Obviously, dental work such as implant surgery and crowns is completely different from tummy tucks and Botox injections.
My genetic makeup gave me an inherited condition known as dentinogenesis imperfectum, whereby the dentine in the teeth does not form correctly. Sometimes this gives rise to brown-looking teeth that are shorter than usual. Try telling that to your school friends.
I was treated at the Eastman Dental Hospital in London as a child. They did everything possible to preserve the teeth including protective crowns. All this work was done by an excellent team of dentists working for the NHS. It was also a teaching hospital, so I volunteered my services as a test patient at examination time.
Forty-odd years later, I had three front teeth extracted by my local dentist and substituted with a plate. The plate annoyed me with its flapping about only marginally improved with denture fixative. Finally, I booked myself in with a private dental specialist practice to get surgical implants.
The implants are now well bedded in and feel like normal teeth. It was expensive and a bit painful, but well worth it.
Check out these not-so-pearly whites…
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