I’ve just been to the dentist and *wail* I need a replacement filling, which has started to break down. I did think of breaking down a little myself when he told me.

I have a real fear of dentists since a particularly bad experience as a child when I was told the injection to freeze my tooth would hurt me more than the little filling I needed. I was a very trusting child and believed him. Needless to say, he lied. He even carried on when I was crying, telling me that it was nearly finished and to stop making a fuss. I sometimes wonder now if he was trying to make sure that I looked after my teeth better to ensure I didn’t have to have any more fillings ever or maybe he was just an evil bastard who hated kids.

Anyway after that I point blank refused to go to a dentist again, didn’t matter what my parents did or said. It wasn’t until I started work and got an abscess that it changed and that was only because after being in agony for two days the General Manager’s P.A. made an appointment and took me herself. The poor woman even had to come and sit with me in the dentist; that was all of 24 years ago. I’ve visited regularly-ish since then.

I dread to think what I’ll do when my dentist retires, which will happen eventually – I was one of his first patients after he qualified. Poor bugger, baptism by fire. Anyway, whilst he repairs the filling he has told me that he’ll repair my front tooth too.

Now I chipped the bottom of that very slightly as a child – messing around with my friend. You see back then we used to have glass bottles for fizzy pop and we didn’t bother when it came to sharing and drinking out of the same one. OK, hands up who can remember the Corona Fizzical?

As I was drinking she went to tip up the bottle but misjudged and it ended up clonking me in the mouth. It ended up taking a chip out of the bottle and a chip out of my tooth – and all we could do was laugh. I didn’t at that point think that I’d have to, at some stage, get it repaired - life was so simple back then.

It’s never really bothered me, and very few people notice unless I point it out. As I’ve got older I’ve become more self conscious of it and what with the wedding coming up my dentist thought it would be a good idea as he was going to have to freeze my mouth to work on the filling anyway. Not only freeze the tooth, but put that freeze paste on the gum too – so I can’t feel the needle. Yes – what a wimp!. Just before anyone asks, no it won't shut me up - it takes a lot more than a frozen gob to achieve that.

My dentist has been trying for years now to get me to agree to having it repaired and this time I’ve given in – so I’ve an appointment for the 15th Feb after which I can dazzle everyone with my perfect smile.