The very first time that I went to the dentist I was eight years old. I had very bad toothache in a back molar tooth. It kept stinging it was keeping me awake at night and pulsating during the day. Grandfather decided to take me to his dentist. I was very nervous getting into the dentist’s chair. There was a view of the grey slate roof tops that could be seen from the chair, a clear blue sky, a tree with golden leaves outside the dentist’s window.

Mr Ruddell the dentist put a cape around my neck and a gas mask over my face. Telling me to think about bonfire night. I would feel a slight push has he took the tooth out from the socket. I woke up feeling hazy as if I had been asleep for a long period of time rather than minutes. The tooth was given back to me, in a tissue most of the back of the tooth had gone, what was left was brown decay. Some bonfire night that was? The tooth socket bled for several days. And had to be replaced with cotton wool regularly. I survived to tell the tale.

Submitted by Christine Law, 65, Wolverhampton