The National Library of Medicine (NLM) reports that 36% of people experience dental anxiety or fear. That’s not me anymore.
“Hypnotic states have been used for healing since humankind has existed, but because hypnosis can be misused for so-called entertainment and has been portrayed in the media as something mysterious and magical, supposedly out of the hypnotic subject’s control, it has been viewed with distrust and skepticism by many health professionals.: -Gruzelier J. Frontal functions, connectivity and neural efficiency underpinning hypnosis and hypnotic susceptibility. Contemp Hypnos 2006; 23: 15–32.
McTeague
I went to see McTeague today.
McTeague is what I call my dentist — and every dentist I’ve ever had — based on the 1899 book, McTeague, by Frank Norris. In the book, McTeague — portrayed as a violent, Neanderthal beast of a man — is not a dentist, but someone who has “been practising ten years. More — nearly twelve.”
McTeague never went to college: “Huh? What? College? No, I never went. I learned from the fellow.”
As an unlicensed dentist, McTeague has a problem with alcohol and pulls teeth with pliers. While I read that book thirty years ago, it fueled my disdain for the dentist — even today.
I considered my anxiety about the dentist more of a loathing, like taxes, but far worse. Yet there it was.
Every time I was scheduled for an appointment I was filled with dread — even the night before. For one thing, I have sensitive gums, and cold water or air made me squirm in agony until they were numbed.
Now, my current dentist does not have an issue with alcohol and has not pulled any of my teeth with pliers, nor is he a beast of a man but a tiny Asian dedicated to his work, but I still don’t like him sticking drills inside my mouth.
“Well,” answered McTeague, slowly, looking vaguely about on the floor of the room, “the roots of the broken tooth are still in the gum; they’ll have to come out, and I guess I’ll have to pull that other bicuspid. Let me look again. Yes,” he went on in a moment, peering into her mouth with the mirror, “I guess that’ll have to come out, too.” — McTeague, Frank Norris
My dental hygienist loves to use cold water and air on my teeth. Sometimes I think she enjoys it. Ambria is a tall, African American woman with a bold smile.
As she prepares to deep clean my teeth, she pauses, the dental tool half in and half out of my mouth, her hand weighing on my lower lip. For a moment I think she had a stroke.
“Sorry,” she says, resuming her task. “I had to hear the beat in that song. It’s fire.”
My Introduction to Dr. Shawn Masters
In the late 1980s, I was living in Atlanta and saw an ad for “The World’s Greatest Hypnotist” giving a free lecture at a hotel near downtown. The ad said, in part, “Conquer your fear of the dentist, improve your grades, guaranteed!”
While it sounded like parlor tricks, I was sold. The dentist blurb was one thing, but I was in my first year of college and my grades were lacking.
According to media advertorials, Dr. Shawn Masters, the World’s Greatest Hypnotist, had a degree in psychology and was known as the “hypnotist to the stars” and one of the only such shows invited to the White House (I later found this all to be true).
Back then, he was the only hypnotist endorsed by the Hypnotic Guild. He sold out shows in Las Vegas yet was known for his medical treatments for everything from dental pain to surgeries.
Besides the hyperbolic bosting, by all accounts from people who witnessed his shows or studied with him for years, the guy was the real deal.
“I was a student of Mastersin 1985 in Atlanta. I had just earned a degree in physics and went to his open to the public session to uncover how he was performing his illusions. Boy was I in for a surprise. After that night I became a student for several months. So amazing what he could do and what he taught us about ourselves.” —Google Groups thread
Sleep!
When I arrived at the hotel ballroom, the room was packed. It was an old hotel and the antiquated ballroom contained enormous chandeliers on the high ceilings. Various people sat in metal, folding chairs, from the elderly to the physically challenged in wheelchairs. The room was alive with an excited chatter.
When Masters entered the room, he wore a white casual shirt and pants. His white beard was neatly trimmed and his thin hair was well-coiffed and slicked back. His assistant — a middle-aged woman he introduced as Helga — followed. The room went silent except for a few whispers.
Master’s had a charismatic flair, with precise movements that radiated a command of the room. There was a stool, a chair, and a microphone.
Masters scanned the room with his eyes, then seemed to wave the microphone into his hand.
“Good evening,” he said in a soothing, baritone voice. He grinned. “Are you ready for mystery, awe, and bewilderment?”
After explaining his background, he paced and gave a synopsis of hypnosis, what it was and what it was not, and that although tonight would be entertaining, hypnosis is a science he deeply respects.
“If you don’t want to be hypnotized you won’t be,” he added. “But it sure is more fun and more beneficial to you.” He paused. “And if you don’t want to be hypnotized, don’t stay here and heckle me. Hypnosis is not magic. It’s how your mind works.”
I glanced at the guy next to me sitting with his arms folded, shaking his head. He did not want to be hypnotized. But soon he would be a chicken.
The Human Plank
Master’s asked for four volunteers and the crowd eagerly stuck their hands into the air. He chose a heavy-set man and said, “You will be the plank.” He chose three more people — two women and a man.
He placed two folding chairs about five feet apart and asked two of the volunteers to stand behind each chair. He asked Wayne, the heavy man, to sit, then told him to close his eyes.
“Listen to only my voice. You’re becoming very relaxed. I’m going to count to three and I want you to become more relaxed by three.” After he said ‘three,’ he snapped his fingers and commanded, “Sleep!” and Wayne’s chin flopped to his chest.
