Before local anesthesia could manage the pain, one early 20th century dentist distracted his patients with showgirls and brass bands.
Born in Canada in 1871 Edgar Randolph Parker was perhaps the most eccentric
dentist in American history. Parker attended Philadelphia Dental College and
two years later graduated with a DDS degree. After graduation Parker set up
shop in his hometown of New Brunswick, but there were other dentists nearby and
he only had one patient in the first 90 days, this was no way to run a business.
While the dental college had taught dignity in dealing with this profession,
Edgar soon learned that dignity did not pay the bills. He needed a gimmick. He
decided to call himself “Painless Parker.” Other dentists accused him of false advertising and he was told he could no longer call himself “Painless Parker.” He answered to this issue by legally changing his name from “Edgar” to “Painless.” Believe it or not, this is one of the
least controversial things he did.
Having
no luck in his hometown, he decided to become the “P.T. Barnum of dentistry”
and moved to the United States. He even hired one of Barnum’s
ex-managers to help him take his practice on the road. He created a traveling
medicine show called the Parker Dental Circus.
The
first thing he did was to buy a horse and wagon and install a dental chair in
the bed of this “travelling office.” Patients would not have to go to him, he
would bring his practice to them. Next as a true entertainer, he hired
showgirls who would sing and dance to the sounds of a band blasting away. In
the middle of this entourage was Painless Parker dressed in his trademark
spotless white coat, sporting his grey beaver top hat. Needless to say, this
would draw a crowd. The band and showgirls distracted the patient, the noise would
silence any painful noise coming from the patient, and of course it promoted
his business.
Parker promised that he would painlessly
extract a rotten tooth for 50 cents. And if the extraction wasn’t painless, he
would give the customer $5.00, the equivalent of roughly $115 today. Parker used an aqueous cocaine solution which called
“Hydrocaine” or a cup of whiskey to keep the patient as comfortable as possible.
To
help advertise his booming business of tooth pulling, a bucket full of teeth he
had personally pulled sat by his feet as he lectured to the crowds on the
importance of dental hygiene. At one point he claimed to have pulled 357 teeth
in one day, which he strung on a necklace.
Naturally
like most showman-practitioners his shameless advertising was looked down upon
in the medical community. The American Dental Association described him as “a
menace to the dignity of the profession.” But despite all his theatrics, Parker
was an active supporter of preventative care before it was widely promoted, as
well as local anesthesia. He believed in bringing oral education and affordable
services to all walks of life.
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