1 00:00:00,240 --> 00:00:27,240 Speaker 1: Ridiculous History is a production of I Heart Radio. Welcome 2 00:00:27,280 --> 00:00:30,520 Speaker 1: back to the show Ridiculous Historians. Thank you, as always 3 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: so much for tuning in. Shout out to our super 4 00:00:34,000 --> 00:00:38,280 Speaker 1: producer Casey Pegrum. Shout out to our super producer, the 5 00:00:38,320 --> 00:00:43,000 Speaker 1: one and only Max Williams. I'm ben. I guess I 6 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: should I should come clean. I put off some dental 7 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,640 Speaker 1: work during the pandemic. And when I when I came 8 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: back to the dentist chair, who was the trip man? Well, 9 00:00:53,280 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: I put on some weight during the pandemic. Is that 10 00:00:56,560 --> 00:00:58,800 Speaker 1: the same thing? No, I know it's not, but it's 11 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:02,959 Speaker 1: common right. People let things go during these quarantine times, 12 00:01:03,160 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: and dental work certainly is one of them. I think 13 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:07,399 Speaker 1: we don't remember which show was on, but we've talked 14 00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:10,399 Speaker 1: recently about I'm no by the way, uh dentals, I 15 00:01:10,400 --> 00:01:11,559 Speaker 1: know what it was. It was. We did a stuff 16 00:01:11,560 --> 00:01:13,399 Speaker 1: that I want you to know episode recently about the 17 00:01:14,160 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 1: kind of weird world of dentistry fraud, which is kind 18 00:01:18,400 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: of a thing, and this sort of rolls into that 19 00:01:20,080 --> 00:01:23,160 Speaker 1: there's some dentistry fraud going on in today's story, but 20 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:27,479 Speaker 1: also some weird historical, kind of positive things that came 21 00:01:27,600 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: from this fraud. What are we talking about. We're talking 22 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:34,880 Speaker 1: about the life of a dude named Painless Parker. That 23 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: was not his Christian name. We'll get to that. His 24 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: name is Edgar Parker. That's what he was born in 25 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy two. As but yeah, this guy was basically 26 00:01:45,160 --> 00:01:51,040 Speaker 1: what you might call a circus dentist. What does that mean, Well, 27 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: we'll tell you, yes, circus dentist. And and it's a phrase. 28 00:01:53,880 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: We can back up this This entire this entire circus 29 00:02:00,280 --> 00:02:05,120 Speaker 1: uh comes about because when Parker opens his practice back 30 00:02:05,160 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 1: in two it's not an immediate hit. His business is 31 00:02:10,040 --> 00:02:13,839 Speaker 1: struggling a little bit, and so he figures he has 32 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:18,080 Speaker 1: to do something else and he starts thinking outside of 33 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:23,399 Speaker 1: the box. That's what leads us to real life dental circus. 34 00:02:23,680 --> 00:02:25,959 Speaker 1: As we dive into the story, I want to point 35 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 1: out we're getting a lot of this information from several sources. 36 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:34,920 Speaker 1: Smithsonian Magazine in particular, with the great title remember when 37 00:02:34,919 --> 00:02:38,680 Speaker 1: teeth pulling was fun? As well as Mental floss and 38 00:02:38,880 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: the Santa Cruz Sentinel. That's right, there's also a New 39 00:02:41,800 --> 00:02:44,880 Speaker 1: York Times article. Was Painless Parker a vaudeville joke or 40 00:02:44,919 --> 00:02:48,240 Speaker 1: a real Brooklyn Dentist by Michael Pollock and a series 41 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:52,119 Speaker 1: of books written by Peter M. Pointage and Art N. G. Kristen, 42 00:02:52,440 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 1: who are dental historians. Um, just wanted to knock that 43 00:02:55,440 --> 00:02:57,919 Speaker 1: out here at the top, but yeah, it's true, Ben Um. 44 00:02:58,000 --> 00:03:01,920 Speaker 1: So this guy, Edgar Parker, he studied dentistry at what 45 00:03:02,040 --> 00:03:07,680 Speaker 1: today is Temple University. He was born in New Brunswick, Canada, 46 00:03:08,000 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: in the town of Tynemouth Creek, which is on the 47 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:16,440 Speaker 1: shores there of New Brunswick, Canada. Edgar Rudolph Randolph Parker. 48 00:03:16,680 --> 00:03:18,519 Speaker 1: He's got a Rudolph and a Randolph there just to 49 00:03:18,840 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: just to be safe. But his family was very religious 50 00:03:23,040 --> 00:03:26,960 Speaker 1: and he was he entered into initially for school Baptist 51 00:03:27,040 --> 00:03:30,960 Speaker 1: seminary at St. Martin's and he was he was actually 52 00:03:31,000 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: expelled for what was referred to as un christian like behavior. Um. 53 00:03:36,960 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: He had also spent some time as a sailor and 54 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:43,560 Speaker 1: apparently cursed like one while in seminary. That that is, 55 00:03:43,640 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: that is my conjecture there. But I can only imagine 56 00:03:46,480 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: what the sailor like behavior that led to him being 57 00:03:48,600 --> 00:03:52,640 Speaker 1: expelled from seminary might have been. Anything really could have 58 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:58,840 Speaker 1: been the jokes, right right, Maybe, I mean, yeah, there 59 00:03:58,920 --> 00:04:01,240 Speaker 1: there are a lot of things that would have sounded 60 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: absolutely normal to us in that may have been you know, 61 00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:10,720 Speaker 1: absolutely scandalous for him to say during this time. So 62 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:14,880 Speaker 1: he he is terrified of going back home to his 63 00:04:14,960 --> 00:04:19,440 Speaker 1: folks and saying I got kicked out of seminary. Instead, 64 00:04:19,480 --> 00:04:23,160 Speaker 1: he becomes. Instead, he discovers his hustle, and it's a 65 00:04:23,240 --> 00:04:25,560 Speaker 1: hustle that'll have for the rest of his life. He 66 00:04:25,640 --> 00:04:30,279 Speaker 1: becomes a door to door salesman, and his boss directs 67 00:04:30,360 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 1: him to never like never leave people alone until they 68 00:04:34,560 --> 00:04:39,000 Speaker 1: buy something from him, and his father eventually catches up 69 00:04:39,000 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: with him eight nine. He is not over the moon 70 00:04:43,480 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: that his son has become a door to door salesman 71 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:50,159 Speaker 1: rather than a preacher, so he drags him home. Kids 72 00:04:50,160 --> 00:04:54,880 Speaker 1: seventeen years old, runs away again, goes to see catches 73 00:04:54,960 --> 00:04:59,880 Speaker 1: dan gay fever. He's dropped off in Barbadosrhe right, that's 74 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 1: it's like the dangay fever. Uh that you may be 75 00:05:03,400 --> 00:05:06,760 Speaker 1: thinking of dysenterry Maybe what's but I thought dangay fever 76 00:05:06,839 --> 00:05:10,320 Speaker 1: had something to do with like he can give you 77 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:17,480 Speaker 1: bleeding flu like symptoms and rashes. Okay, okay, so no, no, 78 00:05:17,400 --> 00:05:20,560 Speaker 1: not necessarily the direa. Sorry, thank you for setting me 79 00:05:20,640 --> 00:05:24,480 Speaker 1: straight back. He's he's now stricken with this unfortunate illness 80 00:05:24,960 --> 00:05:26,920 Speaker 1: while in the midst of trying to get his life 81 00:05:26,920 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: back together, I imagine, right, yeah, and the doctors who 82 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:33,719 Speaker 1: are taking care of him impress him. You know. He 83 00:05:33,800 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: feels like they saved his life. He feels like this 84 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 1: maybe the most important vocation in the world. And so 85 00:05:42,160 --> 00:05:47,760 Speaker 1: when he gets back from another misadventure, he asked his parents, Hey, 86 00:05:47,839 --> 00:05:51,040 Speaker 1: can I can I be a doctor? I think that's 87 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: you know, I think that's my path forward in life. 88 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:56,160 Speaker 1: But what does what does his folks do? Well, they 89 00:05:56,200 --> 00:05:59,359 Speaker 1: were not a family of particular means. They thought it 90 00:05:59,400 --> 00:06:01,839 Speaker 1: was a little price to go to medical school, but 91 00:06:02,279 --> 00:06:04,520 Speaker 1: they figured they could, you know, spring for the next 92 00:06:04,560 --> 00:06:07,800 Speaker 1: best thing, which was sort of an emerging feel at 93 00:06:07,800 --> 00:06:12,359 Speaker 1: the time, the field of dentistry um, which he later 94 00:06:12,839 --> 00:06:16,359 Speaker 1: according to a fabulous article in the Santa Cruz Sentinel 95 00:06:16,360 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: in Santa Cruz, they also spent some time. There's going 96 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: to come up in our story soon. He referred to 97 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:25,400 Speaker 1: it as the noble tooth plumbing profession, plumb the depths 98 