THE DENTISTS OF BOOTLE

Your place to talk about your Bootle memories
glyn
Posts: 13
Joined: Fri Feb 26, 2010 3:53 pm
Location: West Sussex

Early/Mid sixties went to a dentist on Hawthorne Road almost opposite South Park.
Can't remember his name!
glyn ex-selwyn street (well Kirkdale is near Bootle!)
oriel55
Posts: 179
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 8:31 pm
Location: Romentino, (No), Italia

I went to a dentist in Merton Road, opposite the entrance to St Albans Road. Mr O'Shea from Ireland! Three things I remember about Mr O'Shea; he frightened me rigid, he NEVER smiled or had a good word to say to me and he had a cracking redheaded dental nurse with a fantastic smile. :(
User avatar
Maureeng
Posts: 1248
Joined: Mon Mar 17, 2008 12:43 am
Location: Perth. Western Australia.

Now we know why you have a great set of teeth,you were never away from Mr. O'Shea. Maureeng
Gaynor Seddon
Posts: 8
Joined: Sat Oct 24, 2009 8:51 am

I remember Parks and Jones, yes one of them did look like Ronnie Corbett and he was just as funny. He'd press your nose to go up in the chair and twiddle your ear to go down. :lol: :D
peewak

Can't remember the name of my particular Butcher but he was sited at the bottom of Park Lane and Patrick Avenue.Told me off for moaning before he relaised I'd nearly bitten through my cheek!Happy days! These days,if I'm a good boy ,I still get a sweetie (sugar-free,of course) -not bad for a 54 year old! :lol:
MrsTiverton
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu May 06, 2010 10:10 pm

Shaun wrote:Callaghans on Stanley road (opposite Sullivans).. Terrible terrible memories!!!!! :shock:
Wonder if it was the same Callaghan who had a surgery on Church Road in Litherland in the 50/60s. He was barbaric. His wife held you down, and he used an old slow pulley drill without numbing your teeth first. He tried to gas me once to pull a tooth - I remember the room spinning, and I kicked and bit my way out of the chair. Horrible, horrible man. I don't know how he slept at night.
jean eaton
Posts: 3198
Joined: Sat Aug 29, 2009 12:26 am
Location: nevada usa

if it's the same Callagan I went to as a kid, I was scared to death. I think he used to use cocaine :?: If my memory is right its a wonder I didn't become addicted. Still hate the thought of dentists.
Jean
Image
john w
Posts: 74
Joined: Mon Feb 02, 2009 10:47 pm

Bonesy wrote: I know its not quite Bootle, but i used to go to Gargans in Sefton Street Litherland near the Lift Bridge. The only time you would have gas was when he was taking a tooth out.
I was taken to somewhere in Litherland as a young child, and I think it might have been Sefton Street. It was such a terrible traumatic experience, it must have been 10 years before I ever went to a dentist again.

And that was to ...
glyn wrote:Early/Mid sixties went to a dentist on Hawthorne Road almost opposite South Park. Can't remember his name!
Woodhead, a friendly re-assuring bloke, and competent and careful at what he did, but behind the times even in the 60s, preferring to remove teeth completely and provide simple plastic false ones, rather than get into the trickier business of complicated fillings or of crowns and bridges, although these were becoming generally possible on the NHS by then.

He and his receptionist always gave the impression of having a thing going on between them, and sometimes you felt as if your appointment had interrupted them. I heard he died of a heart attack in his practice one day during the mid-70s.
PETER CRAIG
Posts: 2545
Joined: Sun Aug 27, 2006 8:24 pm
Location: BOOTLE

.
Last edited by PETER CRAIG on Fri Dec 05, 2014 8:40 pm, edited 1 time in total.
..
margaretwillis
Posts: 28
Joined: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:18 pm
Location: flintshire
Contact:

Evadeus wrote:Dave Crighton was on the corner of Bailliol and Stanley, very good and always had a bag of dolly mixture for good boys and Girls. Obviously had an eye for future business. My Mum had a wool shop by the three banks and she had a very good customer who's husband was a dentist so I was moved from Crightons to Fahy's. Mr Fahy then demolished my teeth progressively and my poor sister had dentures before she left school. So my vote for the worst dentist goes to guess who!
m willis
bryanmccahey
Posts: 8
Joined: Wed May 12, 2010 12:18 am

