Tooth Hurty

What a GREAT week... West Brom got promoted back to the Premier League which means I will be able to watch them every week on the TV...... I also had a comic moment you dream about. On Saturday I broke a tooth.....On sunday, I visited Dr Chin (a Chinese Dentist) ...the appointment time ......(Wait for it....)....2:30.....(Come on how funny is that)...More about Dentists later...

Their is something exciting about watching English football when you live in Australia. It is always dark outside, it is always late at night, or the early ours and I am usually alone...although I get texts throughout the game from agonised mates going through the torture of being a West Brom fan...comments like .."Why do I do this, they always let me down"...often followed by...."Yes I knew we'd do it"... I sometimes feel like a very distant agony aunt who is just as anxious herself...

I am so glad we are back..for myself my friends, but mostly for my boys, who still support the 'Albion', despite living in a country where only Man U... Liverpool..Arsenal...and Chelsea figure. I always get a lump in the throat when my boys wear their Albion shirts and proudly explain for the tenth time...'I support West Brom cus they are the greatest'. And now they are at least back in the big time...West Brom is mine...my Dad's..my brothers and lots of my families team and it links my boys to their 'black country' heritage and links them to my loved ones...They are proudly Irish and Catholic....like their mum and her great family but they are also black country lads like my Dad...Grandad..and Great Grandad...However I remind them supporting the Albion is like tooth ache at times...which brings me back to Dentists...

Growing up, I never had a problem going to the dentist. I, unlike most children who feared the sights, sounds, and smells of the dental office, actually enjoyed going. But as a 40+-old with sensitive teeth, a routine cleaning has become the bain of my existence.

To illustrate the point, I've made a list of what it was like to go to the dentist then and what it's like to go to the dentist now.

Then:There were plenty of comics to read in the waiting room. Beano/Dandy/Tiger and Scorcher , how I miss you!
Now:You're lucky if there's an issue of Newsweek from June '02.

Then:The Dentist had posters of cartoon characters happily brushing and flossing.
Now:The Dentist has posters of adult gingivitis and oral cancer. Bleeding gums and black teeth are not very appetizing before lunch.

Then:The Dentist used disclosing tablets that turned my teeth bright red in order to show me where the plaque was (and really, what 8-year-old boy wouldn't love to have red teeth?).
Now: The Dentist must've been a torturer in a former life because this lady can scrape and prod like nobody's business.

Then:No bills to pay and the receptionist loaded me down with parting gifts: a sparkly purple toothbrush, bubble gum-flavored toothpaste, a smiley face sticker, and a cherry lollipop.
Now:I pay the bills. 'Nuff said.

Love stew