We’re obsessed with this bucket of teeth and you should be too.
Painless Parker, originally named Edgar Randolph Parker, was one of the most prolific serial teeth pullers of the 1900s.
Think you’re afraid of the dentist now? We can guarantee going to the dentist in the early 20th century was worse. Often times only the wealthy could afford to visit “the dental parlor” and if you were poor you had to be content with letting the teeth rot out of your head instead. The combination of no brushing, no encouraged hygiene, and a poor diet led to the some of the scariest, most painful mouths in history — did you know most of the Founding Fathers drooled constantly because of dental problems? Ew! In this world where dentistry wasn’t accessible to the common man, Painless Parker saw his opportunity for fortune.
His Start
In 1892, Parker “graduated” as one of the first dentists from the Temple University Maurice H. Kornberg School of Dentistry, also one for being one of the first schools of its kind. As records would later show, Parker never studied enough to graduate but instead was given a degree after begging the dean for one. He quickly moved to Canada and established a practice north of the border.
He immediately realized there was little money to be made in waiting for patients to come to him, especially considering very few people were endowed enough for dental work in the first place.
His Popularity
Once Parker discovered the urgency everyone felt for quick pain relief (aka getting a tooth pulled), he started to change his practice in ways that would change the dental industry forever.Using a special product he dubbed “hydrocaine,” a syringe filled with water downed cocaine, injected into a patient’s gums, Parker was able to “painlessly” remove teeth.
He lured people into his office with corner signs and advertising around town. Other dentists scoffed at the unprofessional idea of hanging a sign, little did they know what Parker’s Dental Circus would become. Nevertheless, the advertising worked and people began lining up out the door for the gentle procedure that only cost 50 cents per extraction. The best part? If the tooth removal did hurt, Parker guaranteed he would pay the patient a whole $5!
His popularity continued to rise, even with his return back to the East Coast of the United States. Parker had become quite the showman, regularly wearing a suit which he accessorized with a top hat, finely groomed goatee, and a long necklace strung through 357 extracted teeth — his personal record for teeth pulled in one day.
He began to travel from town to town, offering people dental removals from the back of a caravan in a dental chair. Next to the chair, he kept all the teeth he had ever pulled in a big bucket. This bucket, still full of thousands of teeth, can be seen on display in the museum of his Alma Mater in Philly.
His Circus
In 1913, a new business partnership took Painless Parker’s practice to a previously impossible level. William Beebe, a former employee of PT Barnum (yeah, you can see where this is going), convinced Parker his dental practice could be so much more. At this point, there were some problems with the actual procedure. Our flamboyant dentist needed more cocaine than he was able to get ahold of, which meant he resorted to using less numbing and making the procedures unbelievably painful. Patients would scream so loudly, they often grew hoarse in the chair. Luckily, Beebe had a plan.
Per the plan, Parker began traveling with a literal circus. There was a band, dancing ladies, and even people planted in the crowds. He’d pick the plants (people who were already missing a tooth) for demonstrations by putting them in his chair and effortlessly pulling out their tooth! This would encourage real people to sit in the chair, not knowing what fate awaited them. Parker would tap his foot loudly before pulling teeth, signaling the band to play louder and drown out the sound of the screaming people.
Once people became suspicious, Parker would pack up his circus and move on to another poor naive state. The dental board tried to stop him by establishing a law that stated all dentists must practice under their legal name. The effort was to destroy the business name “Painless Parker Dentistry” however, Parker surprised everyone in 1915 when he legally changed his first name to “Painless” in order to keep the brand alive.
His Legacy
Over the course of his life, Parker moved West and became the first dentist to open multiple franchises in several states. Overall, he was widely detested by his colleagues, the American Dental Association, and his patients for cheating them out of their teeth. Ironically, without Painless Parker the dental industry would not be nearly as accessible, regulated, or openly practiced as it is now.
He’s considered the father of good dental practices, despite his lacking ethics, because he was the first to introduce the idea of regular dental hygiene. The quality of what he offered was poor, but he set the bar so low, it allowed better dentists to establish honest, trustworthy practices that were affordable and available to anyone with teeth.
We’re thrilled to say that none of our dentists at Silver Spring Family Smiles Dental Care trained with Painless Parker nor have needed a name change to keep the practice alive and well. Instead, we offer the best, high-quality, and comfortable care despite our profession’s shocking origin story. Make an appointment and come see our practice, where we’re proud to say history does not repeat itself but exceeds itself.
