All my life I’ve pretty well ignored my dentist’s recommendations and, without wishing to tempt fate, my teeth are in relatively good nick.
As a child, I refused to wear the braces I was prescribed. My parents – no doubt happy to avoid the expense – allowed me to bypass the hideous train tracks popular at the time and I don’t believe my teeth suffered as a result. (When my dentist proposed braces for my son, I didn’t force him to wear them, either.)
Now, five decades later, my suspicion that dentists dupe us into unnecessary interventions remains.
A few years back, I saw my dentist (whom I love) about a cracked back molar. He referred me to a specialist doctor (whom I didn’t love) for implant surgery.
This doctor took X-rays, then told me I needed around £50,000 of work. He needed to graft new bone into my mouth to stop my teeth falling out in a few years, he told me. All as a result of one cracked tooth!
I didn’t have the available cash, nor any desire to be on soft foods for months after undergoing painful treatment. So I took a calculated risk and decided not to go through with it.
Two years on, although the cracked tooth did have to go, the rest of my mouth appears to be fine.
Last week I saw my hygienist. During the previous session, she informed me, in dire tones, that I had a puffy gum and needed to see a specialist pronto or all manner of nasty infections would occur.
I choose to save my money for more enjoyable experiences than what I suspect is becoming a rip-off trade in toothcare. writes Alexandra Shulman
I never saw said specialist – the catastrophic gum condition simply cleared up of its own accord. With such high costs – and NHS dentistry scarce in this country – is it any wonder so many people go to Turkey or Georgia to get their teeth sorted out for a fraction of the price?
I might well join them when I can’t stave off the natural decay. But until then I choose to save my money for more enjoyable experiences than what I suspect is becoming a rip-off trade in toothcare.
Camilla may not be browbeaten – I was!
I hope Queen Camilla, who, according to last week’s Daily Mail, has her eyebrows microbladed, has a more satisfactory experience than I did.
Microblading is the tattooing of semi-permanent strokes of colour onto your brows to give the impression they’re thicker.
My brows have always been dark but the outline has become less defined as I’ve got older. A facialist suggested this procedure would give me a cleaner shape, while filling in some of the gaps where the hairs were sparse.
I emerged from the treatment room looking like a Wild Woman of Wongo who had found two thick black hairy slugs attached to her face. The scabs that form on each tattooed line drop off fairly swiftly, leaving a natural looking colour, but in my case, this brittle crust stayed on for weeks.
Once it had gone, I was left with unnaturally heavy black brows and still, about four years later, have a brown smudge above my left brow which refuses to shift. Never again. The brow pencil will do just fine.
Queen Camilla had her eyebrows microbladed, according to last week’s Daily Mail
UK has become no home to Ukrainians
As the Ukraine war moves into its fifth year, I had intended to write about what a success the Homes for Ukraine initiative had been for Andrii and Violetta, the young couple who moved in with us for 18 months. But when I called Violetta, to check whether it would be OK to write this, her reaction was less than enthusiastic.
The initial three-year visa they received allowed them to work in the UK and gain access to NHS health care as well as various other benefits. When this ran out, they were given an 18-month extension.
But under Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s latest proposals, the four years they have already spent here won’t count towards the ten years migrants now need if they’re to qualify for indefinite leave to remain. Their visa process will need to start again from scratch.
This couple have been employed almost from the day they arrived: Andrii in construction; Violetta in the beauty halls of major department stores. She in particular, has worked incredibly hard, taking a business course in the evenings and being regularly promoted.
The couple are now married and recently managed to buy a small house on the outskirts of London which Andrii, with his construction skills, is renovating. They have paid taxes almost from the very first day they arrived.
Moving country and leaving family behind as a result of a war is tough. Neither would prefer to be here if they could live in a peaceful Ukraine.
But after four years, they had hoped they might feel secure enough here to consider it home, somewhere where they could start a family.
Instead they feel increasingly unwelcome and wonder if they might be better off making another huge move to somewhere else.
Galliano glamour is coming to High St
By hiring John Galliano to create a range, Zara is playing catch up with Uniqlo which has had a massive success with its designer collaborations with Clare Waight Keller and JW Anderson.
I’ll be intrigued to see what Galliano comes up with for his first Zara range, scheduled for September. His strength lies in a nostalgic glamour – bias-cut dresses, waisted peplum jackets, corseted bodices – so not exactly everyday wear. He loves the theatrical and the ornate.
It’s a bold choice for these times, but the pairing of the retail might of the massive Spanish brand, with Galliano’s mastery of cut and fabric might just work.
We must treasure our free museums
The Natural History Museum has just been named the No 1 UK attraction, with a record 7.1 million visitors. It’s a reminder of the impressive number of free cultural institutions in this country – and the importance of keeping our national museums that way.
