When I reached the dentist’s surgery around 9 am, I found the reception area, which doubles as a waiting room, crowded. This is explained by the fact that this dentist, unlike my usual one, runs a walk-in service.

As I expected, I was asked to fill in a form detailing my state of health and to pay the standard NHS fee of £22.70. (Unlike the rest of the NHS, dental treatment is not free and there is a scale of charges, unless you are on Income Support, in which case there is no charge. Most dentists now treat clients both on the NHS and privately. The client can also mix NHS and private treatment.)

In view of the large number of people, I prepared myself for a long wait. (I have mentioned before that being treated by the NHS schools you in patience!) I was pleasantly surprised to be called about 45 minutes after I arrived. I was instructed to go to the first floor (that’s the second floor in American 😉 ). Here I found a second waiting room but tarried here only short while before being collected by a nurse and conducted to a treatment room.

I was attended to by a young male dentist who was polite and friendly. He examined my whole mouth and took an X-ray of the affected area.

He diagnosed what I had suspected, namely an infection which was the source of the pain. This was caused by a tooth suffering decay which would need root canal work, if it can be saved, or extraction if not. He prescribed antibiotic pills which should reduce the infection and thereby the pain. We left it that I would seek follow-up treatment from my own dentist with whom I have an appointment for next Tuesday.

Home now, I have taken the first pill and am waiting hopefully for the pain to subside.

If anyone requires evidence that the universe and life on earth are not created by a rational mind, I offer teeth as the killer argument. I can hardly imagine a better example of a failed design than teeth.

Yesterday was a painful day. I had a toothache a couple of weeks ago and managed to secure an early appointment with my dentist. He could find nothing wrong and as the pain had subsided by then, we agreed on a “wait and see” policy.

The pain returned last Saturday but subsided after I took a painkiller in the night. I tried to make an appointment with my dentist but was told he was on holiday and couldn’t see me until Tuesday next week.

The pain returned yesterday and the first dose of painkiller failed to have any effect on it. I took a second does around midnight and fell asleep.

The tooth is not so painful this morning but the whole area if the jaw is tender and I fear that the pain will return. There seems little point in contacting my usual dentist’s surgery given the fact that they have already given me an appointment.

I decided to contact the NHS 111 service via their website, as they were very helpful with a previous emergency and found me a doctor’s appointment on the same day. This time, however, having filled in the questionnaire I was simply taken to a page showing the addressed if three local dentists, one of which is my usual one!

I have read the reviews of one of them, which seems quite good, and dealt with the reviewers on the same day. They open today at 9 am so I am going to call on them in person in the hope that they can see me and at least diagnose what the problem is.

More later!