Well it looks like we are on the path for the new normal whatever that might be. I’ve had my MOT at the surgery all bodily fluids came back as normal nothing to worry about there. Sav my optician is still insisting I have the eyesight of a fighter pilot. Which is a bit of a worry as I still occasionally mistake my furry boots at the top of the stairs for my late lamented Eddie cat. Just been to the dentist for my check up. No I do still have to go I don’t drop them off. No treatment and signed off for another 12 months. What I wouldn’t have given to have heard that in my youth. As Pam Ayers famously said,

“I wish I’d looked after me teeth.”

Who knew about flossing when I was a kid? You might poke about with an old matchstick or a cocktail stick if you were a bit more sophisticated. But that was about the size of it.  A quick scrub twice a day with any old toothbrush your mother had picked up at Timothy Whites. None of this two minutes minimum with electric toothbrushes. We’d only just got rid of gas lamps. I’ve written before about poor old Mr Oxley who I kicked in his best accessories whilst he attempted to administer gas for an extraction. Thankfully as I got older Geoff, partime actor full time dentist, took over the custody of my mouth. IK Brunel would have been proud of his handiwork as 45 years on his bridgework still gets admiring prods from my current dentist who is a joy.  Geoff had a great sense of humour. He had that cartoon on his wall, right in your eyeline when he’d tipped you back in the chair, that showed a dentist heaving like crazy on a tooth and pulling the patients skeleton out through his mouth! Yes that was very relaxing. I also I remember the time he put some lump of metal in my mouth only to take it out several minutes later and screw it on top of a container muttering,

“Ah that’s what its for!”

I must admit I’ve never really thought about what makes someone take up dentistry as a career. I mean are there children somewhere who grow up saying,

“Oh I love teeth. I cant wait to get to perform my first root canal treatment!”

So I asked my dentist this morning what lured him in?

“Simple” he said. “The wrong queue!” It turns out his brother had trained as a pharmacist after university so he fancied following in his footsteps. Unfortunately the course was full and he was offered dentistry, which, on further investigation he thought seemed interesting. Before he knew it 5 years had passed and he had qualified and I am so pleased as he has sorted me out brilliantly in times of trouble. And boy have there been a few of those. He also has a wonderful warm personality, which I think is very important if you are going to go open cast mining in someone’s mouth. And whilst he might suppress a titter when asking me, before he takes an X Ray, if I am pregnant he hasn’t gone as far as to insert any foreign objects into my mouth…yet! I think it would make a rather interesting strand on a television or radio program. Asking people what made them take up their particular career.

I must remember to ask my friendly colorectal surgeon how he ended up doing what he does when he next comes to dinner.

Second thoughts ….perhaps not my best idea.

Read all about it in the Western Morning News