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:29,200 Speaker 1: of of the Noble tooth Um, so he enrolled at 99 00:06:29,200 --> 00:06:33,239 Speaker 1: an initially New York College of Dentistry. He again didn't 100 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: have very much money. He had just enough to pay 101 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,760 Speaker 1: for tuition, but didn't really have enough to eat, so 102 00:06:37,800 --> 00:06:40,760 Speaker 1: he kind of had to figure out a side hustle 103 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,760 Speaker 1: to to make ends meet. And so he I don't 104 00:06:43,760 --> 00:06:47,000 Speaker 1: know if we've mentioned this, but the school of traveling 105 00:06:47,080 --> 00:06:50,280 Speaker 1: salesmanship that he ascribed to was sort of that like 106 00:06:50,360 --> 00:06:52,120 Speaker 1: stick your foot in the door and don't take no 107 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: for an answer situation. So he essentially adapted that mentality 108 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:01,080 Speaker 1: to a door to door dental practice. US Before he 109 00:07:01,080 --> 00:07:04,880 Speaker 1: had even gotten his credentials, which was very common at 110 00:07:04,920 --> 00:07:07,440 Speaker 1: the time, many of the dentists that were practicing were 111 00:07:07,600 --> 00:07:11,440 Speaker 1: unlicensed because there really wasn't a whole lot of official 112 00:07:11,520 --> 00:07:15,680 Speaker 1: oversight yet because it was a relatively new field and 113 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 1: preventative dental care was really practically a non existent thing. 114 00:07:21,360 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: So he ends up going to Philadelphia Dental College next. 115 00:07:27,680 --> 00:07:33,200 Speaker 1: This is prestigious. This is the second oldest school of 116 00:07:33,240 --> 00:07:37,600 Speaker 1: its sort in the country. And you know, as you said, Noel, 117 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: that's now known as the Temple University Maurice H. Kornberg 118 00:07:42,400 --> 00:07:47,280 Speaker 1: School of dentistry. Santa Cruz Sentinel asked the dean of 119 00:07:47,280 --> 00:07:52,640 Speaker 1: the college, Dr amid Ismail, how Parker was during his 120 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,120 Speaker 1: time there, and he said Parker was a terrible student 121 00:07:57,360 --> 00:08:01,720 Speaker 1: and that he only graduated because he literally begged the 122 00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,400 Speaker 1: dean at that time to pass him, which I didn't 123 00:08:05,400 --> 00:08:07,720 Speaker 1: know you could do. Yeah, it seems like this is 124 00:08:08,040 --> 00:08:10,680 Speaker 1: a very tender hearted dean, you know to be says 125 00:08:10,720 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: I've I've I've never gotten out of any uh college 126 00:08:14,960 --> 00:08:20,840 Speaker 1: failures by begging I or or maybe this guy's gift 127 00:08:21,120 --> 00:08:25,840 Speaker 1: of oration was just so profound that it worked. He's 128 00:08:25,880 --> 00:08:28,840 Speaker 1: been door to door, he was almost ah, well, he 129 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:33,319 Speaker 1: was almost a preacher, So maybe just leveraged those skills. Anyway, 130 00:08:33,360 --> 00:08:37,800 Speaker 1: fast forward, he's twenty years old. He graduates, as he said, 131 00:08:37,920 --> 00:08:41,080 Speaker 1: eight nine ninety two, the same year he opens his practice. 132 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:48,600 Speaker 1: He returns home and he thinks, Okay, I'm gonna do 133 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:54,079 Speaker 1: things differently. I'm an innovator. He's saying to himself, what 134 00:08:54,640 --> 00:08:58,040 Speaker 1: is he? What does he innovator? First? Well, first of all, 135 00:08:58,080 --> 00:08:59,760 Speaker 1: I want to point out one thing that I think 136 00:08:59,800 --> 00:09:02,560 Speaker 1: is really fascinating about his time as a as a 137 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:05,160 Speaker 1: door to door dentist, and by the way. He also 138 00:09:05,200 --> 00:09:09,000 Speaker 1: opened up his very first office before he even finished 139 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:13,320 Speaker 1: dental school properly, like on seventeenth and Broadway in New York. 140 00:09:13,720 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: But when he found a procedure that he didn't have 141 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 1: the skills to perform, he promised to come back later. 142 00:09:21,440 --> 00:09:24,120 Speaker 1: And the indication there was that, you know, once he 143 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:26,880 Speaker 1: got to that chapter in the in the textbook that 144 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:30,280 Speaker 1: he was studying, because again, very very early, not a 145 00:09:30,320 --> 00:09:34,880 Speaker 1: whole lot of technology really involved in dentistry and certainly 146 00:09:35,240 --> 00:09:40,199 Speaker 1: not very effective pain management, you know, medications and in 147 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:44,200 Speaker 1: the like. Um so, yeah, we've got him finally getting 148 00:09:44,200 --> 00:09:47,200 Speaker 1: out of school at the age of twenty in eighteen 149 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:53,200 Speaker 1: ninety two. He comes home, he hooks up with a druggist, 150 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:55,960 Speaker 1: a guy by the name of George Mallory. And I 151 00:09:55,960 --> 00:09:58,240 Speaker 1: think you're talking about innovations, Ben, and I was talking 152 00:09:58,240 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: about the lack of pain medication. We don't have no 153 00:10:02,120 --> 00:10:06,040 Speaker 1: vacane yet for quite some time, but we you may 154 00:10:06,080 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 1: know that cocaine was a hell of a drug then 155 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,800 Speaker 1: as well as it is today, and was used in 156 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,800 Speaker 1: the dental profession. It was actually used for quite some time. 157 00:10:16,160 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: Uh they called a pharmaceutical grade cocaine and it was 158 00:10:19,040 --> 00:10:22,440 Speaker 1: something that um you would find in dental offices, maybe 159 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:25,720 Speaker 1: even as recently as the nineteen eighties. But he and 160 00:10:25,840 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 1: George Mallory, the druggist, tinkered around with a formula and 161 00:10:29,720 --> 00:10:34,160 Speaker 1: ended up with a deluded solution of cocaine that they 162 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:39,640 Speaker 1: called hydrocane, and it is considered the kind of precursor 163 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:44,400 Speaker 1: to novocaine. And it was a very very modern innovation 164 00:10:44,600 --> 00:10:47,840 Speaker 1: for the time. And so it came to pass that 165 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:52,960 Speaker 1: Parker was prepared to be on like the bleeding edge 166 00:10:53,360 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 1: of dentistry. But as I said, at the very top, 167 00:10:58,520 --> 00:11:02,839 Speaker 1: nobody showed up to his job. It was like the 168 00:11:03,400 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: nicest restaurant that no one ate at. And so he 169 00:11:07,800 --> 00:11:12,200 Speaker 1: was worried that maybe some maybe there are hints that 170 00:11:12,280 --> 00:11:16,920 Speaker 1: maybe his reputation for being kicked out a seminary had 171 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: something to do with this, or maybe that was just 172 00:11:19,040 --> 00:11:22,920 Speaker 1: all in his mind. He said, Okay, I've got either way. 173 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: He decided he's got to be embedded in the culture. 174 00:11:27,120 --> 00:11:29,520 Speaker 1: He's got to be embedded in the society around him, 175 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 1: rather right, because usually people like to work with folks 176 00:11:33,160 --> 00:11:36,520 Speaker 1: they already know. So he starts going to church, not 177 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 1: just on Sundays, but twice on Sundays. He's trying to 178 00:11:40,200 --> 00:11:42,640 Speaker 1: really show out. You know, he wants to be the 179 00:11:42,679 --> 00:11:45,199 Speaker 1: honor student of the church. I guess he's sitting right 180 00:11:45,200 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 1: in the front. He's seeing a passing the collection plate. 181 00:11:48,880 --> 00:11:53,240 Speaker 1: He's got a huge bible that he carries around everywhere. 