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Pop Medicine > Dr. Mike


DOCTORS REACT TO HORRIFYING OLD MEDICAL DEVICES


— A FRIGHTENING LOOK BACK AT DENTAL KEYS, TOBACCO SMOKE ENEMAS, AND MORE

by Mikhail Varshavski, DO November 12, 2021


MedpageToday

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Mikhail Varshavski, DO, who goes by "Doctor Mike" on social media, is a
board-certified family medicine physician at the Atlantic Health System's
Overlook Medical Center in Summit, New Jersey.

In this video, Varshavski is joined by his friend Alok Patel, MD, to look at
outdated (and in some cases frightening) medical devices.

Following is a partial transcript (note that errors are possible):

Varshavski: Welcome, Dr. Alok Patel, world-renowned pediatrician and specialist
in debunking misinformation.

Patel: And wearing the same outfit.

Varshavski: Bam! We're about to fight misinformation by looking at old medical
instruments. I don't know if that's misinformation.

Patel: Just be thankful you live in today's time.



Varshavski: Seriously. What we're about to see, I'm scared for. He's scared for.
We're all scared. You should be scared.

Both: Peewop!

Varshavski: Whoa!

Patel: Oh!

Varshavski: You're pulling ... that's a ... that's like the lawnmower, dude.

Patel: Dude, I'm excited just by the look of this thing.

Varshavski: Oh, we like ...

Patel: How many possibilities. How many possibilities. This is a finger
relocater.

Varshavski: Yes! That's what I was thinking too. I swear to God I was thinking
that. You put your finger in there and you pull.

Patel: Somebody was either lazy or just wanted to ...

Varshavski: I think it's a dental device.

Patel: I think we both agree that it's extracting.

Varshavski: It's an extractor.

Both: Dental key.

Varshavski: To pull a tooth, the bolster was placed against the root of the
tooth and the claw over the crown. The key was then turned, dislocating the
tooth. Oh, so you going like this.

Patel: Cool.

Varshavski: Not cool. They didn't have sedation back then. Remember? You know
what? I'll never forget about tooth extractions. "Cast Away."



Patel: I thought you were saying you remember like the toy box at the dentist
office. It was like the one thing I remember.

Varshavski: I got no toys.

Patel: You went to like the old Russian ...

Varshavski: I went to a Soviet dentist.

Varshavski: He was like, "No lidocaine for you."

Patel: Mine was like, "You want toy? You could have toy. You have toy. You have
toy."

Varshavski: Ooh.

Patel: Oh, this is beautiful.

Varshavski: It is pretty. It's a suction or an air blower.

Patel: I think that's sort of ... I agree with you, a suction.

Varshavski: Then where do you put it?

Patel: Any hole.

Both: A lithotome.

Varshavski: The instrument consists of a handle and blade. That's a blade?

Patel: Apparently.

Varshavski: Thus an incision can be made through the prostate gland and bladder
of six different breadths.

Patel: What on earth?

Varshavski: 1722. Bro, they don't know what they were doing.

Patel: No.

Varshavski: Oh my God. You insert it in the urethra?

Patel: I think so.

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Varshavski: Then like hold the blade out and then open the blade inside and then
...? Oh my God.



Patel: Ugh! But this is ...

Varshavski: Oh my God.

Patel: There's ...

Varshavski: Oh my God. No. Dude, do you see what I'm saying?

Patel: No, I don't want to see it. I don't. I don't. I'm like, there is no way
that that is small enough to put in your urethra.

Varshavski: Oh my God! I think it is.

Patel: I'd say keep the stone.

Varshavski: This is, I think ...

Patel: Suction.

Patel: Oh, wait. Wait. Do you see the middle thing? That looks like a foot pump.
You're blowing air. ... Yeah.

Varshavski: It looks like an Ambu bag ...

Patel: It could be.

Varshavski: To inflate lungs and that thing takes the fluid out of the lungs.
What other thing can you blow into the human body?

