On July 8th, 2016, I reclined into a shiny new dentist’s chair to undergo deep dental cleaning in my upper right jaw. Dr. Bigfoot Butcher performed the procedure at Dr Glitz Ashole’s Kosmetic Korner, a Hollywood dentist specializing in bright smiles. I include Dr. Ashole in this account because he highly recommended Dr. Butcher to me and, days later, assisted in incorrectly diagnosing my response to Dr Butcher’s treatment.
For three weeks I lay immobilized...
Doctor Butcher was proud of his work and asked if he could take photos of the procedure, extending the time that my mouth lay pried open like a bucket loader while Butcher marveled at his own achievement. I asked him for antibiotics as a precaution against possible infection, but the good periodontist assured me that, with the quality of his work, there would be no need.
Two days later, I began to experience intense pain that spread in a net from the traumatized jaw across the entire right side of my face. The salivary gland became infected swelled painfully, and thick, brown pus began to ooze into my mouth and throat.
Accidents do happen, but as my post-op symptoms worsened, the good doctors Ashole and Butcher continued to underestimate my deteriorating condition. When I visited the office seeking relief, both toothmasters appeared confused; in my estimation, they had no idea how to treat my traumatized mouth and jaw. After what appeared to be a guessing game, Drs Ashole and Butcher threw random prescriptions at me (including a prescription for shingles!) and seemed eager to get me out the door.
For three weeks I lay immobilized; my daily life disappeared. I could sleep upright for 30 minutes at a time and often woke choking on the pus from the infected salivary gland. I became dehydrated from the impaired ability to open my jaw and could only spoon soup or cooked cereal between my locked jaws.
None of the prescribed medications solved anything. As my symptoms increased, Dr Butcher, having no apparent remedy, suggested I go to USC’s School of Dentistry. Altho Butcher described the USC dentists as heads of departments, I was examined by an assistant professor and a pre-doctoral resident. After two visits, the consultants at USC prescribed more ineffective medications, raising false hopes of pain relief and extending my condition.
Finally, my personal doctor (NOT a dentist) arrived back from vacation and diagnosed my condition. I had developed trismus, or lockjaw from having my jaw pried open for so long, and a salivary gland infection, a condition neither Dr Ashole nor Dr Butcher, nor the advisors at USC seemed capable of identifying. My personal doctor prescribed antibiotics and painkillers and within days, the symptoms began to recede.
The lockjaw took longer to heal. I worked for a month with a physical therapist and my slurred speech began to clarify, although when I returned to teaching in late August, I still sounded like a drunk. Slowly my speech returned to normal while I resisted the temptation to firebomb the chrome and formica offices of Kosmetic Korner.
Now, in retrospect, I realize that, while my jaw, mouth, throat, and face had been assaulted by Drs Ashole and Butcher, Donald Trump rose to prominence during the battle for the GOP candidacy. And the rest, I dare say, is history.
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Charles DegelmanWriter, editor, and educator based in Los Angeles. He's also played a lot of music. Degelman teaches writing at California State University, Los Angeles.
Degelman lives in the hills of Hollywood with his companion on the road of life, four cats, assorted dogs, and a coterie of communard brothers and sisters.
Wow Charlie, a painful tale!
Sorry for your physical agony Charlie, and then our country’s!
My mouth is all better, thanks, Dana, but our nation needs a large dose of antibiotics! I’m hopeful that the successes of the recent election will give us a good position from which to slay the dinosaurs.
I remember learning about this horror show back in 2016, after you had recovered, and urging you to sue them, or at least file a complaint with the California Dental Board. Those guys deserved to have their licenses pulled.
I did file a complaint with the California Dental Board, complete with these two idiots’ dental license #s. Alas, nothing came of it and, having just completed a long, expensive legal battle over the boundaries of our property, I’d had enough of dentists AND lawyers, thank you very much!
What a terrible tale, Charlie! Unbelievable arrogance and incompetence! I can’t believe they couldn’t/wouldn’t properly diagnose and treat your symptoms once they started (never mind offering antibiotics prophylactically). At least your own doctor finally remedied your situation, however long the horror show lasted.
If it makes you feel any better, my neighbor on the Vineyard went in for a similar deep cleaning this spring and wound up getting a blood infection which damaged his heart valve! He needed 7 hours of open heart surgery and was on an IV antibiotic drip for a week before he was strong enough to endure the surgery. I will definitely be wary of any such deep cleaning! This is a cautionary tale.
Thanks for your sympathy, Betsy! Much appreciated! Your Vineyard friend’s tale doesn’t sound like any fun at all! And yes, I think I’ll avoid deep cleaning, although we did find an excellent young, new dentist before we firebombed the other dental office.
This is one I won’t read a second time! I mean, it was very well written, but once through that painful saga was sufficient for me! Here’s hoping you have found better tooth doctors.
Yeah, Dale, I hear you. That was probably not the wisest choice of a tooth and mouth tale. We’ve had plenty of horror in other areas.
I feel guilty for laughing so hard at the cartoon before I read your story. How awful. I can relate because I went to a periodontist for an implant and developed a huge sore on the top of my mouth. Every time I went back, she proclaimed she did nothing wrong and offered me no treatment for the pain or to help with the healing. Said she had never seen this before, like it was my fault. Finally saw an older guy in the practice who had seen it happen before and knew how to help me.
Oh dear, it seems like dodging accountability has become one of our society’s larger blights. Lock ’em up! (pause) Naaaah. That won’t work either. we must solve this problem.
Yikes, Charles! Exactly the sort of scary story I thought would happen to me every time I went to the dentist. Drs. A and B should be very happy you didn’t use their real names (unless, of course, their names are a remarkable coincidence, which I seriously doubt.)
And might as well blame it all on Trump. After all, the Republicans are still blaming everything on Hillary. Or Obama.
Thanks, John. Teeth Trump, gums and drums, this tale of dental governmental abuse is as close as I come to Stephen King.
Ouch! What a terrible story! It really made
me cringe. Good to know your own doctor was able to get you the help you needed, and I’m sure you never darkened the door of those arrogant dentists again. And how fitting that this paralleled the rise of another disaster. May they all meet their just rewards.
Great opener, Khati! May I use your first two lines as a blurb? And thanks for your thoughtful comment. The two assaults did seem connected.