182 00:11:53,760 --> 00:11:57,400 Speaker 1: But no one, no one goes to his practice. There 183 00:11:57,400 --> 00:12:00,360 Speaker 1: are other dentists around, or they are just a fraid 184 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:06,440 Speaker 1: of dentists. His profits after three months are something abominably low, 185 00:12:06,600 --> 00:12:09,240 Speaker 1: like seventy five cents. And he goes to his pal 186 00:12:09,320 --> 00:12:13,640 Speaker 1: Mallory and he's like, Hey, what the heck man and 187 00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:16,760 Speaker 1: Matt we're paraphrasing. Mallory says, Oh, you know, people are 188 00:12:16,800 --> 00:12:19,760 Speaker 1: afraid of dentists. If they find when they trust, they 189 00:12:19,880 --> 00:12:23,520 Speaker 1: stick with him and the town's long established dentists, the 190 00:12:23,679 --> 00:12:25,840 Speaker 1: cornered the market. And that's part of what we're talking about, 191 00:12:25,880 --> 00:12:28,880 Speaker 1: the stuff they don't want you to know episode because 192 00:12:29,080 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 1: it can be an inherently uncomfortable proposition to trust people 193 00:12:33,240 --> 00:12:36,400 Speaker 1: have for dentists they know can be pretty powerful. Yeah, 194 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:38,080 Speaker 1: that's true. I mean, even though like most of the 195 00:12:38,120 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 1: work is done by hygienis that kind of rotate in 196 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 1: and out. I mean, I guess some have like a 197 00:12:42,440 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: smaller staff, but that matters, that final little inspection, you know, 198 00:12:46,559 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: from the dentist there, like, you know, the main procedure 199 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:50,680 Speaker 1: they kind of give their sign off on, even if 200 00:12:50,720 --> 00:12:52,560 Speaker 1: they're not the actual ones digging around in your mouth 201 00:12:52,600 --> 00:12:55,400 Speaker 1: the whole time. Um, that relationship matters. And I think 202 00:12:55,440 --> 00:13:00,400 Speaker 1: that's something that Parker really understood that they He needed 203 00:13:00,400 --> 00:13:03,160 Speaker 1: to find a way to kind of take the fear 204 00:13:03,360 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: out of dentistry, and he he did a thing that 205 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:12,400 Speaker 1: was probably the most bizarre and extreme version of that 206 00:13:12,720 --> 00:13:15,240 Speaker 1: proposition that I could imagine. And by the way, I 207 00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:18,400 Speaker 1: want to give huge thanks and credit to the Santa 208 00:13:18,400 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: Cruz Sentinel author ross Eric Gibson Um for a very 209 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:24,760 Speaker 1: very cool article in the paper called Painless Parker and 210 00:13:24,800 --> 00:13:28,760 Speaker 1: the Showmanship of dentistry. And that showmanship evolved, but it 211 00:13:28,800 --> 00:13:40,160 Speaker 1: began with something quite simple. The idea of soliciting patients 212 00:13:40,200 --> 00:13:44,480 Speaker 1: at the time was considered unethical. It's real catch twenty two. 213 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:47,240 Speaker 1: It's really interesting, right, I've got no patience, No one 214 00:13:47,320 --> 00:13:50,880 Speaker 1: knows about me. My competition is is is cornered the market, 215 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:54,040 Speaker 1: and yet it's unethical for me to solicit or to 216 00:13:54,120 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 1: advertise for my practice. But he decided, you know what, 217 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,280 Speaker 1: screw it. I'm in the rock and a hard place, 218 00:13:59,360 --> 00:14:02,040 Speaker 1: like you said, and I am going to put myself 219 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:05,679 Speaker 1: out there, and he dubbed himself. He gave himself a 220 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,400 Speaker 1: moniker that he thought would really sell his practice, and 221 00:14:09,440 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: that was the name Painless Parker. Because at the time 222 00:14:13,160 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 1: these offices or these practices were called dental parlors. They 223 00:14:19,200 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 1: were again mostly staffed by unlicensed dentists, and they were 224 00:14:26,000 --> 00:14:31,720 Speaker 1: pretty unsanitary. There wasn't any standard of sanitation or sterilization yet, 225 00:14:32,280 --> 00:14:35,600 Speaker 1: and this stuff was painful. They didn't have his water 226 00:14:35,680 --> 00:14:39,280 Speaker 1: down cocaine solution. I don't imagine um. So he figured 227 00:14:39,320 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: that Painless Moniker was really going to get people in 228 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:47,120 Speaker 1: the door. And he claimed that he could extract a 229 00:14:47,160 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 1: tooth for fifty cents and it would be painless, and 230 00:14:51,040 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: then if it wasn't, he would pay the patient five dollars, 231 00:14:55,040 --> 00:14:59,400 Speaker 1: five dollars that he admittedly did not have. So yeah, 232 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:02,720 Speaker 1: he also, we should point out, paid for that sign, 233 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,200 Speaker 1: that Painless Parker sign in dentures. He didn't have the 234 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: money to pay the signmakers, so he gave the signmaker 235 00:15:09,760 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 1: a new set of dentures. And to be honest with you, 236 00:15:14,600 --> 00:15:21,000 Speaker 1: this cocaine solution hydro kane didn't always work. Sometimes sometimes 237 00:15:21,200 --> 00:15:24,760 Speaker 1: Parker would just say like, hey, do you like whiskey, 238 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 1: and then give them a glass of whiskey. Either way, 239 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:32,280 Speaker 1: the narcotic did tend to work, and soon he was 240 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:37,360 Speaker 1: making hand over fist money as a traveling dentist. And 241 00:15:37,600 --> 00:15:41,920 Speaker 1: he would he would particularly love to borrow a nearby 242 00:15:42,040 --> 00:15:44,600 Speaker 1: rocking chair for his patients so he could lean them 243 00:15:44,640 --> 00:15:47,680 Speaker 1: back and work on them. And then he started becoming 244 00:15:48,280 --> 00:15:52,440 Speaker 1: a He started becoming a character. You know. He knew 245 00:15:52,480 --> 00:15:55,200 Speaker 1: that he had to be memorable in the public eye. 246 00:15:55,280 --> 00:16:00,600 Speaker 1: He had to somehow succeed against the intense this people 247 00:16:00,640 --> 00:16:03,280 Speaker 1: had a dentist. So he went big. He got a 248 00:16:03,400 --> 00:16:06,320 Speaker 1: white coat and a top hat, and then he would 249 00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:10,200 Speaker 1: put planted. He would gather an audience right by a wagon, 250 00:16:10,640 --> 00:16:13,200 Speaker 1: just like you would imagine a medicine show, and then 251 00:16:13,200 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: he would put plants in the audience. I mean people 252 00:16:16,360 --> 00:16:19,480 Speaker 1: pretending they didn't know him, not like a good elephant 253 00:16:19,560 --> 00:16:22,160 Speaker 1: or or something or something. You know what it makes 254 00:16:22,160 --> 00:16:26,000 Speaker 1: me think of. It makes me think of the the regular, 255 00:16:26,160 --> 00:16:28,560 Speaker 1: the real life incarnation of the Wizard of Oz and 256 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: the Wizard of Oz movie. What was his name, like 257 00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:35,440 Speaker 1: Dr Mysterio or something like that medicine show. Yeah, it was, Yeah, 258 00:16:35,520 --> 00:16:37,720 Speaker 1: but they had like he had like a big wagon 259 00:16:38,040 --> 00:16:40,720 Speaker 1: with his logo painted on the side and would pedal 260 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:44,640 Speaker 1: these you know, tonics or whatever like mystical cures. And 261 00:16:44,680 --> 00:16:46,640 Speaker 1: you know, they called him snake oil salesman because they 262 00:16:46,640 --> 00:16:49,480 Speaker 1: were rooted in hucksterism, and it was, you know, there 263 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,840 Speaker 1: was no truth to any of the remedies. I mean, 264 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:55,520 Speaker 1: he was offering a service that was real, and I 265 00:16:55,560 --> 00:17:00,800 Speaker 1: mean and he was offering a narcotic that would hopefully 266 00:17:01,000 --> 00:17:05,639 Speaker 1: help numb the pain, because let's just remember cocaine is 267 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: a numbing agent, or can be a numbing agent, and 268 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,960 Speaker 1: that was how it was used. But apparently also like 269 00:17:11,320 --> 00:17:13,639 Speaker 1: this it comes a little later, but he uh, he 270 00:17:13,680 --> 00:17:16,880 Speaker 1: would sometimes not even fully inject the tooth. He would 271 00:17:16,920 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: just sort of squirt it on there on the cavity. Um. 272 00:17:19,760 --> 00:17:22,800 Speaker 1: I think probably because he was trying to conserve his supply. 273 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,639 Speaker 1: I'm just guessing there, but yeah, it's true. He was 274 00:17:26,680 --> 00:17:28,880 Speaker 1: definitely like on the street corner with his top hat 275 00:17:29,119 --> 00:17:31,600 Speaker 1: kind of like making a big song and dance out 276 00:17:31,600 --> 00:17:33,879 Speaker 1: of this whole thing, and it was yeah, yeah, yeah, 277 00:17:34,520 --> 00:17:36,120 Speaker 1: let me go back to the plant thing because it's 278 00:17:36,200 --> 00:17:40,000 Speaker 1: very important. First, it's it's unethical. We can agree. But 279 00:17:40,680 --> 00:17:43,560 Speaker 1: he here's what he did with the patient or his 280 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:48,000 Speaker 1: fake patient, his test any patient. They would pretend to 281 00:17:48,720 --> 00:17:53,240 Speaker 1: pull out a mohler and then show the audience, Hey, 282 00:17:52,840 --> 00:17:57,399 Speaker 1: I've been hiding this tooth. This this extraction from painless 283 00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,080 Speaker 1: Parker was a breeze and in a brass band would start. 