Patel: I mean, they were doing some stupid stuff back then.

Varshavski: Yeah. You think this is like the old-school colonoscopy? But then
what is the bottom stuff ...?

Patel: No.

Varshavski: Because you blow air into a colonoscopy before you do it.

Patel: I don't know if they knew to do a colonoscopy ...



Varshavski: Yeah. True.

Patel: In the days of doing this thing.

Both: Tobacco smoke enema! I knew it!

Patel: Look at the picture.

Varshavski: Oh, he's blowing in his butt.

Patel: I could see this coming back.

Varshavski: They already have it.

Patel: They have coffee enemas.

Varshavski: They sell coffee enemas. It's the same thing.

Patel: Oh my God.

Varshavski: Used by Indigenous peoples of North America to stimulate
respiration. Wait, wait, wait.

Patel: No.

Varshavski: They help people breathe?

Patel: By putting smoke ...

Varshavski: They know that the butt is not connected to the lung.

Patel: They may not have. ... They looked like headphones, but ...

Varshavski: It kind of looks like an Apple device. Is it a helmet? A testicular
device.

Patel: I see coils on it.

Varshavski: Coils mean electricity.

Patel: It could mean electricity or it could mean like hot water.

Varshavski: Okay. Maybe it's a fever stimulator to treat meningitis.

Patel: You've taken a deep dive on that one. This is a brain freeze device. You
put this on your head. You plug this thing in.



Varshavski: Well, there were no plugs then.

Patel: I don't know what that ... what is that white thing then?

Varshavski: I'm going one of two options. Fever stimulator. It makes your head
warm to prevent infection of some kind -- meningitis probably -- or two, some
kind of ECT machine that causes electric shocks to your brain. Let's see it.

Patel: Brain freeze device.

Varshavski: MRI ...

Patel: Cool.

Varshavski: I also heard something outside.

Patel: Has it ever happened?

Varshavski: We also have one light going. ... MRI "Jedi" helmets.

Varshavski: You're going to get us demonetized. To take MRI scans of the brain,
these helmets were worn by children and adults. Coils are aerials for picking up
MRI signals.

Patel: Old school.

Varshavski: Do you think this works?

Patel: Worked? Maybe. But I got to give a shout-out to the end of this
description. They named it a Star Wars toy so that kids weren't afraid to put it
on. I like that.

Varshavski: That's smart actually.

Patel: Okay.

Varshavski: This looks like a Rinne and Weber test for me.



Patel: Okay. Wow! Yeah. Perceptive, because there is a bell on top.

Varshavski: Yeah. I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.

Patel: There is something restrictive about this, right?

Varshavski: But why the teeth, with the angry teeth?

Patel: Like maybe it's so you can't really open your jaw, but you can still get
food in.

Varshavski: But what's the purpose of putting the jagged teeth?

Patel: So you don't put your hand in your mouth.

Varshavski: Okay, it's a psych device.

Patel: For like, psych device, like schizophrenia.

Varshavski: Yes. And the bell so they don't run away and they can find them.

Patel: I think we solved this one.

Varshavski: I think we did.

Patel: I'm just saying.

Varshavski: A scold's bridle. It was an instrument of punishment as a form of
torture and public humiliation functioned to silence the victim from speaking
entirely. Jesus Christ, this isn't a medical device. It was slid onto the mouth
and pressed down on top of the tongue, with a spike.

Patel: Ugh.

Varshavski: This prevented speaking and resulted in many unpleasant side
effects, including excessive salivation and fatigue.

Patel: Nowadays, you just ban someone from Twitter.

Varshavski: This is the "Saw" device. This should be in a "Saw" movie. You have
to tell ... like you know the combination.Like you know the combination and you
have to tell your friend. Otherwise, the room is going to implode.

Patel: That is really good.

Mike Varshavski, DO, is a board-certified family physician and social media
influencer with more than 17 million subscribers.

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