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Posted on 06/03/26 08:46:02 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7135 Reply  |
Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
I came upon this glorious 19th century dentist's chair, complete with lighting, at the Wellcome Collection in London. I'd like to see it in action in an appropriate setting. I've done the cutout for you as the background was complex (actually, I got Photoshop to do the cutout for me). High res is here.  |
Posted on 06/03/26 09:07:35 AM |
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Mariner
Renaissance Mariner Posts: 3255 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
AI overview (Google) This item is a vintage Tri-Dent dental station manufactured by the Ritter Dental Manufacturing Company around 1920. It is a comprehensive unit constructed from metal, glass, and ceramic, designed to group essential dental operating tools together. The station includes a directional light, a high-speed electric drill, and a fountain spittoon. It also provided access to water, gas, air, and electricity for the dentist. |
Posted on 06/03/26 10:25:28 AM |
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Steve Caplin
Administrator Posts: 7135 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
My mistake! 1920s it is. So out with the crinoline, in with the flapper dresses. |
Posted on 06/03/26 11:53:56 AM |
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Ant Snell
Specular Specialist Posts: 612 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
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Posted on 06/03/26 12:11:56 PM |
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lwc
Hole in One Posts: 3467 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
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Posted on 06/03/26 12:23:02 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 6037 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
This is not an entry. Today is my day for reminiscences ..... the London 'pea souper' at the end of last weeks entry and now early dental experiences at the start of this weeks. Sorry Steve but it's vaguely relevant. I am sure that many of us can remember these. The old drill with a jointed arm like an Anglepoise lamp. A long drive belt that passed over pulleys on the joints. As a boy I was fascinated by them! 
In the nineteen sixties I had a dental emergency in the Bahamas. Electricity was not always reliable there and the dentist had one of these ..... a treadle drill! Fortunately I was there on a good electricity day, but he assured me it still got regular use. 
_________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 07/03/26 12:18:52 PM |
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Ben Boardman
Printing Pro Posts: 734 Reply  |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
Steampunk sculpture and friends, opposite Bee Gee Way memorial Redcliffe QLD - I often lunch along this strip near home. |
Posted on 07/03/26 10:35:59 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 6037 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
Lovely! That's very Daliesque and bizarre Ben. Mind you, having looked it up, I find the Bee Gee Way memorial pretty bizarre on its own .........  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 08/03/26 00:16:53 AM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 6037 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
PENNSYLVANIA’S “PAINLESS” PARKER Unless you know about “Painless” Parker read this first. Edgar Randolph “Painless” Parker began his dental practice in 1892, when dentistry for widespread tooth decay was still emerging as a profession. At the time, it was considered unethical in the profession to solicit patients, so Parker found that after six weeks, he still hadn’t seen a single client. He decided to toss ethics to the wayside and start an advertising campaign. In exchange for a new set of dentures, the desperate dentist bartered with a sign maker for a placard that read “Painless Parker.” His business idea was deceptively simple: He would inject patients with a solution of watered-down cocaine and pull their teeth. The 50-cent extraction would be painless, he said, or he’d pay the patient $5. While his solution sometimes worked, sometimes it didn’t. Sometimes he just gave his patients a glass of whiskey instead. But Parker wasn’t content to stop there. Donning a top hat, coattails and a necklace he made out of teeth (supposedly the 357 teeth he pulled in one day), he partnered with William Beebe, a former employee of P.T. Barnum, to create a traveling dental circus in 1913. At the show, Parker would bring a pre-planted person out of the audience and pretend to pull out a molar, showing the audience an already-pulled tooth he was hiding as evidence that the extraction was completely painless. Then, accompanied by a brass band, contortionists and dancing women, real patients would climb into the chair for the same procedure. While he pulled the tooth out, still for 50 cents an extraction, Parker would tap his foot on the ground to signal the band to play louder—effectively drowning out the patient’s pained screams. Still, Parker managed to become popular. Dental patients and visitors liked the distraction of the brass band and the rest of the circus. Thanks to the band, no one heard the moans—and everyone but the hapless patient assumed the treatment didn’t hurt a bit. Painless eventually left Pennsylvania and moved to California, leaving a horde of angry, hurting patients in his wake. The man who duped his aching patients was detested by his colleagues, too—the American Dental Association called him “a menace to the dignity of the profession.” This is the real Parker in my image. There are only a very, very few photos of him, in very poor quality, and none with his patients or of his circus. I had to completely create this image from scratch. Which was difficult but fun.  _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |
Posted on 08/03/26 8:24:09 PM |
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dwindt
Realism Realiser Posts: 1001 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
 _________________ The grass is greener on the other side of the fence because there is more $hit there. |
Posted on 08/03/26 9:23:40 PM |
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DavidMac
Director of Photoshop Posts: 6037 Reply |
Re: Challenge 1095: A visit to the dentist
That's gorgeous Dennis! So simple and so good. The lighting is very subtle and the muted colours perfect. Love this. _________________ The subtlety and conviction of any Photoshop effect is invariably inversely proportional to the number of knobs on it ....... |