U V Kini: Dentists

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As a youngster, I was more scared of the Local Anesthetic injection than of the extraction. I was notorious for jumping off the chair and running out of the room when I saw the syringe. My first dentist was Dr. Mohandas Nayak of Mangalore.

Dr. Mohandas Nayak needs no introduction. In those days Dr. Nayak was synonymous with the word Dentist and was a household name. Nayakmaam used to approach me with his hand holding the syringe hidden behind his back saying “Kaain karna. Haave poLOche maatra”. (I’ll not do anything. Let me just see inside). When I opened my mouth, he would suddenly whip out his hand and jab the needle inside my mouth. I swear I couldn’t even see his hand move. With a speed comparable to the drawing of a gun by Doc Holliday of the American old Wild West, who was one of the fastest guns at that time, I am sure Doc Nayak was the “fastest syringe” in town. (Doc Holliday was originally a qualified dentist and also a dedicated gambler. He was known as a fast gun i. e. a man who could pull the gun out of its holster and shoot, very very fast. He was also the one of the “good guys” involved in the Gunfight at the OK Corral.)

Picture this:

Year 1872:
Doc Holliday is playing poker in a saloon in some obscure western town. He wins the hand and rakes in the pot. A sullen cowhand who has lost his month’s pay in the pot, jumps up calling Doc a “Cheat” and reaches for his gun. Doc’s hands are a blur in motion. Two shots ring out as if one and the cowhand falls to the ground, blood oozing out from two bullet holes in his chest. Dead.

Year 1972:
Satya (my pet name) 10 years old sits cringing in Doc Nayak’s dentist’s chair at his clinic in Mangalore, dreading the impending extraction. Doc Nayak, his hand holding a syringe filled with LA hidden behind his back, approaches Satya. Satya starts whimpering. Doc Nayak tries to soothe him saying “haave poLOche maatra….aaaaann kari..” (I’ll just see inside. Open your mouth). Satya opens his mouth. Doc Nayak’s hands are a blur in motion. Whipping his hand up and towards Satya’s mouth he jabs the gums, once, twice …..“Jab, squirt! Jab, squirt!”. Satya’s gums are dead….(to the touch, at least)

I have been to many dentists. There was one in Mangalore who was very clumsy (of course, not Doc Nayak). While examining my teeth he would put all the fingers of his hands in my mouth and would almost smother me in the process. Then he would bring his face very near my mouth and peer inside. If my mouth was a little bigger, he would probably have put his head inside too.

When I came to Goa, I used to go to a dentist who would assign his assistant (a qualified dentist) to me. She was a pretty little thing who was good at her work. I used to love it when she would put her dainty little fingers in my mouth. I was unmarried at that time. It was the first time a grown up pretty woman had put her fingers in my mouth! I used to be sorry when each session was over.

I now go to a young dentist who has set up his clinic recently. He is a devout person and on the table next to his chair, his holy book is always open. I guess he reads it between patients. After each patient leaves, he puts away the used instruments for cleaning, replaces the instruments with new ones and then cleans and wipes the instrument tray with gauze dipped in disinfectant. Then he wipes the drill, the blower and other instruments before getting to work on another patient. He changes his rubber gloves also.

I said to him “Doctor, you are the first dentist I have seen who does this (disinfection) so meticulously”. He said “If I did not take proper care of my patients, would God forgive me?” I thought, “Wow man, we need more doctors like you”. Whatever is his sense of social/civic responsibility or his fear of purgatory, it is patients like us who are benefited. With so many diseases lurking and so many disease carriers around, I have made this man my family dentist. Like Doc Holliday would have said “ Hey pardoner, I am not taking no chances”.

I cannot say whether all dentists are so caring like the one I mentioned above. First of all, they are so busy attending to patients one after another, that I don’t know whether they have the time or inclination to do the disinfecting. Many viruses or germs cannot be killed easily. The instruments that the dentists put in your mouth are required to be disinfected in the autoclave. The autoclave is a device, which uses steam to disinfect the instruments. Water in this vessel is heated to about 250 degree Fahrenheit and should be maintained for at least 15 minutes to kill the germs. It uses a lot of electricity. Some may not be inclined to use it regularly because of the high cost of power. In some remote areas, the power fluctuations may also prevent the dentist from using it.

With dentists who have a well-established practice, you don’t have to worry. They employ many assistants who take care of the cleaning. A dentist needs to invest a lot of money on the instruments. A set of at least 3 or 4 instruments (not counting the tray) is used on each patient. If a dentist sees a minimum of 30 patients each day, he has to invest in many sets. Or he has to autoclave the used instruments at regular internals during the day. If he is working solo, you cannot say if he has the patience or the time to clean the sets, impression trays etc during the day. He may use the same sets after just rinsing them in water. You never know. The best we can do is asking the Dentist, every time, whether the instruments are disinfected. Its your life, you have to be careful.

Now to something lighter...

Halvas are very tasty. Halwas made in Mangalore are either from Wheat or Banana. Now a day you get Dates halwas also. Wheat halvas are difficult to eat. If the halvas are not done perfectly, you will have to masticate and masticate until your jaws ache. This is the case with banana halvas also. They are very sticky too. Sticky enough to pull out the dental fillings in your teeth.

There is story of a company on how it used to conduct its Annual General Meetings. Promoters / Directors of a company usually control majority of the shares, while some shares are allotted to outsiders. People holding even one share has a right to attend and ask questions at the AGM which the Directors find irritating. Nevertheless they smile through clenched teeth and answer the questions. Retired old men would usually attend the meetings and ask silly irritating questions. So to shut them up, the management hit upon a plan. They would buy the stickiest halva available and serve large pieces of it to the shareholders. The business of the meeting would be conducted when the shareholders were busy eating.

The Chairman would ask, “I would now welcome any questions from the shareholders”.

But these poor old men would be struggling to free their teeth / dentures from the grip of the halvas in their mouths.

Poor old man no 1 “ mmmmphf !??”
Poor old man no 2 “ nnnnngh ?!”
Poor old man no 3 “clickety clickety click?!!??!!” (rattling of the dentures in his mouth)

By the time they negotiated the piece of halva, the Secretary would be proposing the Vote of Thanks!

I wonder whether “Dentist” is a Kannada word. A Dentist is a person who helps your teeth get better, so:

DENTIST = (danta + ishTa) = (DantyEshta – which has become “Dentist” in English) = yaaru dantagaLige ishThanO, avanu. Wonder what “Samaasa” this is….

U. V. KINI, a Qualified Company Secretary is currently residing at Margao, Goa, with his wife, son and daughter. He has printed and published two books. "Sanathana Dharma - An introduction to Hinduism" (English) and A compilation of Kannada, Marathi, Hindi and Konkani Bhajans printed in both Kannada and Devanagari scripts.

He has currently commenced work on a third book.

Mr Kini, a member of the Executive committe of GSB Samaj, Goa, was born and brought up in Mangalore and has done his schooling at St. Alosius, Mangalore.