I also went to Callaghans throughout the 1970s. We lived in Maghull but my mum, Elsie McCahey (nee Smith) was from Elizabeth Road and had been going to Callalghan's for years. I remember, if all was Ok with my teeth, he'd say that he'd put my name in "the golden book"! I seem to remember quite an elaborate stained glass window on the main landing upstairs.
alan yates
Posts: 40
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 2:25 pm
Location: thornton fylde

I went to a bootle dentist just across the road from the Merton Pub on the same side as the Strand he took all my back teeth out at the tender age of 10 why I dont know only went if for fillings even my MUM does not know why he did this. I am sure he would have been struck off if he was still practicsing dentist.
Alan
vivcallaghan
Posts: 12
Joined: Mon May 31, 2010 8:38 pm
Location: Runcorn

Oh No :cry: Callaghans the Butcher Dentist. That's one memory I wished I could forget.It's taken me 50 years to get over my fear of Dentists thanks to him :(

( No relation by the way )


Viv
henry
Posts: 1869
Joined: Tue Mar 21, 2006 6:45 pm

i remember Callaghans as he also was my dentist and must add that i enjoyed going there as if i needed treatment i had the gas and must add i think i had some lovely dreams with that stuff :oops: :P
HENRY BORN FLORIDA STREET OFF STRAND ROAD
jules37
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:57 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

bootlejoy wrote:I remember the school dentist in Balliol Rd. They gave me gas, but it didnt do the job, although I couldnt move or blink. The pain was unbearable, all the time I was trying to scream. Eventually I did and they got the fright of their lives, and continued to pull the tooth out.
Same thing happened when I was a bit older, so, never had gas again.

I remember going to a dentist in Knowsley Rd. Dont remember his name but he was so funny, used to talk like Spike Milligan.
I remember going to the school dentist in Balliol Road...It still haunts me now, like you they never gave enough gas and I was screaming (or I think I was!) I had both my bottom molars taken out on each side which was dreadful..I swear they were doing an experiment, because the amount of people my age and a few years older all had their molars taken out the same way.
rivermersey
Posts: 235
Joined: Mon Nov 26, 2007 12:27 am
Location: Bootle

I had a tooth filled at Callaghans on Stanley road opposite Sullivans...Went in at 11am injection in the gum at 11.15 sat in the chair untill he came back a LONG while later smelling of scotch by this time the injection had started to wear off, he drilled telling me to be quiet when I tried to complain !!(I can feel the pain now as I type) He filled the tooth but left the filling proud causing agony when I chewed :( Four days later I went back.... he then gound down the filling without an injection causing more pain the result was ok but I didn't go back there.....ever!
Born in Bootle 1960 lived on Bailey Drive then the old roan.
OurPhil
Posts: 181
Joined: Sun Oct 31, 2010 4:49 pm
Location: Normandy, France

BootleNY wrote:I've been sharing baby feeding shifts every two hours with my daughter she adopted a little boy born New Years Day. We love him to bits. Unfortunately
The father may want him back so we're going through a nightmare right now. It took my daughter six years and a lot of money to get him. So we need prayers everyone. Thank you!
You have mine, too, NY. All will be well! :D
Phil.
" Open wide your sails, let them be filled with the Winds from Heaven. "
jules37
Posts: 25
Joined: Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:57 pm
Location: Ontario, Canada

Two recollections of dentists early 70's - Hawthorne Road, just off the corner of Sidney Road...(wood I think his name was) never enough gas and memories of screaming when tooth got pulled. School dentist in Balliol Road, I swear they must have decided to pull everyones bottom molar's in my school. Even my sister in law who is 2 years older than me, and my brother a year older have no bottom sets of molar's!! No surprise that I hate the dentilst!
john1878
Posts: 129
Joined: Tue Jul 06, 2010 4:46 pm

