Early Dentistry in Central Oregon Often an Ordeal for Patients

There were few dentists in the frontier era of Central Oregon and early treatment was often crude with the end result usually pulling a troublesome tooth.  Early dentistry was done by medical doctors in Central Oregon as they were the first to come to the developing territory and they were expected to be able to treat anything.  Usually if a tooth hurt poultices were often used to ease the pain and nothing was done until the pain was so intense that the offending tooth would be pulled out by primitive means.  Often doctors would advertise certain days for tooth extractions and people would line up to be treated.  Sometimes a doctor would travel by horse and buggy to outlying areas and homesteaders would come to a particular home for treatment.

When dentists did arrive in Central Oregon they took over dental care duties with more special knowledge of dental problems and had appropriate equipment.  One of the first dentists to arrive in Central Oregon was Dr. C.J. Beatty.  He first set up an office in Prineville about 1885.  Although he had an office in Prineville he often would travel to outlying areas to treat people with dental problems.  He would travel long distances in a wagon in which he loaded a dentist chair and his dental equipment.  The equipment used in the frontier era might be viewed by patients of today as instruments expressly designed for the purpose of terrorizing people.  However most people were very grateful to have some means of relieving the excruciating pain of tooth inflammations.  One particular gruesome instrument was known as a torque tooth-pulling tool that had a rotating hook on the end and a cross handle on the other.  It probably broke more teeth off at the gum line than it removed.

Soon more dentists arrived to serve other developing towns in the region.  Among the early dentists were Dr. John Barr, Dr. Cass Cline, Dr. William Tackman, Dr. Hibbard and Dr. Manning among others. Visits to outlying areas were common.  The early dentists could move their equipment from place to place more easily because the first dentist drills were belt driven and foot motivated units that would disassemble and fit into a box.   Dentist chairs often were rigid and some had head rests.  There were no dental hygienists in those early times.  There was limited anesthesia readily available and patients either had to endure the pain of dental treatment or they might be given some whiskey to mellow their pain.

The Central Oregon region had a widely dispersed population and it was a serious matter for someone who developed tooth infections in the isolated homesteads.  Sometimes the pain would be unbearable and even the primitive treatment provided by the early dentists was a welcome relief.  If untreated the infections could lead to severe physical problems and perhaps even death.

Today a trip to the dentist office is mostly painless as modern drugs help alleviate the pain during dental procedures.  Highly specialized equipment is available to assist in streamlined treatment, but just imagine yourself in severe pain and being treated without medications and mostly under unsanitary conditions as hands were working in your mouth to pull your tooth and one quickly realizes that the ”good old days” may not have been so pleasant for someone with a toothache.

Contributed by Steve Lent, historian