Dental decoration
When I moved from Oxford to Birmingham just over a year ago, I managed to sort out most of the administrative changes (like signing up with a new GP and informing people about the change of address) pretty quickly. However, for some reason, I never got around to registering with a new dentist. A few weeks ago, I realised with a shock that it must have been about 18 months since I had last seen a dentist, and signed up with one.
My old dental practice in Oxford was in quite a posh area, and despite the fact that they charged more or less the same as any other dentist, it was very nicely decorated, with polished wood floors, tasteful prints and classical music playing in the background. My new dental practice—-which I visited for the first time today—-looks somewhat more run down. The dentists and dental nurses are very nice and perfectly competent, but the decor looks like a typical NHS GP practice—-slightly tatty.
As I sat in the chair, having my teeth prodded and scraped, I noticed a couple of posters stuck to the ceiling, obviously placed there deliberately to give the victim patient something to look at. One was a nice black and white photograph of the Empire State Building—-a little bit mid-80s Athena, but quite nice. The other one made me look twice—-“World’s Greatest Modern Fighting Aircraft”, depicting about 18 jet fighters. Now, I admire the MiG 19 as much as the next person, but it still seems a bit of an odd choice of decoration. I would have thought that most dentists would opt for a peaceful seascape or a wild flower meadow or something. It had the desired effect though. I spent the whole consultation puzzling over their choice of posters, and so hardly noticed what they were doing.
1
Maybe the jets are for boys. Boys love jets.----- When you stop and think about it the world is a randomly strange place.
by john(jc.) @ 29/11/2005 7:12 am • Permalink •
2
I'm with Paul- lots of technical detail, likely to engage a boy's imagination..... Flowers? Can't see it helping a ten year boy to take his mind of the Black and Decker being used on his mouth. Perhaps Suduku would be a modern adult alternative?
by Ian @ 29/11/2005 10:12 am • Permalink •
3
Since you spent your time trying to figure out why they chose that particular print and completely ignored the dental work, I suppose it worked, didn't it?
by bitweever @ 29/11/2005 12:12 pm • Permalink •
4
Paul Mison:
True. And some girls like them too, but unless you have very good vision, the details are a bit lost at that distance.
john(jc.): Indeed
Ian: Now, Suduko---there's an idea...
bitweever: "It had the desired effect though. I spent the whole consultation puzzling over their choice of posters, and so hardly noticed what they were doing."
Yep, that's pretty much what I said
by bsag @ 29/11/2005 6:12 pm • Permalink •
5
I think you should count yourself lucky: my dentist has a charicature of himself wearing an evil grin and holding a black & decker drill -- placed in the perfect viewing position for when you are totally helpless.
The other thing he has is a TV blaring out, and it's always mindless rubblish. I suppose the idea is to numb the senses.
by Terry Freedman @ 29/11/2005 11:12 pm • Permalink •
6
As a kid, my dentist had a copy of [url="http://www.tessellations.org/eschergallery8.htm" title="Escher's Day and Night" rel="nofollow"] on the ceiling. It would have done the trick If I hadn't been so terrified...
Ian[/url]
by ijw @ 30/11/2005 1:11 am • Permalink •
7
M. C. Escher - Night and Day
http://www.tessellations.org/eschergallery8.htm
Somehow I just can't get the hang of hyperlinks on this site...
by ijw @ 30/11/2005 1:12 am • Permalink •
8
Sudoku as a distraction... interesting idea. I think it would (besides distract me) annoy me. No way to write the possibilities in the squares, let alone the ones you're certain of. Even worse, you have to remember where you left off for numerous months (hopefully) before you can continue.
by _V_ @ 30/11/2005 3:12 pm • Permalink •
9
I can never see anything on the ceiling because of the whopping great light.
My dentist, before he renovated, had a great picture at the end of the room, where you could ponder it while he fixed the drool-bib and so on: a lovely painting of a Matador going in for the kill...
by flerdle @ 30/11/2005 7:12 pm • Permalink •
10
Terry Freedman: Yikes on both accounts. That's a very strange sense of humour, likewise flerdle's dentist.
ijw: That's pretty cool, though Escher drawings make my head hurt after a while.
V: It's more of a challenge though, isn't it. Mind you, I usually get bored/give up on Sudoku puzzles after about 10 minutes.
by bsag @ 30/11/2005 10:11 pm • Permalink •
Page 1 of 1 pages