284 00:18:02,480 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: There would be people dancing and cortortionists, and then this 285 00:18:05,560 --> 00:18:08,000 Speaker 1: guy would be you know, step right up, step right up, 286 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,680 Speaker 1: and this podka, uh fifty cents extraction five dollars if 287 00:18:11,680 --> 00:18:15,359 Speaker 1: you feel that out to pain. And then while he 288 00:18:15,520 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 1: was pulling the tooth out, Uh, this this is so crazy, 289 00:18:19,400 --> 00:18:23,440 Speaker 1: he would he would signal the band to reach a crescendo, 290 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:27,320 Speaker 1: and so as this person was screaming, if they were screaming, like, 291 00:18:27,359 --> 00:18:30,480 Speaker 1: oh god, you said it wouldn't hurt be you, son 292 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:38,840 Speaker 1: of an. It's like brass bands are loud. Um uh 293 00:18:39,000 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: definitely cold John out of screen. I do wonder that 294 00:18:41,160 --> 00:18:43,520 Speaker 1: how did he get away without having to like pay 295 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:45,919 Speaker 1: out five bucks every time that he had to stamp 296 00:18:45,960 --> 00:18:48,840 Speaker 1: his foot for the brass band, presumably because someone was like, 297 00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:52,320 Speaker 1: you know, screaming and agony. I wondered about that to Nuel, 298 00:18:52,520 --> 00:18:56,280 Speaker 1: because as we'll find, he did make some enemies, he 299 00:18:56,359 --> 00:19:03,000 Speaker 1: did get away unscathed here. Uh that answer, I don't know. 300 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:05,439 Speaker 1: It's tough, it gets. I wonder that was an early 301 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:08,280 Speaker 1: I wonder if that was an early part of his gimmick. 302 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:10,440 Speaker 1: And then when he brought in the brass band and 303 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:12,639 Speaker 1: the contortion is maybe he abandoned that part because he 304 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: had enough bells and whistles to bring people without the 305 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:19,000 Speaker 1: money back here. Yeah, it must be because he's got 306 00:19:19,040 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: so much overhead now he is. And again this is 307 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 1: the time when he really started kind of like being 308 00:19:23,760 --> 00:19:26,840 Speaker 1: a little bit cheap. When it came to doling out 309 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,600 Speaker 1: that sweet sweet, you know, tooth juice, he would occasionally 310 00:19:30,640 --> 00:19:33,159 Speaker 1: only scored it on the tooth, or he wouldn't inject 311 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:35,119 Speaker 1: it at all, or like you said, or just like 312 00:19:35,119 --> 00:19:36,960 Speaker 1: give him a little bit of whiskey, or squired it 313 00:19:37,000 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 1: in the cavity. And even when he injected it, like 314 00:19:39,840 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 1: you said, sometimes didn't work. But still, against all odds, 315 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 1: that brass band man that did it, that was more 316 00:19:47,640 --> 00:19:52,359 Speaker 1: of a helpful distraction I think than the pain medication even. 317 00:19:52,680 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: I think the whole circus of it all gave people 318 00:19:55,680 --> 00:20:00,119 Speaker 1: something to focus on outside of the nasty b in 319 00:20:00,119 --> 00:20:02,439 Speaker 1: this of going to the dentist. And let's not forget 320 00:20:02,480 --> 00:20:05,720 Speaker 1: too people that are at the point this is actually 321 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: actually probably also a good um potential answer for the 322 00:20:08,800 --> 00:20:11,719 Speaker 1: five dollar back guarantee. People that are getting to this 323 00:20:11,800 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: point where they're going and seeking out a dentist are 324 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: already in horrible pain, right, I mean, this would have 325 00:20:17,359 --> 00:20:18,959 Speaker 1: been a time where they would have let it go 326 00:20:19,280 --> 00:20:22,360 Speaker 1: to the point where they're just like dying. We've had 327 00:20:22,400 --> 00:20:25,399 Speaker 1: too problems in the past, both of us, I believe in, 328 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,480 Speaker 1: and when it's bad, you'll do anything, you know, you'll 329 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 1: do anything to get it to get it taken care of. Yeah, 330 00:20:31,200 --> 00:20:34,919 Speaker 1: that's a really good point. And you know, just for context, 331 00:20:35,560 --> 00:20:39,200 Speaker 1: at this time in history, the vast majority of people 332 00:20:39,359 --> 00:20:43,359 Speaker 1: aren't really going in for checkups. Right, Like you said, 333 00:20:43,359 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 1: no preventive preventative dentistry. But here's what here's what Parker 334 00:20:48,440 --> 00:20:54,359 Speaker 1: has done. Now he's he's made his profession a spectacle 335 00:20:55,280 --> 00:20:59,560 Speaker 1: and now people are responding to a social event that 336 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:02,760 Speaker 1: they head together. Part of the fear and the pain 337 00:21:03,520 --> 00:21:06,040 Speaker 1: for people when they visit the dentist is it's you 338 00:21:06,240 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: and one other person in this room, right, But now 339 00:21:10,240 --> 00:21:13,480 Speaker 1: you're seeing people say, look he pulled my tooth out 340 00:21:13,520 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: and it's fine, and you don't know their line and 341 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,720 Speaker 1: there's a band and it's awesome and people are all cheering. Oh, 342 00:21:19,760 --> 00:21:22,439 Speaker 1: and you get this really cool if I may max 343 00:21:22,800 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: fanfare whenever it's the tooth is successfully extracted, like like 344 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:30,600 Speaker 1: like like okay, it's like it's like we won the 345 00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:32,800 Speaker 1: level of Zelda, you know, I mean, you're like, it's 346 00:21:32,840 --> 00:21:35,800 Speaker 1: it's it's this this whole queue, everyone's like the tensions 347 00:21:35,840 --> 00:21:40,000 Speaker 1: building and then dada and then Zelda. Soundtrack is based 348 00:21:40,119 --> 00:21:47,280 Speaker 1: on Parker's band. It's a huge family's historical fact. But 349 00:21:47,400 --> 00:21:52,520 Speaker 1: this wasn't this didn't last he had made this, you know, honestly, 350 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:55,679 Speaker 1: he had to some in the dental profession as it 351 00:21:55,800 --> 00:21:58,840 Speaker 1: was starting to become more I mean, it wasn't. Let look, 352 00:21:58,840 --> 00:22:02,280 Speaker 1: he went to this, you aniversity that was very much 353 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: a serious dental university, Temple what what was then what 354 00:22:05,840 --> 00:22:09,199 Speaker 1: is now Temple Um in Philadelphia, So you know, dentistry 355 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:13,959 Speaker 1: was beginning to become a serious profession, and those who 356 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: took it seriously really resented Parker. So you know, he 357 00:22:19,760 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: was the subject of lawsuits, he was the subject of 358 00:22:22,640 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 1: a lot of negative talk in the press even and 359 00:22:26,480 --> 00:22:29,680 Speaker 1: he eventually decided, you know what, maybe this is a 360 00:22:29,720 --> 00:22:31,640 Speaker 1: little too much for me. So he went to Canada, 361 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:34,600 Speaker 1: the West coast of Canada, and tried to turn this 362 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:38,639 Speaker 1: whole thing around and become one of those uh, you know, 363 00:22:38,920 --> 00:22:42,119 Speaker 1: legitimate dentists that hated him so much in Victoria, and 364 00:22:42,160 --> 00:22:45,240 Speaker 1: he set up shop there with a regular old dental practice, 365 00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:48,720 Speaker 1: and then he got in trouble because he did not 366 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,440 Speaker 1: have a local license. So it didn't matter if you 367 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:57,880 Speaker 1: graduated from this prestigious university. He needed local accreditation. And 368 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,760 Speaker 1: so he has a brief adventure that I would love 369 00:23:00,800 --> 00:23:04,960 Speaker 1: to read as a comic book graphic novel spinoff. For 370 00:23:05,040 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: part of eight into eight. Parker lives in a place 371 00:23:10,320 --> 00:23:15,359 Speaker 1: called Sitka, Alaska. He is the state's loan dentist, the 372 00:23:15,480 --> 00:23:18,440 Speaker 1: dentist of the Frozen Frontier. I can see it now, 373 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,520 Speaker 1: you know, I can feel some epic music there. His 374 00:23:22,600 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 1: parents and sister. Meanwhile, they moved to Brooklyn, and in 375 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 1: May of eight he goes and visits them, and he's 376 00:23:31,520 --> 00:23:36,040 Speaker 1: still he's still very budget conscious, right, So he's like, 377 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,080 Speaker 1: I don't know if I can afford someone to play 378 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:42,639 Speaker 1: the horn for me for my act, So maybe I 379 00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:46,840 Speaker 1: can learn to play the cornet myself. But it doesn't 380 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:49,240 Speaker 1: work because he needs to focus on being a dentist. 381 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 1: I totally. And he also apparently has no inherent musical 382 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:56,919 Speaker 1: talent whatsoever. Um and you know is catterwalling away on 383 00:23:57,000 --> 00:24:01,520 Speaker 1: this cornet and a neighbor woman who's practicing the piano 384 00:24:01,960 --> 00:24:04,760 Speaker 1: bangs on the door and says, who's making all that racket? 