He told him to go deeper and deeper. “Wayne, when I count to five I want you to awake, but for the rest of the evening if I say the word ‘plank’ you will go instantly to sleep and wake when I say ‘awake.’” (Indeed, for the rest of the evening whenever he said ‘plank’ Wayne slouched in this chair or collapsed into the arms of the crowd.)
He told Wayne to lie on the two chairs with his head on one end and his feet on the other. He placed a third chair in the middle to support him as the two volunteers stabilized the end chairs.
“Plank,” he said, and Wayne closed his eyes. “On the count of three your body will become ridged yet relaxed, as though you are lying on the floor. There will be no discomfort and no pain in your body. The more weight you feel, the more your body becomes steel. Your body is so strong that it can support any weight. Deeper and deeper.” He removed the support chair.
He then helped the woman step up onto a chair and Wayne’s stomach. After she stood there he told her to sit on his stomach. He then asked the man to join her. “No, not on her lap!” he said to uproarious laughter.
Wayne remained uncompromised. “How do you feel, Wayne?” Master’s asked. “You have over 400 pounds on your stomach but it feels like air.”
“Relaxed,” he said.
After the volunteers had stepped off he slipped the support chair under Wayne again. “When you wake you will feel fantastic. Awake!”
Wayne’s eyes opened and his body suddenly conformed to the support chair. He sat up, then stood.
“Do you have any discomfort?” Master’s asked.
“No,” he smiled, “I think I’m hungry, though.” Laughter.
Masters later performed more amazing stunts — making it impossible to lift someone (something I would later do when training in the martial art aikido), making people animals, making someone wince when a coin was placed on her skin (“the coin is a red coal”), and other hysterical, yet amazing, feats (and yes, he made me become an elephant).
Perhaps the best part was when he took my seatmate to task. Masters glared at him and smiled. He slowly approached him and then snapped his fingers. “Sleep.”
The man slouched in his chair, his crossed arms turning to noodles.
“Deeper and deeper. For the rest of the evening when I say ‘Sue’ you will become a friendly chicken.”
Later, Masters suddenly shouted ‘Sue!’ and the man began clucking and flapping his arms. It was hilarious.
After the show, I signed up to study with Masters for four weeks in a group hypnosis class.
He began every session by putting the room to sleep (we were usually lying on the floor) and giving us “suggestions” — phrases that our subconscious mind follows — for example, that we would remember everything said that night, that we would wake refreshed, and that from now on for the rest of our lives we would sleep soundly every night.
Masters was careful to outline the specifics of using hypnosis. He gave us a suggestion that we would never fall into what he called “highway hypnosis” (a real thing where long-distance drivers such as truckers fall into states of dangerous hypnosis from long hours on the road), and reminded us to set physical triggers to wake ourselves up when we forgot (mine was touching my thumb and index finger, and I still use it today).
He also cautioned us about “rogue” suggestions, for example, in a lecture, where you might hypnotize yourself to recall what was said. He maintained it was important to negate negative language, so it was better to strategize what to “accept” in a hypnotic state.
While Master’s taught me how to hypnotize others (and I have, with great discretion), he reminded us to use it to help others, and that hypnosis could not make anyone do anything beyond their will.
Ahh, Yes, McTeague
The four weeks of classes were enlightening and fun, and Masters showed us “tricks” I didn’t see the first night I saw him. We always ended with a group sleep with Masters giving us suggestions for better health, then we would all go out to dinner (and even that turned riotous when he made the waitress sing Don’t Bogart That Joint with a British accent).
Finally, we got to anxiety and pain and the dentist.
“It was curious to note the effect of the alcohol upon the dentist. It did not make him drunk, it made him vicious.” — McTeague, Frank Norris
Masters taught us how to formulate suggestion scripts using audio recordings that we could play back while in hypnosis or by creating a script we could read.
One of my first scripts, of course, was about McTeague. I was due for a cavity treatment and filling, something that usually horrified me and required three times the amount of Novacaine.
I decided I would attend my dental appointment and decline all numbing agents. After completing my four weeks with Masters, I was ready.
My script was simple (and I still use it). As soon as I sat in the dental chair I would become instantly relaxed on the count of six(he taught us to “sleep” on six and “wake” on five), and all anxiety would leave my body. My gums and mouth would become numb for the remainder of the time in the chair. I told myself I could choose to feel pain or simply vibrations and pressure.
I chose the latter.
It worked. For the first time in my life, I had a filling removed with no drugs. I only felt what I had suggested — vibrations and pressure. Today, my dental anxieties are gone as long as I “suggest” it.
What Happened to the World’s Greatest Hypnotist?
I never saw Shawn Masters again. I left for California to continue college but never forgot him — nor have I ever stopped using what he taught me.
I did discover an old Google Groups thread about Masters, with many in the group attendees of his Atlanta shows and other shows around the world.
Of course, I do research for a living, but I found little.
Shawn Master’s real name was Waldemar Glynn Schultz, born in Jersey City, New Jersey, on February 23, 1923. He was known as Wally Martin Glynn. While the research is vague, some claim he was originally a jeweler and had four children. According to Ancestry family trees, he died on July 17, 1999, probably in the San Diego area of California.
What remains is the memory of his remarkable showmanship and the thousands of people he helped. I found accounts of him using hypnosis for pain in hospital rooms, dental offices, and for childbirth, yet also accounts of Masters stopping bleeding and bruising after more severe surgeries (with complete cooperation of the attending physicians).
Did hypnosis help my grades? My grades went from Cs to As.
Can hypnosis help you? If you allow it.
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