In Welsh, a tooth is a 'dant' and the meaning of the word 'dandelion' translates to'the lion's tooth', thus providing us withpoetic licence and cross cultural polination.

Bared teeth can be menacing, butthe word 'toothsome' suggests something else, something tasty, to get yourteeth into.

Problems arise when you have no teeth. During the eighteenth century, the better off started consuming more sugar, to the detriment of their teeth.

At one time,it was the fashion to have one's teeth out as a twenty first birthday present. The effects of this were not only cosmetic: minusteeth gums shrink, cheeks cave in but,essentially,you cannot enjoy your food.

I had a tooth extracted this week, a molar that had sprung an abscess over the weekend, so my thoughts turned to dentistry.

I retain a long-ago imageof some elder of the parish enjoying a pippin, part of which was shredded by his moustache and fell likesnow onto his lap. (Fascinating to watch when you are a child). The remarkable thing about this act,unremarkable otherwise, was he had enoughteethto bite into an apple at eighty. What joy!

Contrast this now, if you will, with a fortyish womanwho slices an apple (with a fruit knife!) before eating it.I'll tell you something and I'm not budging, there is nothing that makes you look moredecrepit than slicing fruit before eating it. Why? It looks as though you have no teeth or that you cannot find a good dentist.

It is said that George Washington suffered from wearing a pair of wooden dentures. He may have suffered, but his dentures were probably made of ivory or mother of pearl but not wood. They were held in place by silken threads and he was unable to use histeeth to eat.

Advances in orthodontics were slow until this century, thoughthe developmentof false teeth wasglobal. Even four thousand five hundred years ago, people were making dentures in Mexico. A team of archaeologists therebelieve they have discovered theremains of a body fitted with false teeth.

In 700 BC, the Etruscans in northern Italy, fashioned teeth from ivory and bone, held together by gold bridgework. Unfortunately, the skill disappeared.

The Japanese, in 1538, made stridesin fashioning false teeth but it was not until 1774 that porcelain teeth became more common.

So desperate was the need for dentures that fallen soldiers in the Napoleonic Wars had their teeth removed to be recycled.Teeth taken fromslain soldiers in the battlefields of the American Civil War were shipped to Europe and sold.('Why should death rob life of fourpence?' as Falstaff said).

The good news is, I'm out of pain and eating again andI've plenty ofteeth left to enjoy my food.