Dad was a dentist on the sixth floor of the professional building in Elgin, Ill. I used to help in the office summers in late high school and during college. The window at the end of the corridor was directly above the door of the building’s back entrance six the floors below. So, I’d get a cup of water and pour it out as the door open ed. My brother also played this game <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On other days, when I wasn’t busy pouring water on the building residents, I’d assist my father with extractions. A stubborn tooth would require a hammer and chisel. Dad would hold the chisel, and I would wield the hammer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also served as an x-ray technician. I took a shortclass in Chicago to qualify. In those days, the proper procedure was to direct the x-ray machine at the right angle to the x-ray film against the tooth and get the picture of the right part of the specific tooth. Then it was ready to activate the x-ray machine. I was fortunate when the right angle was achieved!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The best part of the job was casting the gold inlays. I melted the gold, and as soon as it was melted properly, I pulled a string to spin a centrifuge which drove the prepared gold into the mold for the inlay.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also prepared amalgam for fillings. I’d mix mercury and powdered silver into a paste of the right consistency, and then Dad would use it to do a filling. During procedures I handed Dad instruments as well as handled the water and suction. I also kept the books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dad gave me a microscope to work with. I played with it and looked at all manner of things, including mushroom spores. I had a boyfriend that liked the microscope as well, but he started coming unexpectedly and I broke it off because that didn’t seem professional for my job. Dad was always very kind to me, even when he would call for my help with “Skinny”. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was invited by a photographer on the first floor to work as a model. It turns out that I was to model hosiery, holding it in my hands. Another downstairs business was Harry, a Hungarian, who had a dental lab and did some of our bridges and such.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Dad was a dentist on the sixth floor of the professional building in Elgin, Ill. I used to help in the office summers in late high school and during college. The window at the end of the corridor was directly above the door of the building’s back entrance six the floors below. So, I’d get… Continue reading Helping at the Office<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":112,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":123,"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/122\/revisions\/123"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/112"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nesse.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}