385 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,200 Speaker 1: And a reply comes from within. This is from a 386 00:24:07,320 --> 00:24:10,520 Speaker 1: Santa Cruz Sentinel article as well. A reply comes from within, 387 00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,399 Speaker 1: Oh that's my brother, painless Parker. And wouldn't you know it, 388 00:24:14,560 --> 00:24:19,320 Speaker 1: Parker and the complaining pianists eventually get married. It was 389 00:24:19,400 --> 00:24:21,360 Speaker 1: that's what they call him, meat cute right there. That's 390 00:24:21,359 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: a meat cute. That is, he opens an office in Brooklyn, 391 00:24:26,400 --> 00:24:30,320 Speaker 1: but he's still struggling to just to make rent, much 392 00:24:30,400 --> 00:24:33,320 Speaker 1: less make a profit or save some money. The guy 393 00:24:33,359 --> 00:24:36,560 Speaker 1: has collect his rent is a guy named William Bibe 394 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 1: or b B who said, quote, look, Parker, you're being 395 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:43,480 Speaker 1: a dope. There are lots of doctor Parker's. He was 396 00:24:43,520 --> 00:24:46,000 Speaker 1: called himself Dr. E. R. Parker at this time, but 397 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,520 Speaker 1: there's only one painless Parker and his. This guy tells him, 398 00:24:50,640 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: you know, if you go back to do it in 399 00:24:52,040 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: your circus stuff, you'll be a millionaire. And a million 400 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:58,720 Speaker 1: dollars was a lot more money back then as well, 401 00:24:59,000 --> 00:25:02,280 Speaker 1: no joke. And this guy Bebee Beebe, that's got I 402 00:25:02,320 --> 00:25:05,720 Speaker 1: don't know, let's let's standardize Bbie. What do you think ben? 403 00:25:06,080 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: I like calling him the Bebe. Let's call the bebes 404 00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: so the bebes Um, he's got a name for it. 405 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,200 Speaker 1: He turns out used to be a manager for the P. T. 406 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:18,480 Speaker 1: Barnum Circus or Barnum, you know, you know, the biggest, 407 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:20,680 Speaker 1: the greatest show on Earth and all that. And uh 408 00:25:20,720 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: he knew this exactly the kind of background that that 409 00:25:24,880 --> 00:25:27,360 Speaker 1: Parker came from. And he was like, what are you doing? Man? 410 00:25:27,440 --> 00:25:30,160 Speaker 1: You were a sensation. I know it was. I mean, 411 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:32,680 Speaker 1: Barnum was always a little scandalous when he'd come to town, 412 00:25:32,880 --> 00:25:36,359 Speaker 1: and the Beebes saw that kind of spark in parker 413 00:25:36,760 --> 00:25:38,480 Speaker 1: Um and he said, you know, what are you doing? Man? 414 00:25:38,520 --> 00:25:41,160 Speaker 1: You gotta go back to being the greatest dental showman 415 00:25:41,400 --> 00:25:47,199 Speaker 1: you know around and he was trying Parker was trying 416 00:25:47,240 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: to you know, turn his ways around. I guess um, 417 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: I don't know that he had shame about it, but 418 00:25:52,520 --> 00:25:55,080 Speaker 1: it does seem like from his trajectory bend, especially that 419 00:25:55,640 --> 00:25:59,399 Speaker 1: weird sojourn to Alaska, like he was struggling with it 420 00:25:59,440 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: a little bit right with his his own sense of self, 421 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:06,240 Speaker 1: Like what am I? You know, he had a identity 422 00:26:06,280 --> 00:26:08,679 Speaker 1: crisis or something. He's like, am I just one of 423 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: the rabble? You know? Do I just want to be 424 00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:13,840 Speaker 1: one of the you know, the the dental herd, or 425 00:26:13,840 --> 00:26:16,399 Speaker 1: do I want to like be something greater? And he 426 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:18,600 Speaker 1: sort of lost sight of who he was for a while, 427 00:26:18,640 --> 00:26:22,960 Speaker 1: and now this guy is helping him find that again. Yeah, 428 00:26:23,119 --> 00:26:27,200 Speaker 1: and so he gets pretty, he gets it, gets weird. 429 00:26:27,240 --> 00:26:30,000 Speaker 1: He's back to he's back to being this showman. Like 430 00:26:30,080 --> 00:26:33,280 Speaker 1: you said, he's got his this guy's outfit on again. 431 00:26:33,520 --> 00:26:37,399 Speaker 1: Picture the you know, the circus ring master and the 432 00:26:37,480 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: tall hat, the long tails and uh, you know, the 433 00:26:41,480 --> 00:26:44,320 Speaker 1: somewhat grizzly edition of a necklace made out of teeth, 434 00:26:45,600 --> 00:26:50,280 Speaker 1: which was uh somehow not creepy to a lot of people. Uh. 435 00:26:50,320 --> 00:26:55,200 Speaker 1: And then they he and William, the Bebes made a 436 00:26:55,240 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: genuine circus. They had acrobats, they had jugglers. Parker even 437 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:04,359 Speaker 1: rode atop an elephant a time or two. And this 438 00:27:04,359 --> 00:27:07,160 Speaker 1: this change the game for his office. All of a sudden, 439 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 1: waves of people are coming in. He's booked to the gills. 440 00:27:11,400 --> 00:27:13,600 Speaker 1: He has to turn people away. We've got no room 441 00:27:13,680 --> 00:27:17,200 Speaker 1: for more clients. He ends up renting. He goes big, 442 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:22,760 Speaker 1: immediately renting six more offices. He hires other no offense 443 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: Parker slightly more legit dentists to run these offices, and 444 00:27:28,359 --> 00:27:31,840 Speaker 1: he pays them more than they would make working somewhere else. 445 00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:34,719 Speaker 1: But they still don't like him. It feels bad. They 446 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,679 Speaker 1: feel like the money is is somehow dirty. Because of 447 00:27:38,720 --> 00:27:42,600 Speaker 1: the the spectacle Parker is associated with, people see him 448 00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:46,280 Speaker 1: more as an entertainer in some circles or than a dentist. 449 00:27:46,480 --> 00:27:50,240 Speaker 1: And other dentists, you know, other dentists. It's no secret 450 00:27:50,280 --> 00:27:54,560 Speaker 1: they seem to look down upon him pretty severely. Yeah, 451 00:27:54,600 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: and and speaking of the Bebe, I just want to 452 00:27:57,080 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: point out this wonderful article that we started at the 453 00:27:59,520 --> 00:28:02,000 Speaker 1: top of the show from the BBC a k a. 454 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:05,520 Speaker 1: The b Painless Parker, part dentist, part showman, all American, 455 00:28:05,640 --> 00:28:09,280 Speaker 1: and you can see a wonderful image of that tooth 456 00:28:09,320 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: necklace and it is absolutely uh maccab And this article 457 00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:17,320 Speaker 1: is James Bartlett kind of talking through the legacy of 458 00:28:17,320 --> 00:28:20,879 Speaker 1: Painless Parker, and it's an excellent read. But he basically 459 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,440 Speaker 1: just ups the anti on the smaller kind of medicine 460 00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:27,040 Speaker 1: show that he was doing before. I get he must 461 00:28:27,080 --> 00:28:29,680 Speaker 1: have gotten some investment. I mean, I think he had 462 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:32,040 Speaker 1: had some success up to this point, so maybe he 463 00:28:32,080 --> 00:28:34,679 Speaker 1: had some money squirrelled away. But um, it seems like 464 00:28:34,680 --> 00:28:36,440 Speaker 1: he really did take it up to the next level, 465 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:39,719 Speaker 1: like you said, adding acrobats and magicians even and uh 466 00:28:39,760 --> 00:28:42,520 Speaker 1: and live animals. I mean, this really was like a 467 00:28:42,520 --> 00:28:47,480 Speaker 1: traveling circus and it made a ton of money, an 468 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: absolute mint uh and and really paved the way for 469 00:28:51,880 --> 00:28:56,800 Speaker 1: what would ultimately become a dental empire for Painless Parker. 470 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:01,920 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, empire is not a hyperball phrase to use there, 471 00:29:01,960 --> 00:29:06,240 Speaker 1: because he was the first person to do this successfully, 472 00:29:06,440 --> 00:29:09,640 Speaker 1: but he wasn't the only one. There were other people 473 00:29:09,920 --> 00:29:13,200 Speaker 1: who would follow in his path. They would try to, 474 00:29:13,640 --> 00:29:15,600 Speaker 1: you know, they would try to have a little bit 475 00:29:15,640 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: of theater and spectacle to get people into their doors. 476 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: But because he was the first, he was also the 477 00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: most famous, and he didn't get a lot of This 478 00:29:28,640 --> 00:29:32,400 Speaker 1: did not make him the bell of the dental community ball, 479 00:29:32,800 --> 00:29:37,640 Speaker 1: but this did bring him a lot of money. And 480 00:29:37,720 --> 00:29:40,720 Speaker 1: as Michael Pollock points out righting for The New York Times, 481 00:29:42,120 --> 00:29:46,840 Speaker 1: he had the he he had all these kind of corny, 482 00:29:46,920 --> 00:29:52,120 Speaker 1: highly illiteratetive phrases, these slogans that people really love proclaimed 483 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:55,880 Speaker 1: by popular pressing pulpit paying this part of his positively 484 00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:59,880 Speaker 1: perfect I've noticed how he had pulpit thrown in there. 