Monday I had to have two wee fillings. I'm incredibly lucky in that I have excellent teeth (one dentist said they are as hard as rocks, which I gathered from his tone was a good thing) so fortunately this is not a common event.

Of course, I tried to use humor as a defense mechanism against the panic I was feeling. "C'mon, Doc, is this really necessary?" He replied that we could wait till the cavities grew up - I suppose that's dentist humor, because he continued with the proceedings.

He did ask me if I had been chewing gum lately. I replied no, but as an afterthought added that lately I had been enjoying cinnamon Altoids. "Altoids?!? Putting those in your mouth is liking sucking on sugar cubes!" I patiently explained that I didn't suck on them, I ate them rather quickly, due to their piquant properties. Apparently even eating them causes toth decay, in Dr. Smiley's opinion, and he urged me to investigate sugar-free options. So, goodbye, tasty breath-freshening treats.

And, no, that's no pseudonym, my dentist's name really is Dr. Smiley. His partners' names? Dr. Friend and Dr. Love. I'm not making this up.