Feeling very independent at about 17 I took myself off to the dentist he was a new dentist in town so I didn't have long to wait for an appointment.  So, the day comes and off I go to keep my appointment.   I was full of confidence expecting a filling was all that was needed.  When I realised he was getting ready to pull out the tooth I queried what he was doing and he said... the tooth needed to come out. All I could think was thank goodness it was a back tooth.  Well, later that day my face starts to swell, it swells that badly that my eye closes. Friends and mum were telling me to go back to him but I had no intentions of ever going back to that dentist.   By the time the swelling goes down and I can open my mouth I go to my doctor for him to have a look at the inside of my mouth which was so very sore but no where near where the tooth was pulled out.  The dr looks and finds that the dentist had slashed the inside of my cheek.....  I never went back to that dentist not even to complain I just wanted to stay well away from him.   About a month or so later he made headlines in the newspaper because a patient he had done something similar too had taken him to court and it turned out he was going to jail for impersonating a dentist.  Yep that is right, he was not a dentist which is why he would only pull teeth.  Turned out he was a dental technician!!   Took me a long time to go to a dentist. after that.   Finally, I could put it off no longer, I had to go and again, when telling a friend at Squash about this dentist she exclaims OMG you aren't going to blood Murray are you!!  Yes I was, and he was called blood Murray because he likes to see blood. Which is what I was saying to Morva ... that this new dentist doesn't fill teeth he only pulls them!!  Another squash team mate finds out about my dramas with this new dentist and it turns out she had spoken to her husband who just happened to be a dentist.  Imagine my relief to finally have a dentist I could trust....  While Richard's surgery was miles away from home it was worth the trip and his wife Jenny would come over and we would visit and I would be invited out the back for a cup of tea....   Eventually life changes as it often does and now I am living in a different town and in search of a dentist,  One day I am telling a friend that I think I had found the perfect dentist however when I told her his name she freaks out and says he lives next door to her and she would never go to him.....

Honestly, I sometimes wonder if I should have called this blog "It can only happen to me"