Anaesthetics and Anaesthesia

In the early days in Nelson, patients were offered general anaesthesia by chloroform and ether, which was dripped onto a face mask. Full dental clearances were carried out in the home, usually on the patient's bed, but frequently on the kitchen table, with poor lighting conditions and no suction. Later, nitrous oxide and oxygen was used, in later years with pentothal induction and endotracheal entubation. Up until the last decade, general anaesthetics administered by trained doctors were carried out page 14routinely in the dental surgery. That no longer happens. For local anaesthetics, cocaine was originally made up in test tubes and administered through a syringe. Cocaine tablets were used, dissolved in the test tube, and drawn up in the syringe.

Dentists were trained to make dentures in vulcanite which involved a tricky packing procedure, before steam pressure curing at 300+C in a pressurecooker like system. The dentures were difficult to polish. The early dentists were proficient in the casting of good gold inlays and it is not uncommon to still see such inlays today, made by men such as Bill or Lex Squires.

Before the advent of antibiotics it was essential to complete the operation as quickly as possible, to try and avoid the possibility of osteomyelitis. There was a tendency to leave broken roots behind and, of course, there were no X-rays.

In April 1921 the School Dental Service came into being, with thirty-five women beginning training as School Dental Nurses in Tinakori Road, Wellington, in what is now the Prime Minister's house. Some of you may well remember the trips to the Shelbourne Street dental clinic, commonly called the 'murder house,' where the drill was powered by a foot treadle. Dental nurses are now dental therapists, use a high speed water cooled dental drill and no longer wear a veil.