This is just an idea and it won't appeal or be relevant to everyone but there are around 40% of the people reading this who may suffer from a complaint known variously as odontophobia, dentophobia or dentist phobia.

Of course it's only natural (indeed a survival instinct) to avoid pain but for some people, the idea of sitting in a dentist's chair when there isn't even an emergency abscess is too much to bear. 

As with so many things in life we avoid short term pain but in the process risk long term pain or worse.

But since I was exactly like that myself for years then I'm not going to lecture anyone on the subject.  I used to avoid the dentist at all costs and eventually only managed to visit again when offered an ultimatum by a long suffering girlfriend.

Whilst she was a lovely girlfriend, what I REALLY WISHED I'D HAD was the extra incentive of a free online consultation. 

Salisbury House - Hammersmith's best dental surgery are offering a brilliant new service that is proving to be amazingly popular - all you have to do is visit their website and fill in the simple form about your teeth and what you think needs a bit of attention.

Here's a clever bit - then you take a few photos of your teeth with your phone (or even a camera!) and attach the shots to the e-mail.  In a few days, one of the Salisbury House dentists will then give you an opinion about your teeth and suggest some possible courses of treatment.  They'll even give you an idea about what it might cost.

In a very short and totally painless amount of time you'll have already started the process of sorting out something you've been meaning to get on to for ages.

The consultation is free and you can ignore the advice if you want but Ian and the team at Salisbury House are really expert at making you feel relaxed and helping you make all the steps you need to make.

I suppose with a popular service like this you don't really even need to live in Hammersmith and Fulham (the Salisbury House are proud of the fact that they have regular customers who come from as far away as Portsmouth, Guernsey and Somerset).

If you still need a bit of extra encouragement, have a look at some of the recommendations they've had on our website for them if you want reassurance that these people know what they're doing - we had a new one only today.

So if you're a dentist dodger in the way I used to be, that's my suggesting for your resolution.  Visit here, or here and painlessly start a process that you know you won't regret.