Mary Fisher wrote:
I used to *like* having gas as a child.
Hurrah! So did I :-)
Spouse hated it, the smell of the rubber mask made him vomit.

I don't remember a rubber mask. I do remember a rubber lump to bite on
first (probably to hold the mouth open) which tasted nicely of liquorice.

I wonder how many other children had chewed that

Gas and a pulled tooth (and money from the tooth fairy) was much nicer
than scraping and fillings. I am not sure this is the best possible model
of dental care for a child to get accustomed to, however ;-(
No, but things were different In Those Days.
I didn't know you were as old as that!

I'm not, but my first dentist was. His drill looked like an anglepoise
lamp and I'd swear that the motor bit was bolted on at the bottom as an
afterthought, probably 1940something.

He also had a very old dentist's chair (the sort that goes up and down
by pedalling, not hydraulics) which wouldn't tip back. I think when the
Parkinson's or the Public Liability insurance got too much, he stopped
doing things with natural teeth, retaining his edentulous clientele, and
I got sent upstairs to his son, who had a modern dental chair that
tipped back. I *hate* being tipped back in the dentist's chair to this day.

There was also a proper glass toothmug of pink rinse (I quite liked the
taste of that, too) and an opal glass spittoon. And orange hessian
wallpaper.

Owain