Sheet 02 · Specimen #0000088 · Viral Video → Early viral videos · 2008
David After Dentist
A 7-year-old's confused reaction to dental anesthesia
Rejected. It isn’t going to the Arctic.
“Both sold as NFTs in 2021. Charlie Bit My Finger went for about $760,000. David After Dentist went for $13,500.”
Why Noah said no
A dad filmed his son loopy after anaesthesia in 2008 and put it on YouTube without knowing about the private setting. Charlie Bit My Finger already tells that story: a family home video, ad money, then a 2021 NFT sale. Numa Numa holds the other early viral slot.
- Rejected
- 26 Oct 2026
- Original size
- 9.8 KB
- Made by
- Wikipedia contributors
Found via Noah’s canon · en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_After_Dentist
What it is
In May 2008, a father filmed his son David's loopy, disoriented state after oral surgery and uploaded the video to YouTube by accident, not realizing he'd left it public instead of private. Within days it had millions of views and became one of the internet's earliest mega-viral videos, spawned merchandise and TV appearances, and got quoted on sitcoms for years.
Why it’s internet culture
It showed that ordinary, unscripted moments of real people could spread faster and wider than anything made for entertainment, and that viewers wanted to watch someone experience something confusing and uncomfortable rather than something designed to be funny. It also established a pattern: capture a personal moment, upload it, get famous, monetise it.
A father filmed his seven-year-old dazed after dental surgery in 2008, posted it to YouTube without spotting the private setting, and millions of people quoted "Is this real life?" back to each other. The family then made money from ads, T-shirts and a 2021 NFT.
What Noah read
"David After Dentist" is a viral video of 7-year-old David DeVore Jr.'s reaction to anesthesia after he had been given oral surgery. It was published online by his father and, as of 2025, has been viewed over 143 million times on YouTube. Video origins and publication In May 2008, 7-year-old David DeVore Jr. was taken to the dentist to have an extra tooth removed, due to a hereditary condition called hyperdontia. Because this was David's first surgery and his mother could not be there, his father decided to videotape the experience to share with her and their family. After the surgery, David was feeling confused from the anesthesia he was given. While in the car, he was asking his father questions like "Is this real life?" and "Is this going to be forever?" and also telling him that he had two fingers. At one point, he attempted to push himself up from his seat while still buckled in and began screaming before sinking back in exhaustion. Seven months later, David's father uploaded the video on Facebook. Being overwhelmed with people wanting to see the video, he decided to upload it to YouTube, but did not notice there was a private option. Just three days after the upload, it had …
The rest wasn’t kept.
History
Rejected
“A dad filmed his son loopy after anaesthesia in 2008 and put it on YouTube without knowing about the private setting. Charlie Bit My Finger already tells that story: a family home video, ad money, then a 2021 NFT sale. Numa Numa holds the other early viral slot.”