485 00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:02,000 Speaker 1: I wonder if that was a reference back to his old, 486 00:30:02,400 --> 00:30:04,800 Speaker 1: his old Bible thumping days. It makes it sound like 487 00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: there's a preacher who uh is everybody comes in on there, 488 00:30:09,160 --> 00:30:11,640 Speaker 1: you know, in church and some Sunday and this guy 489 00:30:11,760 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: stops for a second and says like, today's sermon is 490 00:30:14,960 --> 00:30:18,440 Speaker 1: brought to you by painless Parker exactly. Oh and dude, 491 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 1: I mean this building. It really is in the New 492 00:30:21,240 --> 00:30:23,959 Speaker 1: York Times article you mentioned Ben this building. It's it's 493 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:27,240 Speaker 1: a huge building by the way um in in Brooklyn. 494 00:30:27,600 --> 00:30:30,840 Speaker 1: And there is an image on the article courtesy of 495 00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: the Museum of the City of New York. That shows 496 00:30:34,000 --> 00:30:37,040 Speaker 1: the slogans that he just had all over the building, 497 00:30:37,120 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: like covering every flat kind of like paintable surface, and 498 00:30:41,160 --> 00:30:44,760 Speaker 1: at the top it says, I am positively it and 499 00:30:44,800 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: the it is like three stories tall in painless dentistry. 500 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:53,520 Speaker 1: And apparently he would I mean his showmanship when it 501 00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: came to like advertising for his practice. Really there was 502 00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,120 Speaker 1: no um no and nothing you wouldn't do. There is 503 00:31:00,120 --> 00:31:02,160 Speaker 1: no end to it. He you know, what what is it? 504 00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:06,400 Speaker 1: Fly men or spiderman flies, human flies. They're kind of 505 00:31:06,440 --> 00:31:08,280 Speaker 1: an old school thing. The dudes that would like kind 506 00:31:08,280 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: of scale tall buildings in New York City or or 507 00:31:11,320 --> 00:31:13,760 Speaker 1: you know, they're big city skyscrapers. And he would have 508 00:31:13,840 --> 00:31:16,719 Speaker 1: those dudes like hire them out and have them scale 509 00:31:16,760 --> 00:31:20,440 Speaker 1: his building, and particularly scale that it um which is 510 00:31:20,480 --> 00:31:22,360 Speaker 1: the highest point of the building. It literally goes to 511 00:31:22,400 --> 00:31:25,120 Speaker 1: the very very very tippy top. So he knew how 512 00:31:25,160 --> 00:31:29,360 Speaker 1: to draw a crowd, that's for sure. There would yeah, 513 00:31:29,640 --> 00:31:32,840 Speaker 1: it would be tight rope walkers that would have that 514 00:31:32,840 --> 00:31:35,280 Speaker 1: would be you know, doing the typrope back, but they'd 515 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: also be holding a sign like I'm going to payless 516 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:44,440 Speaker 1: barkers and this this is brilliant marketing. So customers also 517 00:31:44,480 --> 00:31:49,320 Speaker 1: eventually fill up his new expanded office, that huge building. 518 00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: And so he gets a horse drawn kind of flatbed 519 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:57,160 Speaker 1: with a dentist chair for his traveling shows, and he 520 00:31:57,240 --> 00:32:00,240 Speaker 1: keeps this bucket of teeth close at hands so he 521 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: can show it to people, probably while he's still rocking 522 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:07,560 Speaker 1: that necklace. And over time we have to point out 523 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,880 Speaker 1: he deserves this to be pointed out. Over time, he 524 00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 1: has become a competent dentist, you know what I mean. 525 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:18,000 Speaker 1: He was rushing there in the beginning, and it's not 526 00:32:18,200 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: that's true, but he's become a competent dentist. And unfortunately 527 00:32:22,800 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 1: his marketing and his pr has made people in the 528 00:32:27,240 --> 00:32:32,040 Speaker 1: dentistry community and other communities always dismiss him as a 529 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,200 Speaker 1: flam and flam guy, a con man. But he is 530 00:32:35,360 --> 00:32:38,680 Speaker 1: at this point a dentist who would be considered legit 531 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,720 Speaker 1: in his time. And he's also not even practically not 532 00:32:42,800 --> 00:32:44,800 Speaker 1: even the one that's doing most of the work. He's 533 00:32:44,840 --> 00:32:48,640 Speaker 1: got like a team now working under him. He's ten. Yeah, 534 00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 1: he's a brand name, exactly like a fifteen licensed dentists, 535 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:56,200 Speaker 1: many of whom you know. According to various accounts that 536 00:32:56,240 --> 00:32:59,560 Speaker 1: we've read very much resented working for him because he 537 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:01,920 Speaker 1: represents sentered this thing that we've been talking about the 538 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:05,680 Speaker 1: whole time, this kind of bastardization of the noble profession 539 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:09,280 Speaker 1: of tooth plumbing. Right, But there there they were because 540 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: he paid well and he was kind of the biggest 541 00:33:11,560 --> 00:33:14,640 Speaker 1: game in town. So he essentially started in the Santa 542 00:33:14,680 --> 00:33:18,360 Speaker 1: Cruz Sentinel article refers to it as assembly line dentistry. 543 00:33:18,520 --> 00:33:20,560 Speaker 1: So he really does have like a system. They even 544 00:33:20,560 --> 00:33:23,600 Speaker 1: had these like pulleys with like clothes lines where they'd 545 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:26,400 Speaker 1: send the receipts to the cashier, you know, like zip 546 00:33:26,440 --> 00:33:29,560 Speaker 1: line it over to him. And by the early nineteen hundreds, 547 00:33:29,640 --> 00:33:35,200 Speaker 1: by undred particular, he had five branches throughout New York 548 00:33:35,280 --> 00:33:39,520 Speaker 1: City and also in upstate New York, in Albany and 549 00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:43,720 Speaker 1: in Troy, and all told, was making five grand a day. 550 00:33:43,800 --> 00:33:55,080 Speaker 1: This deserves an inflation calculators. Uh yeah, that's some tuban 551 00:33:55,200 --> 00:33:59,040 Speaker 1: throat singing lovers studied Max. Uh. Here's the result, folks, 552 00:33:59,320 --> 00:34:02,760 Speaker 1: five thou and dollars in nineteen hundred would be worth 553 00:34:02,880 --> 00:34:06,840 Speaker 1: one sixty thousand, two hundred thirty five dollars and twelve 554 00:34:06,920 --> 00:34:10,480 Speaker 1: cents today. That is a ton of money to be 555 00:34:10,600 --> 00:34:15,440 Speaker 1: making every single day. Uh. This this goes on for 556 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: a while and it's you know, it's successful, and the 557 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:22,359 Speaker 1: Beabs by the way is still is still very much 558 00:34:22,640 --> 00:34:27,719 Speaker 1: in the mix until nineteen o four he passes away, 559 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:32,040 Speaker 1: and then a few weeks later Parker himself contracts typhoid. 560 00:34:32,920 --> 00:34:35,759 Speaker 1: And at this point we have to ask ourselves, and 561 00:34:35,800 --> 00:34:38,680 Speaker 1: this is purely speculation, but we have to ask ourselves 562 00:34:39,480 --> 00:34:46,520 Speaker 1: whether Parker felt he had sacrificed financial success for professional reputation, 563 00:34:47,160 --> 00:34:50,440 Speaker 1: because you can get a sense of how severely people 564 00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:54,480 Speaker 1: dislike him like as as Pollock points out, there's a 565 00:34:54,840 --> 00:35:00,000 Speaker 1: nineteen article from Hampton's magazine that describes his the Painless 566 00:35:00,040 --> 00:35:05,080 Speaker 1: Parker Building. Lastly, at the junction of Flatbush Avenue and 567 00:35:05,160 --> 00:35:08,960 Speaker 1: Pacific Street is a gigantic brownstone building the fronts Brooklyn's 568 00:35:09,000 --> 00:35:13,040 Speaker 1: busiest square. This building, emblazoned with blue signs, is a 569 00:35:13,080 --> 00:35:16,719 Speaker 1: monument to the colossal and blatant self puffery of the 570 00:35:16,719 --> 00:35:20,719 Speaker 1: most notorious of all the swindling tooth tinkers. It is 571 00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:24,720 Speaker 1: the original headquarters of the most conceited Charlatan that dental 572 00:35:24,800 --> 00:35:28,880 Speaker 1: quackery has ever known, The Citadel of painless Parker, the 573 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:34,719 Speaker 1: drum cord dentist, The drum cords dentist. Wow, harsh, bro harsh. 574 00:35:35,120 --> 00:35:39,080 Speaker 1: And this is so this is published five years after 575 00:35:39,160 --> 00:35:42,000 Speaker 1: he's sold his stake in the business, high tailed it 576 00:35:42,360 --> 00:35:46,160 Speaker 1: to l A with his family to retire and get 577 00:35:46,200 --> 00:35:49,520 Speaker 1: this the ripe old age of thirty five. You lucky, 578 00:35:49,600 --> 00:35:51,960 Speaker 1: so ago l I mean, I guess you know, in 579 00:35:51,960 --> 00:35:54,319 Speaker 1: the same way that inflation calculators work. That sort of 580 00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:57,920 Speaker 1: works for age two five in nineteen ten would have 581 00:35:57,960 --> 00:36:01,200 Speaker 1: been more like probably fifty in terms of life expected 582 00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,640 Speaker 1: seat today maybe not, I don't know, but it is funny. 