Painful

I wasn't looking forward to today. Dentist. Second appointment in four appointment Peridontal treatment. The first one last week was being taught how to brush one's teeth! Wish I had been given this lesson 60 years ago. I don't remember in the 1950s my parents making any issue about cleaning teeth thoroughly - one simply got the tube of toothpaste, toothbrush and twice a day whizzed about a bit.

Good that the German NHS are now investing in preventative measures. The treatment is free and includes lots of follow-up cleaning visits in the next two years to qualify for it being free.

Today was the first actual deep cleaning which itself requires a lot of anaesthetic injections as it's not pleasant. Being knocked out, they also took the opportunity to replace an old filling. It was hard work, not for me, and I felt very badly for the dentist. I t was my normal dentist's wife who has specialised in such treatments, but despite telling her I was a coward and she taking incredible care and kindly treating me like a 5-year-old, I was nervous and up-tight for the entire 90 minutes. Must have been awful for her, far worse than it actually was for me!

As her father died just before Christmas, the next session to do the other half of the mouth has had to be postponed until mid-January, so sadly a few weeks of mental pain ahead.