Last Christmas I cooked a delicious ham for the family feast, into which I inserted cloves  for flavour. Upon biting into it, I felt a stabbing pain to the roof of my mouth. I already had a dental holiday to Poland booked for root canal surgery three weeks later.  So when the dentist saw this new tooth disaster  he extracted said tooth. It had split in half.  He inserted a root implant and told me to return in six months – this time lapse was required to allow the bone to grow around the implant. After this he could install a shiny brand new tooth.

It so happened that the root canal which I was ostensibly in Poland for, was also postponed at that time. Hence I am back once again for completion of the work (the flights and accommodation for both trips along with all the dental work is still only half the price I would pay in Ireland. )

The root canal was performed yesterday morning, I thought I’d be free from dental concerns for the rest of the day. So I logged on to my work computer (I am only officially on half a day’s holiday per day, thereby only using 2.5 days holidays for my week in Gdansk) and got to toiling.

At 1pm my phone beeped. It was an email from the dentist asking if I could return to the surgery at 6.45pm that evening to allow them to create a mould to build the new molar for me. It takes several days to manufacture.

I toddled back to the dental surgery where he inserted a metal screw into my gum. It is connected to the root implant. Upon insertion I had to bite into a jelly mould – from this the new tooth will be fashioned and installed on Friday. I currently have a sinister metal appendage distended from a gum. I resemble the James Bond villain Jaws.

This afternoon I am getting a crown placed on the other tooth where the root canal was performed yesterday. Along with a regular filling.

It’s all excitement here. In addition to the teeth I am also deeply curious about the plastic surgery next door to the dentist’s office. I am contemplating a touch of Botox. Not because I am dissatisfied with my appearance. Wrinkles are natural and non-problematic for me. I am more curious as to how it would look. I won’t think about it now though. I need my mouth fixed first.