Tight-fitting corset blamed for death at Preston dental surgery

On the second Saturday of January 1895 at about 7 o’clock in the evening Annie Budden, aged 23, a domestic servant employed by Mr & Mrs. Willan of Ribblesdale Place, Preston, visited the Fishergate dental surgery of Nathaniel Miller.

What was to follow brought back haunting memories of the day in April 1882 when a young lad had choked to death in Mr. Miller’s dental chair.

Miss Budden asked the dentist if he would take out two teeth that were causing her pain. After an examination he found that the pain was resulting from a lower tooth and agreed to extract it. She asked for gas, and from her healthy appearance he had no hesitation in administering it. Within half a minute she was thoroughly unconscious and he proceeded to remove the tooth, throughout which operation her breathing was normal.

She quickly recovered consciousness after the procedure was complete, but the dentist then noticed a slight pallor down each side of her nostrils and she began breathing spasmodically.

These symptoms alarmed him and she quickly lapsed into an unconscious state and at once he applied nitrate of amyl.

He then sent his assistant to fetch Dr. Collins on as he applied artificial respiration. The doctor arrived quickly and injected the patient with ether, and in removing her clothing he found her stays were so tightly laced that they had to be torn asunder. Despite the best efforts of both surgeon and dentist the patient slipped into death within half an hour.