The artist has a very low conception of asepsis in dental procedures as performed in the 18th century. To emphasize this sad state of surgical asepsis he has deliberately exaggerated the conditions in this drawing.
In this satirical fantasy, he reveals his contempt by transforming the dental office into a blacksmith shop; the instruments are the tools of the horse- shoeing trade; the dental assistant is the blacksmith's helper with his unclean hands in the mouth of the patient; the floor and the surroundings are as filthy as those usually found in a place where horses are shod and treated. Even an inquisitive pig has his snout through the opening of the locked door...... perhaps he is symbolic of the next patient.
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This is a satirical version of things as they were before Doctor Lister*. New techniques, new modern anesthetic agents and procedures have changed all these. Today patients visit their dentists regularly without foreboding.
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