MrsTiverton wrote:
Shaun wrote:Callaghans on Stanley road (opposite Sullivans).. Terrible terrible memories!!!!! :shock:
Wonder if it was the same Callaghan who had a surgery on Church Road in Litherland in the 50/60s. He was barbaric. His wife held you down, and he used an old slow pulley drill without numbing your teeth first. He tried to gas me once to pull a tooth - I remember the room spinning, and I kicked and bit my way out of the chair. Horrible, horrible man. I don't know how he slept at night.
I also went to Callaghans on Church Road.
He was certainly a butcher,45 years later i can remember the fear i used to have when approaching the house.
For 30 years after i had a massive fear of going to the dentist due to the treatment i received there.
My worst memories of my child hood.
raybould-walter20101@hotm
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu May 19, 2011 9:54 pm
Location: warrington

My earliest memories date back to about 1952,when the school dentist was in Knowsley rd, backing on to the north park.The smell of that fearful rubber mask that covered a small face , you were told to take deep breath's,then the gas would knock you out. If i'm right there was a dentist named Mendix or Mendicks? on the corner of Balliol rd? everyone i knew would avoid him like the plague. anyone remember him?. :)
FLloyd43
Posts: 718
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:36 pm

One of my back teeth has been playing up lately and feeling a bit loose. I woke up this morning to find a swelling around the tooth. I rang for an appointment and was seen almost immediately by my dentist, Mr Nicholas Makinson. He extracted it and prescribed antibiotics and an antiseptic mouthwash. I hated to loose my tooth.

I was charged £17.00, which I suppose wasn't too bad.

I've been going fairly regularly for more years than I care to remember to what is now the Bootle Dental Centre, Stanley Road, and used to be Callaghans, opposite what used to be known as the Iona, but is now a Turkish restaurant.

I remember when I was at Lambeth Road School going to Baker the Butcher because I had toothache and him whippingthe tooth out out and having a big rubber mask over my face It was horrid.


Freda
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
FLloyd43
Posts: 718
Joined: Thu Apr 14, 2011 9:36 pm

One of my back teeth has been playing up lately and feeling a bit loose. I woke up this morning to find a swelling around the tooth. I rang for an appointment and was seen almost immediately by my dentist, Mr Nicholas Makinson. He extracted it and prescribed antibiotics and an antiseptic mouthwash. I hated to loose my tooth.

I was charged £17.00, which I suppose wasn't too bad.

I've been going fairly regularly for more years than I care to remember to what is now the Bootle Dental Centre, Stanley Road, and used to be Callaghans, opposite what used to be known as the Iona, but is now a Turkish restaurant.

I remember when I was at Lambeth Road School going to Baker the Butcher because I had toothache and him whipping the tooth out (it probably only needed a filling) and having a big rubber mask over my face. It was horrid and so was he. :cry:



Freda
An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind
garthur
Posts: 90
Joined: Fri Sep 22, 2006 2:24 pm
Location: Southport

IanA wrote:Callaghan always called you "Old pal" as he made mincemeat of your molars.
Blimey! That's a good memory, I've now got a clear picture of him again!
SteveNsno
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:05 pm
Location: New England & UK

My mother was a cleaner for Dr Mendick in the 70's on Sefton Street in Litherland, so I suppose it was only natural that we would be taken there for treatment.

I was terrified of that place, a big old,bleak Victorian house . And once inside there was a world of pain ! Dr Mendick was a nice fella but he seemed reluctant to do repair work and would just rip the offending tooth out.

I can still visualise him leaning over me with gas mask in hand, spine chilling stuff.
" You Feed Beefburgers To Swans ! "
lynne99
Posts: 1206
Joined: Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:55 pm
Location: Rugby

I went to Crichton, not sure of the spelling. I think Jones took over from him when he retired. Not sure if this is correct. Mr Crighton used to take you to the ceiling on the chair before he looked in your mouth.
User avatar
Mack
Site Admin
Posts: 2339
Joined: Thu Jan 01, 1970 1:00 am
Location: Bootle
Contact:

Gawd yep! I remember Dr Mendick. I was terrified of him. My mum took me there when I was a kid :cry:

Mack
SteveNsno
Posts: 28
Joined: Sun Sep 09, 2007 4:05 pm
Location: New England & UK

Haha, sorry that you too had to suffer the horrors of Dr Mendick.

