Good Lord, £7 quid, £7 quid for the equipment I need recommended by my dentist who I just paid £130 to be told I need to come back in 3 months because my cleaning is not up to scratch.

I had been going to an NHS dentist but with kids teeth in crisis reported this week and 90% of patients paying for private dental care it seems to me the state of peoples teeth in the UK is not the best, including mine.

I have been a regular flosser, not good enough I am now told by my private hygienist and have been put in a strict routine of dipping these sticks in corsodyl or listerine and poking them diligently between every tooth, dipping in between to try and remove any food or debris getting stuck.

Interestingly for me, the difference between my hygiene report at the NHS dentist and the hygiene report at my new dentist did give me a big shock. And I was concerned as a regular attendee for checks and cleans my teeth were not in a better state.

The Tepe cleaning sticks are quite nifty bits of kit to be fair, I tried those ones that look like mini toilet brushes on twisted wire but they are fiddly to use, won’t push through and go bendy and unmanageable.

I broke my boots boycott went to boots for them, I couldn’t think where else I might find them. The don’t sell them at Superdrug.

I’ll do another snoop about why I boycotted Boots. I don’t like the UK company’s tax arrangements.