Thursday, January 15, 2009

Dental interlude


Toothbrush
Originally uploaded by Phil_Parker.
Yesterday I went to see my dentist, Mr Ubbi, for the annual oral MOT. He's a good dentist, very quick and apparently capable of pain free fillings. The surgery is clean and the equipment looks modern and impressive. Unlike my previous dentist he stick pretty well to appointment times too.

Now no one looks forward to a trip to the dentist but I feel that modellers should receive special compassion for our nervousness. You see we know what the tools look like.

In my toolkit there are a few dental picks, bought from Squires, for digging solder and other muck out of odd corners. They are hard and sharp. When Mr Ubbi attacks my teeth with them I wonder how he doesn't go through the enamel. I fear for my tongue.

Worse is to come if a filling is required. I'm no stranger to the dental bur, a sharp toothed ball of destruction which can eat its way through a whitemetal locomotives insides at a fearsome rate. I also know how hard it is to control. The tools has a mind of its own, often wanting to wander off at speed where it's not wanted. When you listen to the whine of the drill, all I think of is my efforts with similar equipment.

Normal people get to lie there in perfect ignorance. Not us.

And before someone suggests that you can acquire old tools from a friendly dentist I say, "Eughhhh. They've been in peoples mouths !"

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