583 00:36:04,760 --> 00:36:07,040 Speaker 1: He definitely made a mint and was able to to, 584 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,879 Speaker 1: you know, take off to l A. But the showman's 585 00:36:12,080 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: you know, you can take the man out of the show, 586 00:36:14,000 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: but you can't take the show out of the man, 587 00:36:16,080 --> 00:36:24,920 Speaker 1: can you, Ben, You can't do it. He got the 588 00:36:24,960 --> 00:36:27,719 Speaker 1: itch and realized that there was a market to be 589 00:36:27,800 --> 00:36:33,040 Speaker 1: cornered in on the West coast for circus dentistry. Yeah, yeah, 590 00:36:33,200 --> 00:36:36,200 Speaker 1: this actually this kind of sounds fun. Uh. So you 591 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,960 Speaker 1: go to Santa Cruz and you you would see a 592 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:43,799 Speaker 1: parade in the morning, then a show, a series of 593 00:36:43,800 --> 00:36:48,200 Speaker 1: shows in intent that was kind of a hybrid of 594 00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 1: circus acts, but then also featured Parker coming out and 595 00:36:52,640 --> 00:36:57,760 Speaker 1: telling you how to have good dental hygiene and then saying, 596 00:36:57,840 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: by the way, anybody got a sort tooth? Because I'm 597 00:37:01,680 --> 00:37:03,680 Speaker 1: right here, we got the I got the bucket. You 598 00:37:03,680 --> 00:37:06,439 Speaker 1: can see the necklace. This is what I do. Uh, 599 00:37:06,480 --> 00:37:11,760 Speaker 1: it works again. He's onto something. He's got another empire started, 600 00:37:11,840 --> 00:37:15,240 Speaker 1: or a franchise. At least he's got what five five 601 00:37:15,320 --> 00:37:18,279 Speaker 1: different offices and five different towns. And Ben, you make 602 00:37:18,320 --> 00:37:20,920 Speaker 1: a really good point. You know, he is giving lectures 603 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:24,239 Speaker 1: on dental hygiene, which is pretty forward thinking, despite you know, 604 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:27,879 Speaker 1: his reputation as being a charlatan. I mean, he did 605 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,120 Speaker 1: seemingly have a bit of a head start on this 606 00:37:30,360 --> 00:37:33,000 Speaker 1: thing that we think of now is so important and 607 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:35,680 Speaker 1: honestly the most important part of dentistry. And Uh. In 608 00:37:36,040 --> 00:37:38,560 Speaker 1: the BBC article that I mentioned, where you can see 609 00:37:38,560 --> 00:37:43,280 Speaker 1: that fantastic image of the tooth necklace, there's an advertisement 610 00:37:43,800 --> 00:37:47,080 Speaker 1: that says this fixed teeth stay fixed longer when kept 611 00:37:47,120 --> 00:37:51,400 Speaker 1: clean with painless Parker tooth powder or paste, the product 612 00:37:51,440 --> 00:37:55,279 Speaker 1: of fifty years experience. Wait a minute, but he is 613 00:37:55,440 --> 00:37:58,359 Speaker 1: thirty five. I don't understand the product. Okay, so maybe 614 00:37:58,360 --> 00:38:00,200 Speaker 1: there's just some Charlottean Are you going on the brought 615 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,320 Speaker 1: ut the fifty years experience? None better? Ask your druggist 616 00:38:03,680 --> 00:38:05,880 Speaker 1: and Ben. You were just in Philly. You know you 617 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,200 Speaker 1: went to some museums, but I don't imagine you went 618 00:38:08,239 --> 00:38:12,200 Speaker 1: to the Cornberg School of Dentistry museum, which sounds pretty cool. 619 00:38:12,239 --> 00:38:15,759 Speaker 1: I love weird old medical tech, and I love I 620 00:38:15,840 --> 00:38:18,800 Speaker 1: love old medical tech. I also love museums about very 621 00:38:18,840 --> 00:38:23,360 Speaker 1: specific things. That's I don't know why, just like I 622 00:38:23,440 --> 00:38:27,279 Speaker 1: love reference works about very specific things. This Philly has 623 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,640 Speaker 1: got some weird ones. They've got the Motor Museum, which 624 00:38:29,640 --> 00:38:32,120 Speaker 1: I think is a lot of weird at taxidermy and 625 00:38:32,200 --> 00:38:35,040 Speaker 1: like medical appliances. And there's a few other kind of 626 00:38:35,280 --> 00:38:37,920 Speaker 1: very specific ones in Philly too. For some time I got, 627 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 1: you know, I got lost in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. 628 00:38:42,719 --> 00:38:46,000 Speaker 1: It's just wonderful. It's Laborntine too, so you can find 629 00:38:46,600 --> 00:38:49,200 Speaker 1: so many amazing things. But yes, I will put this 630 00:38:49,360 --> 00:38:52,320 Speaker 1: on my list for what I returned to Philly. Also, 631 00:38:52,719 --> 00:38:55,239 Speaker 1: Parker is taking better care of himself at this point 632 00:38:55,280 --> 00:38:59,400 Speaker 1: in his life. He stops drinking, he stopped smoking, and 633 00:38:59,560 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: he's focusing on this showmanship. Eventually he says, you know, 634 00:39:07,160 --> 00:39:09,680 Speaker 1: I need to pay I need to be more mindful 635 00:39:10,600 --> 00:39:14,839 Speaker 1: of bacteria, right, and contamination. So I'm not gonna do 636 00:39:14,920 --> 00:39:21,320 Speaker 1: these sidewalk demonstrations anymore. And he starts screening educational films 637 00:39:21,440 --> 00:39:25,720 Speaker 1: about dental hygiene in his office, and people are always 638 00:39:25,719 --> 00:39:29,520 Speaker 1: invited to come in for a free check up. But 639 00:39:29,640 --> 00:39:32,600 Speaker 1: like like we said before, man, he's made some enemies 640 00:39:33,080 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: because we we mentioned, especially in you know, those earlier times, 641 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:42,120 Speaker 1: his dental extractions often were not painless, right, and there 642 00:39:42,120 --> 00:39:47,080 Speaker 1: were people who felt they had been swindled, they felt 643 00:39:47,120 --> 00:39:51,439 Speaker 1: they had been sold a bill of goods, and other 644 00:39:51,600 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 1: dentists were aware that there were angry patients. The American 645 00:39:55,640 --> 00:40:01,240 Speaker 1: Dental Association even called him a menace to the dignity 646 00:40:01,280 --> 00:40:04,359 Speaker 1: of the profession. Yeah, because Parker really had this kind 647 00:40:04,360 --> 00:40:07,000 Speaker 1: of checkered legacy. Or on the one hand, he was 648 00:40:07,040 --> 00:40:10,120 Speaker 1: seen as the charlatan and this kind of snake oil salesman. 649 00:40:10,160 --> 00:40:13,080 Speaker 1: But on the other hand, he definitely developed some techniques 650 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:16,279 Speaker 1: and some kind of forward thinking ways of looking at 651 00:40:16,320 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 1: the dental hygiene right that that you know, kind of 652 00:40:19,280 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: persists to this day. And also not to mention the 653 00:40:21,640 --> 00:40:24,440 Speaker 1: idea of a precursor to novacaine that he kind of 654 00:40:24,480 --> 00:40:28,760 Speaker 1: just invented, uh more or less. But the former dean 655 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:34,120 Speaker 1: of the Temple University, Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, 656 00:40:34,320 --> 00:40:37,719 Speaker 1: Dr Ahmid Ishmael makes a really really good point that 657 00:40:37,760 --> 00:40:40,600 Speaker 1: I think is one that is good to leave with today. 658 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:44,600 Speaker 1: Um that he quote serves as a warning to consumers 659 00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:49,080 Speaker 1: even today. Scientific evidence must remain the foundation of clinical 660 00:40:49,120 --> 00:40:52,800 Speaker 1: care in any health field, otherwise we will be victims 661 00:40:52,920 --> 00:40:56,560 Speaker 1: to modern Charlottean's. So I think it's no accident that 662 00:40:56,560 --> 00:41:00,040 Speaker 1: that museum we're talking about still has on display a 663 00:41:00,160 --> 00:41:04,600 Speaker 1: bucket of teeth and that weird maccabre tooth necklace and 664 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:08,160 Speaker 1: keeps the memory of Painless Parker alive. And there are 665 00:41:08,160 --> 00:41:11,919 Speaker 1: other aspects of this story, little facts here and there 666 00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:14,000 Speaker 1: that give you even more of a sense of of 667 00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:18,080 Speaker 1: Parker's life. He legally changed his first name to Painless, 668 00:41:18,480 --> 00:41:25,200 Speaker 1: for example. His and his contributions are you know, undeniable, 669 00:41:25,520 --> 00:41:29,000 Speaker 1: even though he could arguably be called a con artist 670 00:41:29,040 --> 00:41:33,719 Speaker 1: at different times. Uh. I love the point that the 671 00:41:33,800 --> 00:41:37,239 Speaker 1: dean makes there because it's it's an important one. And 672 00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,120 Speaker 1: if you'd like to if you'd like to learn more 673 00:41:39,120 --> 00:41:43,120 Speaker 1: about why this point is so important, I would recommend 674 00:41:43,200 --> 00:41:45,640 Speaker 1: checking out our episode on Stuff they Don't Want You 675 00:41:45,640 --> 00:41:47,319 Speaker 1: to Know, called Stuff they Don't Want You to Know 676 00:41:47,560 --> 00:41:50,960 Speaker 1: goes to the Dentist. We found there's a lot of 677 00:41:51,000 --> 00:41:55,480 Speaker 1: opportunity for bad actors when they have somebody in a 678 00:41:55,560 --> 00:41:59,280 Speaker 1: vulnerable position like this with with the power and balance, 679 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,320 Speaker 1: because you know, the dentist knows what they are doing, 680 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:06,520 Speaker 1: but the patient doesn't really know what no what's going 681 00:42:06,600 --> 00:42:09,520 Speaker 1: on in there totally. And the reason he changed his name, 682 00:42:09,560 --> 00:42:12,480 Speaker 1: by the way, to Painless Parker was because of a 683 00:42:12,560 --> 00:42:17,399 Speaker 1: new law that came about in California preventing dentist from 684 00:42:17,400 --> 00:42:21,640 Speaker 1: practicing under anything but their real name, because they believed 685 00:42:21,640 --> 00:42:26,400 Speaker 1: that Painless Parker was false advertising, not only because it 686 00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:30,200 Speaker 1: was a pseudonym, because it promised painless um, you know, 687 00:42:30,320 --> 00:42:33,279 Speaker 1: dental procedures. H So that's why he changed his name. 688 00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:37,719 Speaker 1: But he was so very much part of the zeitgeist 689 00:42:37,719 --> 00:42:40,480 Speaker 1: at the time that just a couple of years before 690 00:42:40,480 --> 00:42:44,360 Speaker 1: he died in nineteen eight, Bob Hope played a character 691 00:42:44,480 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: in a movie called Pale Face with Jane Mansfield named 692 00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:53,560 Speaker 1: Peter painless Potter who is a kind of a Huxtery 693 00:42:53,800 --> 00:42:57,520 Speaker 1: snake oil dentist um and Parker, you know, lived to 694 00:42:57,560 --> 00:43:00,960 Speaker 1: see the picture and loved it apparently, and also it 695 00:43:00,960 --> 00:43:03,360 Speaker 1: gave him a little more publicity, which you can't You 696 00:43:03,400 --> 00:43:06,239 Speaker 1: can't buy publicity like that. No such thing as bad publicity. 