He did well from his reign of terror though, I delivered stuff ( George Henry Lee ) to his luxury bungalow in Blundlesands on a regular basis during the 90's . Only saw him once on my regular visits but even as a frail older man he still had a presence about him.

The smell of his ground floor dental ' workroom' and the sight of numerous dentures in production used to scare the living day lights out of me.
" You Feed Beefburgers To Swans ! "
Liz H
Posts: 38
Joined: Tue Apr 29, 2014 12:26 pm
Location: Buxton

I went to Callaghans as well when my mum used to take us. I remember one of the dentists slapping my hand because I refused to open my mouth. I was always impressed by the waiting room with the posh chairs.

I think I then transferred to Parks & Jones when I was old enough to take myself. My current dentist says I have fillings that are completely unnecessary. Apparently dentists were paid by the filling then.
Lived in Garden Lane Bootle then moved to Netherton, where my mum still lives.
oriel55
Posts: 179
Joined: Sat May 19, 2007 8:31 pm
Location: Romentino, (No), Italia

Went to Dr O'Shea in Merton Road. The man was as miserable as sin and never once smiled or uttered a word of encouragement or comfort. He was your archetypical dental 'torturer'; physical and mental. :( He did have a very beautiful red haired dental assistant though! :D
Shelagh
Posts: 1873
Joined: Sun Apr 05, 2015 4:40 pm

Hi all, I too, had a dread of dentist's, as with most other's on the forum, memories of Callaghan extracting three of my back teeth, all with abscesses attached, my GOD! What pain, no X-Rays, in them day's, he just went for it, tugging and pulling me off the chair, I was told to be quiet when I let out a yell, said I was making a fuss, he went green when he saw the size of the abscesses he'd removed, soon changed his tune, needless to say, never went back there. Baker was another butcher, the minute we had toothache, us kids would be marched straight off to "Great Mersey St" (no appointment necessary) you could still taste the gas after a fortnight, ha): Can also remember the dentist mentioned at bottom of Hornby Road, forget his name, but he looked a bit like "Mr. Pastry" people used to say, he never used gas, just very strong pliers, not sure if that was true, so glad I never got the chance to find out.
eacypen77
Posts: 1
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2018 1:49 pm

Hi I remember going to the School dentist in Knowsley Road Clinic. He filled and filled my teeth I had one injection but had all the pain after, so after that never had an injection for a filling, just wanted the pain in one go instead of feeling it later!!!! Cannot for the life of me remember the name of him.
Ang
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Oct 17, 2018 11:05 pm

Gargans Dentist in Sefton street, late 50s till the 70s thank goodness it’s gone now, brings me out in a sweat thinking about it, the receptionist with her really friendly smile and bright red lip stick would welcome you in, my knees would be shaking as she took you up the stairs they had yellow and grey vinyl tiles on them,there one of them would be waiting for you either Mr Gargan or his wife the smell would make your mouth bone dry, every six months we would get a check up and no matter how much you had brushed your teeth you would need all your fillings redone or new ones without any anaesthetic the pain was unbearable , my 3 brothers would go as well and it was the same for them, When we were older we all changed dentist and our teeth were wrecked
User avatar
Bonesy
Posts: 3454
Joined: Mon Dec 29, 2008 2:05 pm
Location: Lydiate

Ang. I also suffered at the hands of the Gargans and had my teeth destroyed by them. Monsters.
There is a post on the facebook page I Grew Up In Litherland which has had something like 330 comments regarding the illtreatment of child patients at Gargans.

Keith
GillNY
Posts: 15
Joined: Tue Mar 19, 2019 9:07 am
Location: NYC & Charlotte

Mendicks. Still in pain.
Bmc
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jul 24, 2019 4:12 pm

I was unfortunate enough to suffer at the hands of Mrs Gargan in Litherland. What a cruel woman she must have bee in her upstairs torture chamber. I'd gone in for a checkup, aged about 10 or 11, and she gave me five fillings without any pain relief. Through my sobs she insisted that I couldn't feel it. I would not go back and my mother registered us with a different dentist. I must admit I didn't have the same experience with Mr Gargan.
Post Reply