THE DENTIST WHO’S GOT TEN FILLINGS

Dr BEn AtkinS is the principal dentist at revive Dental Care in Manchester and spokesman for the British Dental Association

PATIENTS often have fears about metal fillings and it relaxes them when I tell them I have a mouthful of metal, ten fillings in total. What’s more, I would put them in my child’s mouth, too.

I have to laugh because when I was a child, my mum used to give me a bag of toffees as a reward for being good at the dentist. Being a goody two shoes, I’d make my toffees last all day, while my brother would scoff them all at once. The result? He has no fillings, I have a mouthful.

I know now that when we eat something sweet, the sugar reacts with bacteria on the teeth to produce harmful acids. When we eat, the mouth produces more saliva to neutralise the acids and stop them damaging teeth.

But snacking throughout the day — as I did on toffees — means there was no chance for this to happen. All my fillings were done in my teens. When I grew up and started studying dentistry I learned about looking after your teeth properly, and started to get it under control.

At dental school, there were other trainees who had quite a few fillings, too — we were part of a generation that hadn’t woken up to the importance of dental hygiene and avoiding sugar.

However, when I spent some time training in Sweden, I did feel a bit embarrassed about my fillings as they were already more attuned to the risks and no one seemed to have as many as me. But I’ve had no fillings since my 20s and I’m now 40. The last treatment I had was to repair an existing filling, and that was four or five years ago.

I avoid sweets and fizzy drinks, and if I do have something sweet I’ll have it straight after a meal.

I advise my patients that if they’re giving their children sweets — there’s no point pretending they don’t — to give them after a meal.

I do the same with my two children, who are aged three and four.