentist back in the day was not for the faint of heart. Forget modern comforts like numbing gel, free snacks, or spa music in the background; this was all about pain, patience, and pliers. Novocaine? You were lucky if they handed you a stiff drink to take the edge off before they yanked your tooth out.
These vintage photos of old-school dentist offices — with their cracked leather chairs bolted to the floor and ominous trays of unsterilized tools and blood-stained aprons — are sure to send a chill down your spine.
1. A Dentist Makes an Extraction While Working at a Clinic Operated by the Taos County Health Association in Questa, New Mexico, 1943
2. A ‘Fully-Furnished’ Dentist’s Office That’s Been Abandoned Since the 1970s
3. Dr. Holmes’ Office in Denver, Colorado, 1921
4. Another Abandoned Dentist’s Office
5. ‘My Grandfather, a Small Town Dentist in Nebraska in the 1920’s’
6. Look at those Bare Hands!
7. Welcome to the ‘Good Ol’ Days’ — Where the Only Thing Scarier Than the Tools Was the Wallpaper
8. ‘Class Visit to the Dentist, Denmark 1956’
9. ‘A Visit to the Dentist, 1892’
10. When the Only Form of Anesthesia Was Sheer Terror, Early 1800s
11. ‘Just Another Day at the Dentist, 1920s’
12. ‘My Grandpa (Born 1888) and His Brother, the Dentist, in Colorado, Early 1910s’
13. A Dentist’s Office in Nice, France, Circa 1920s
14. Because Nothing Calms a Patient Like Getting a Root Canal in a Room Full of Creepy Wall Murals, St. Louis, Early 1900s
15. Captain Earle Yeamans of the First Infantry Division Treats a Soldier’s Teeth During the Vietnam War, October 1968
16. Have a Seat — If You Dare
17. Interior of S.B. Johnston’s Dentist Office in Washington, D.C., Circa 1919
18. Dentist Dr. Morris Schneidermann Works on 4-Year-Old James Monroe at an East Side Settlement House in New York, Circa 1950s
19. Dr. Krasny of New York University’s Children’s Dental Clinic Demonstrates a Procedure on a 10-Year-Old Child, 1927
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