Coventry Dentists

Hi, Slim. I think you should have a look at the website for Prichard's Dental Practice. There is an 'important notice' on there about the circumstances of Mr Steven Prichard's departure which may surprise you. It would appear that he was not all he seemed.

Yes, Mr D-Di, I personally never had any complaints over the 30 years or so I was a patient, and was quite sad when he suddenly announced his retirement in a personal letter dated 14-11-14. Dr (note title used in later years) Prichard gave family occasions as the reason that the time had come for him to "hang up his drills and forceps". I got the impression from the staff still there that he had dropped them in it, and had told them "oh, by the way, I'm finishing on Friday so you won't see me any more". More recently, my wife, who works for the NHS, told me the real reason - struck off!

What happens? Joy of joys you get to kneel on the dentist`s chest. (that`s assuming his chair is well nailed to the floor and suitable suspension harnesses are provided)

I didn't like Mr Newbold, especially when he used gas and air, although I had forgotten his name. I did like the 2 new dentists though, quite dishy to a young teenager. They managed to crown my top 4 front teeth with no adverse effects. The crowns were the result of a cricketing accident, when I was hit in the mouth by a ball, whilst chatting - when I was supposed to be fielding - on the boundary. My husband, who was there at the time has always ribbed me about it, saying if I had opened my mouth a little wider then I could have caught the ball and the batsman would have been out!! Mind you I am now suffering at the hands of a French dentist. I am in the process of replacing another crown which came loose. Last week the drill managed to slip from his hand whilst still going and cut me under the tongue. I wish my French was better, so I really could have told him what I thought!!

It certainly came as a shock to us when we were advised about Steve, as he had been our dentist for nearly 40 years! And he had made our visits to the dentist so much less of an uncomfortable experience compared with previous practices we had attended. Mr Prichard senior was in fact Steve's brother Anthony, five years older, and I believe they were both Old Coventrians (ex-KHVIII). A work colleague of mine attended Anthony for many years and spoke very highly of him - he died suddenly in 2008 aged 70. The practice continues to bear the family name.

Absolutely, that's what impressed me on my first visit, as I went there for over 30 years until he retired. Word of gob is the best recommendation, and all my family, including my ageing parents, went there. Steve certainly was, and he often reminisced about KHVIII, but he would have been at least 1, maybe 1.5 school generations before my time. Yes, and I'm still going there, but it's all new (younger) staff, who have started completely afresh, and are doing everything by the book, by which I mean the latest book of practice in the workplace, and I'm talking about the workplace in general, not just dentistry.

Update/correction: The practice is now called "Styvechale Dental Care"

Thanks for that, MR; that must have happened very recently, as it was certainly still Prichard Dental Practice on the sign when I was there a couple of weeks ago. Interestingly, I just Binged (I loathe Google) Styvechale Dental Practice which came up as #1 on the list, but #2 was Prichard Dental Practice, whose site is still up and running! Also interesting is the choice of the spelling of Styvechale, in preference to Stivichall. I'd always been led to believe the latter was the older, posher version, as in Stivichall Croft but there is much debate, as Wiki tells us: Although the pronunciation of the district is not in doubt, its spelling is a subject of debate. The 'Styvechale' variant is generally deemed more attractive in fitting with the Old English tradition of the district's name, though since 1945 'Stivichall' has been the official designation for the area, and all direction signage currently reads 'Stivichall'. However, in the early-1990s there was a campaign to reintroduce the 'Styvechale' variant on local signage and within civic circles, with many people finding the Stivichall designation ugly. The local bus operators also historically never display Stivichall or Styvechale on their buses and opt for displaying Fenside instead and when route 2 used to terminate in Exminster Road buses had always displayed Cheylesmore, an alternative to this could have been a destination of 'Howes Farm' in similar fashion to the modern Tanyard Farm and Victoria Farm estates in Coventry. When I was at school, Stivichall was always an upmarket area of Coventry. People from there got their legs pulled, e.g. "You can tell when you're in Stivichall by the locks on the dustbin lids!". Whichever way it's spelt, non-Cov people will always pronounce it wrong, either Stivvy-chal, or Stive-chale. Fenside doesn't have the same ring.

My dad was at King Henry's with Anthony, hence why I went to Prichard's for most of my life and now my lads do. He was a really nice chap

Agreed, NY, he always put you at ease, and exuded confidence; unlike a previous, younger less experienced dentist who had a short fuse if things didn't go right, and seemed to lose her temper and take it out on me! I once had a broken tooth and thought "that will be a difficult job, removing the broken off root". Mr S was doing some other stuff, and I assumed I'd need another visit. To my amazement, when I asked when he was going to extract the root, he told me he'd already done it - and I didn't feel a thing. His words were "we don't hang about!". I never had a complaint or criticism in over 30 years.

Here is Binley Road looking east, with Gulson Road on the right and the first house on right Gulson Roadcorner was Cleverley the dentist until about 1960.

It was Mr Cleverley who ruined my 1953 Coronation Day street party, but inadvertently gave me a great intro when I have to speak to criminology conferences. By extracting a misplaced wisdom tooth, he reduced me to having to eat only jelly and ice cream while every other kid was pigging out on fairy cakes etc. But by using cocaine, I can tease surprised criminologists by telling them that I've actually used it.

Yes, Cleverley was an avid user of cocaine in extractions. I had a tooth pulled and it felt as if it took half an hour, though was probably seconds. Had a weird dream too whilst under the anaesthetic.