The Only Dentist in the Parish

a sketch by
L. D. Sledge

Grandaddy had a tiny office in the back corner of the store where he pulled teeth and threw them out the window behind him.  He made impressions for false teeth, sent them off and got them back in the mail.  Sometimes the teeth would be delivered to the customer along with the groceries.  Granddaddy was the only dentist in the whole parish for a long time.

Oh yes, it was a grocery and everything else as well.  You could buy hammer and nails, candy, snuff, dry salt meat, cheese, and ice cream, panties, boots and ladies shoes, sheetrock and hay, cut and thread pipe.  After 1950, you could charge a light bill or funeral bill on your account.   


It was before hair spray, deoderant, filter cigarettes, rules against throwing things out of the window of your car, before TV and ball point pens, and before preventative dentistry.