My pearly whites

I saved the planet today, I went to the dentist on the bus, four buses in fact, two there and two back. My dentist is not the nearest one to me, but I stay with them because they are very nice, I see a lovely young lady called Emma. It felt strange at first, having a lady dentist prod around in my mouth.

A few years ago I had to have a big tooth extracted, I thought, she'll never do it, she is not big enough, she hasn't got the strength. I had visions of her standing on top of me, using all her body weight to pull with both hands. I gripped the arms of the chair and pushed myself downwards so that my head wouldn't lift up as she pulled, I braced myself for the struggle. A couple of seconds later, as quick as a blink, she had my molar between the pliers in her hand. It came out as clean as a whistle, amazing.

What has happened to the free reading matter in the waiting room these days, something to browse while you wait your turn. They used to have The Times, a newspaper that I quite like but stopped buying years ago. On the low tables there were notices saying because of the spread of germs, and the swine flu epidemic, they no longer have papers and magazines. They might as well take the tables away then. I sat and twiddled my thumbs. Does this mean that all the public libraries are going to close, due to the risk of catching some dreaded lurgi?

Anyway, I came away with a smile on my face today, a clean bill of health and an appointment for nine months time. So it's onward and upward with the brushing and flossing, and no more eating nuts and chewing toffees. All food has to be sucked to death from now on, don't want to pull any fillings out. I would like to make it to the finishing post with at least some of my own gnashers still attached to my head.