697 00:43:06,280 --> 00:43:09,600 Speaker 1: I bet Parker believed, he probably did. He probably did, 698 00:43:09,800 --> 00:43:14,399 Speaker 1: but that's not a statement everybody agrees with. We also 699 00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:17,640 Speaker 1: want to give a shout out to Michael D. Tola, 700 00:43:18,320 --> 00:43:22,560 Speaker 1: who was himself a dentist, who helpefully points out that 701 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:26,239 Speaker 1: Parker was at one point in his career quote more 702 00:43:26,320 --> 00:43:30,479 Speaker 1: famous than the president. M h, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, 703 00:43:30,640 --> 00:43:33,600 Speaker 1: it's you know, at least he didn't say it. He 704 00:43:33,680 --> 00:43:36,600 Speaker 1: probably said it and then had somebody else he put 705 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,160 Speaker 1: a plant in the crowd. But did we mention that 706 00:43:39,200 --> 00:43:44,279 Speaker 1: the dentists have a particularly unusually high rate of suicide, 707 00:43:44,680 --> 00:43:47,319 Speaker 1: particularly in the medical community. There's a there's a couple 708 00:43:47,360 --> 00:43:50,720 Speaker 1: of stats from success dot ader dot org. Apparently male 709 00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:53,960 Speaker 1: dentists have the highest rate of suicide within the medical 710 00:43:54,000 --> 00:43:57,360 Speaker 1: community at eight point two percent, and then female dentists 711 00:43:57,360 --> 00:43:59,920 Speaker 1: of the fourth highest at five point to a doctor's 712 00:44:00,000 --> 00:44:02,800 Speaker 1: seven point eight seven, pharmacists seven point one nine, nurses 713 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:05,880 Speaker 1: six point five six, But yeah, eight point two percent 714 00:44:06,040 --> 00:44:09,000 Speaker 1: for for dentists. It's apparently a thing. And not to 715 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:11,200 Speaker 1: end on a down note, which we won't, but um, 716 00:44:11,320 --> 00:44:13,359 Speaker 1: there's a really and if you want to explore this 717 00:44:13,440 --> 00:44:16,880 Speaker 1: trend in any more depth, there's a great article on 718 00:44:17,040 --> 00:44:20,040 Speaker 1: Vice our dentists really more prone to suicide by Elizabeth 719 00:44:20,040 --> 00:44:23,319 Speaker 1: Brown and they quote a dentist saying when you're in 720 00:44:23,360 --> 00:44:25,239 Speaker 1: a career where nobody wants to see you, and you're 721 00:44:25,280 --> 00:44:27,200 Speaker 1: the last place they want to come back to, and 722 00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,000 Speaker 1: it's depressing. Um, which is something that painless Parker I 723 00:44:30,000 --> 00:44:32,399 Speaker 1: think was trying to, you know, turn on its head 724 00:44:32,400 --> 00:44:35,120 Speaker 1: a bit right. Yeah, and this is a this is 725 00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:39,120 Speaker 1: a statistic. Uh, you'll see bandied around in various forms 726 00:44:39,360 --> 00:44:43,440 Speaker 1: of The doctor you quote makes a good point about this. 727 00:44:43,560 --> 00:44:45,719 Speaker 1: I didn't include it in stuff they don't want you 728 00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,120 Speaker 1: to know as episode on dentistry because we didn't you 729 00:44:49,280 --> 00:44:53,520 Speaker 1: want to focus on the tragedy of suicide. There is 730 00:44:53,600 --> 00:44:57,160 Speaker 1: some sand to that research. However, let's send on some 731 00:44:57,280 --> 00:45:02,960 Speaker 1: maybe some weird, slightly fun slash gross dental facts. Did 732 00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,480 Speaker 1: you know that there are people getting tattoos on their 733 00:45:05,560 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 1: caps and crowns, tooth tattoos. They can't do it yet. Okay, Yeah, 734 00:45:12,160 --> 00:45:14,719 Speaker 1: that's okay, I guess that. That's so. I guess that 735 00:45:14,800 --> 00:45:16,960 Speaker 1: sort of like, ah, maybe the equivalent of getting like 736 00:45:17,000 --> 00:45:19,480 Speaker 1: a gold grill or like a diamond encrusted tooth or 737 00:45:19,520 --> 00:45:23,320 Speaker 1: something like that of the vanity area of dentistry. Yeah, 738 00:45:23,360 --> 00:45:25,839 Speaker 1: I guess so. I guess so. I've also seen this thing, 739 00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:29,040 Speaker 1: or I've seen reports of this thing where people are 740 00:45:29,160 --> 00:45:33,640 Speaker 1: getting their teeth like colored or decorated the way that 741 00:45:33,760 --> 00:45:38,800 Speaker 1: you would fingernails, through some kind of some kind of process. 742 00:45:38,840 --> 00:45:40,880 Speaker 1: It's not permanent, at least as far as I know. 743 00:45:41,400 --> 00:45:44,440 Speaker 1: But here's a cool ice breaker you can throw out 744 00:45:44,480 --> 00:45:47,680 Speaker 1: there next time you find yourself in the dentist's office. Uh. 745 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:50,520 Speaker 1: The average person, over the course of their life apparently 746 00:45:50,560 --> 00:45:55,560 Speaker 1: spends thirty eight days total brushing their teeth. Well, hopefully 747 00:45:55,600 --> 00:45:57,839 Speaker 1: all of us who have maybe let some of that 748 00:45:58,000 --> 00:46:02,000 Speaker 1: dental upkeep fall by the wayside during COVID can look 749 00:46:02,040 --> 00:46:06,439 Speaker 1: at that as a as an inspiration to change our ways. Ben, 750 00:46:06,480 --> 00:46:08,640 Speaker 1: I want to end with one more fact, if you 751 00:46:08,640 --> 00:46:12,200 Speaker 1: don't mind, Uh. The comical dental fact is that cotton 752 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:16,759 Speaker 1: candy was invented by a dentist. There the literal like 753 00:46:16,960 --> 00:46:20,560 Speaker 1: bane of of dentistry was invented by a dentist. This 754 00:46:20,640 --> 00:46:24,760 Speaker 1: dude named Dr William James Morrison, who uh mental flaws 755 00:46:24,800 --> 00:46:28,040 Speaker 1: described as being a man at odds with himself because 756 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:30,719 Speaker 1: not only was he in the dental profession, he also 757 00:46:30,800 --> 00:46:32,439 Speaker 1: had a sweet tooth and was sort of a fair 758 00:46:32,800 --> 00:46:36,840 Speaker 1: uh you know, part time confectioner. Um. And while you know, 759 00:46:36,960 --> 00:46:40,120 Speaker 1: what you would call candy floss has been used for 760 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,560 Speaker 1: generations in various cultures. Um, what we would think of 761 00:46:44,640 --> 00:46:49,560 Speaker 1: as the type of machine spun sugar cotton candy was 762 00:46:49,600 --> 00:46:52,520 Speaker 1: in fact debut at the nineteen four World's Fair by 763 00:46:52,960 --> 00:46:56,239 Speaker 1: a dentist. Thanks so much for tuning in, folks, Hope 764 00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:59,000 Speaker 1: you enjoyed this one thanks to our super producers Casey 765 00:46:59,040 --> 00:47:03,480 Speaker 1: Pegram and the one and only Max Williams. Max, what's 766 00:47:03,520 --> 00:47:05,080 Speaker 1: your We forgot to ask you at the top, what's 767 00:47:05,120 --> 00:47:08,760 Speaker 1: your what's your take on dentist deal? Are you a 768 00:47:08,760 --> 00:47:12,680 Speaker 1: are you an ardent fan of dentistry? So I have 769 00:47:12,920 --> 00:47:15,320 Speaker 1: a story in the past where I went a little 770 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:18,040 Speaker 1: too long without going the dentist Like I'm not gonna 771 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:20,719 Speaker 1: say how many years it was on Eric's Is that bad? 772 00:47:20,840 --> 00:47:24,080 Speaker 1: But uh, no dentist, they're uh, they're fine people. I 773 00:47:24,080 --> 00:47:27,200 Speaker 1: don't like them, but they do an important job. Well, 774 00:47:27,239 --> 00:47:29,319 Speaker 1: you you mean you don't like having to go to 775 00:47:29,360 --> 00:47:32,080 Speaker 1: the dentist. You're not saying like when you find out 776 00:47:32,120 --> 00:47:34,719 Speaker 1: a friend is a dentist, you're like, oh, forget it. 777 00:47:34,880 --> 00:47:37,040 Speaker 1: This is oh no, no, no, I am saying that best. 778 00:47:40,320 --> 00:47:43,520 Speaker 1: Thanks so much to Jonathan Strickland's a k a. The Wister, 779 00:47:43,960 --> 00:47:48,239 Speaker 1: Thanks as always to Gabe Bluesier, research associate. Uh and 780 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:52,520 Speaker 1: thanks to all the dentists out there. You're doing good, 781 00:47:52,600 --> 00:47:56,200 Speaker 1: profound uh and often thankless work. And you know, in addition, 782 00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:59,960 Speaker 1: the people who get ignored often thanks to the dentistry 783 00:48:00,080 --> 00:48:03,600 Speaker 1: assistance thanks to the hygenis. Thanks to everybody who makes 784 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:07,560 Speaker 1: good teeth possible, including including you, folks. Let's all remember 785 00:48:07,600 --> 00:48:16,680 Speaker 1: to brush. We'll see you next time, folks. For more 786 00:48:16,719 --> 00:48:19,200 Speaker 1: podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 787 00:48:19,239 --> 00:48:22,320 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.