Prison Dentistry Through the Years

When I was first transferred to PPP in 2000, I was warned about the dentist colloquially known as ‘The Butcher.’ I attended the dentist for a sore molar. The ‘dentist’ had to put his arm across my chest to hold me down ‘til he gained the tooth, which looked perfectly good to me.

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Apparently this so-called dentist has been at the prison since it opened and never fixes teeth, just pulls them out. He has had hundreds of letters to various government departments describing his slack treatment.

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I travelled the gamut of prisons until I landed at Loddon and met the nice dentist in residence. She was brilliant and fixed a couple of teeth with no trouble. When I told her about my dental experience at PPP, she was flabbergasted and firmly stated that molars are never to be pulled, just repaired.

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In or around 2018, I was transferred to another prison and applied for an appointment with the dentist. I had knocked out one of my front teeth when I stumbled onto the concrete. Subsequently, the dentist said she could not fix it. After a conversation with the doctor, he told me to try again next week. As ordered, I went up to the dentist surgery and was surprised to find a different Australian lady. When she examined the space where my tooth was, she said “no worries” and fitted me with a ‘cosmetic’ replacement, which was fantastic.

I was soon transferred to another prison in 2019, where I asked about fixing another tooth, which I had again knocked after a fall. A dentist appointment ensued and once again the dentist would not touch it. So, I wrote to Justice Health, Corrections and the government prison minister. A few weeks later, I was transferred for a day appointment at the Royal College of Dentistry. It was all very professional, but they informed me that they do not do cosmetic tooth replacements and offered me a partial dental plate.

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Over many years on the outside, I have seen many people playing with plates, taking them out for fun, and many more disgusting tricks with plates. Anyway, I wanted the teeth fixed, not left to rot.

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Currently, I am domiciled at a Victorian prison. I once again made a dentist appointment. This was another dentist who once again refused me a cosmetic tooth (I had to explain what and how it can be fixed). She refused, but she offered to clean up several stumpy teeth and clean them all. I am dubious about accepting; however, I will do it sometime in the future.