"Is it safe?"
Asks Laurence Olivier in John Schlesinger’s unforgettable film ‘Marathon Man’ to Dustin Hoffman who is sitting in front of him with his hands bound behind...
Dr. Christian Szell (Laurence Olivier) is a war criminal dentist who has served for the Nazis at the Auschwitz Concentration Camp during the Second World War. He believes that Babe Levy (Dustin Hoffman) knows the exact location of the diamonds which he has stolen from the Jewish prisoners and wants to know whether they are safe or not.
However, Levy doesn’t have the slightest idea who this elderly and grim-faced man approaching him is nor does he have any clues to what he wants him to say, as a matter of fact he is totally unaware of the presence of the diamonds.
You can’t learn anything from someone who doesn’t know anything. Therefore Babe Levy is unable to tell the location of the diamonds. And as long as he can’t tell it, can't escape from Dr. Szell’s scary, sharp instruments and torture...
He drills the poor man’s teeth one by one and continuosly asks:
- "Is it safe?"
We have discussed this shivering scene which has been carved into the minds of the ones who have watched it with many of my patients and have laughed over it. Perhaps this is the best-known and concrete scene displaying the fear from the dentist’s chair and the possible pains related with it… Yes it is right, a tooth can turn into a very painful organ… It is rather a very small organ, but due to the intense nerve system which it accommodates, it can at times be really more painful than the other organs.
Most of us have in some way suffered from tooth pain… We all know what it is and how it feels… And most of us do everything in order to stay away from that chair… We press our teeth, place alcohol over it, just do every possible thing to escape from that chair… Every single day that we fled is a "profit" for us...
But all those familiar pains which belong to that chair are a part of the history. Today, at the point where technology has landed, it is completely possible to deal with pain. We are acquainted with all sorts of pain which could be experienced in that chair and well equipped against them. You place yourself in the chair and while attaining your health without experiencing any discomfort, you get wrapped up in the music you listen or the film you watch… You rise from the chair, with a relief and a smile on your face...
Moreover, dentistry isn’t something frigthening which is locked up in the narrow patterns of the past. The developing technology has widened and improved the possibilities that dentistry has to offer… The science of dentistry which was only a cure for getting rid of the painful teeth in the past offers in today’s world and technology health, function and esthetics… And what’s more, this is done without any pain… In fact, dentistry today is a combination of science, technology and art...
The only thing that we have to do is, to throw away our prejudgements… To profit from the possibilities that today’s dentistry has to offer without any fears and drawbacks… To get an appointment from a dentist that you trust without waiting for pain or the presence of a problem...
Don’t be afraid, it won’t hurt...
Dr. Szell was just a film character...
Really...