Do they shine in the dark?

Yesterday, Sir Pe came back all chipper – yet again! – from the dentist’s. He has been to the same dentist for the past twenty years (ever since he came to Sweden from the UK) and for the past nineteen years, he has had a check-up and a clean, but has not needed to have any work done on his teeth! Amazing – perfect dental health for nearly two decades!

It’s just not fair! I seem to need dental work done on mine fairly regularly.

I asked Sir Pe if he has always had good teeth. (Maybe it is genetic, I thought.) But bang went that theory when he told me that he had ‘bad’ teeth as a child, getting his first cavity in a milk tooth (good gracious!) at the tender age of 7. His theory? “Kids don’t learn how to brush their teeth properly in England.”

Mmm.. there might be something in that as it seems to be fairly common for kids to get holes in their teeth in the UK. On the other hand, it is quite common to meet people in their 20s in Sweden, who have never had a filling in their entire lives! (I’m envious!) I put it down to the dentists here in Sweden: they quiz kids on who brushes their teeth and give parents a telling off if they let their kids brush their teeth themselves.

They also promote the tradition of only eating sweets on a Saturday – as it is better to eat sweets all at once on a certain day of the week than eating them every day…

I wish I had met a nice Swedish dentist when I was a kid. Instead, I suffered at the hands of the mad butcher of Argentina (where I spent four years of my childhood). In the late 60s, it was a common dental philosophy to put fillings in every tooth -even healthy ones! – as they thought that this was a good way to protect against cavities. Er… right?!

Yes – I am blessed with a husband that has dazzling teeth and who can sew.

Now – if only he could cook too…

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By the way, here comes a joke:

What did the dentist see at the North Pole?

Answer: ……………….

(Aha! Leave me your answer in the comments! Or come back here tomorrow to find out… Yes – I know: the suspense is too much!)