Neanderthals drilled cavities to treat a toothache 59,000 years ago

“Every time I go to the dentist, I think about that guy,” researcher says.

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[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

I'm pretty resistant to local anesthetics and all of my dentists have understandingly upped the dosage for me except one. He snapped at me "That's not pain, that's pressure!" and refused to give me another shot while I tried not to squirm in the chair. He was also old enough to have performed the procedure described in the article.

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

my dentist put in my file that I'm resistant to local so they started immediately going for max dose instead of inject, wait, inject some more

one time it still wasn't enough and they were like "next step is injecting the roof of your mouth and that will hurt more than the drill and fill" so I opted out of that and the procedure wasn't really painful, just felt unpleasantly cold

I once had a lipoma that turned out to go much deeper than ultrasound had suggested removed from my neck next to my spine while under local anesthetic and the surgeon was happy to shoot me up every time I said I could feel the scalpel cutting. Incidentally that procedure cured headaches I'd been having for a decade before the lipoma got so big enough for me to know it was there.

I've also come out of general anesthetic in the middle of procedures twice. One time I opened my eyes to find the oral surgeon had a knee on my chest, a chisel in my mouth, and a hammer in his hand. He sounded very surprised as he said "He's awake!" and "You'll be fine.." and "Give him more." Then I felt the cold drip in my arm again...

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

Poor patient was actually called "Theodore," but the dentist only asked what his name was after putting all the tools in his mouth, so he is forever "Og" on his chart, and therefore the archaeological record.

And that's also why to this day every dentist has an ogginator in their toolkit.

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

I know this is a funny question, but it is very possible that Neanderthals had discovered the painkilling effects of different plants, including the opium poppy.

I'd be skeptical of any claims the opium poppy or its concentrated derivatives was available to Neanderthals in Siberia. They might have had willow bark and wild lettuce though. And alcohol.

 

[SomewhereAroundBarstow]

I grew up with my dad saying "they'll give you shots and say all you'll feel is pressure, but it's still bad."

Was your dad my old dentist?