When I was very little, maybe six or seven years old, I split my chin running on ice, and my dad had to come out of work and take me to the hospital.
My chin was sutured up under local anaesthetic as a very young child, I'm not quite sure how I managed to tolerate that, but my memory from almost 45 years ago is that the clinician was fantastic.
He told me a story about ants and how he had to cut their heads off, stitch their chins up and then stitch their heads back on when their chins were split.
I can remember he made me laugh, and I can remember he put me at ease. I don't remember anything about him stitching on my chin.
He was clearly a genius, a marvel at communication, putting children at ease and getting the work done.
It's Wednesday in the middle of my half-term holiday break, and I'm dressed as Spiderman talking to a little three-year-old girl (I won't give her name here, for obvious reasons).
She visited us with her mum for a free Children's checkup day.
It's a superhero theme day, the practice is beautifully decorated by our amazing team here, and I am dressed as Spiderman with Natasha, my nurse, in a mask and cape.
Shaun is next door as Batman with Ellie as Robin, and we're going through people who want to have their Children's teeth looked at, checked, looked after, almost certainly by someone like the guy who looked after me when I had split my chin.
It's extraordinary, isn't it? What shapes us as people and the tiny events which were so significant that they're one of our only memories from 45 years ago?
I wonder how much impact that has or had on where I am now.
This superhero-themed checkup, drop-in day in the school holiday is designed to make it as easy for parents as possible.
You don't have to book; you can just turn up; it's free for your Children, which was David Winkler's idea.
I don't know where David is now; he was an extraordinary dentist based in Windsor at CastleView dental practice.
He set the practice up himself because he wanted to do things properly, ethically, and honestly.
Chris Barrow introduced me to him, and I went to see him at the practice. That was an extraordinary day meeting an extraordinary individual.
He told me that his checkup days would look like these if he ever had the opportunity. The dentists would dress up as superheroes, the practice would be decorated, and you wouldn't have to make an appointment.
As I write this blog in the middle of that Wednesday, I'm not sure how many people will turn up.
I'm not sure how many of them will sign up (It would be nice if people wanted to come to the practice as regular patients), but Shaun, Ellie, and I have just had a conversation downstairs and decided that we don't care.
I would like to do this in almost every school holiday, even if it's only to do checkups for Children who cannot get NHS care because people are coming to us today and telling us that no one will see their three-year-old to do a checkup, and so we have to.
I can't see everyone, and I won't see everyone; I can't fix all the world's problems, but the superhero day, I think that's become a fixture, I have to lose a little bit more weight before I put the Spiderman costume on again.
Blog Post Number - 3976
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