Smile like a star

Of all the things I wanted to experience in Woburn, root canal surgery was not high on the list. 

But as Neil Entwistle's trial approached the end of its third week, an unfortunate incident with a cinnamon raisin bagel and a crumbling molar meant I found myself in the chair at Woburn's (and possibly the world's) only movie-themed dental surgery. 

If the sign outside saying "We cater to cowards" had not been enough to put me off, the dizzying array of movie posters and memorabilia inside did make me wonder what on earth I was letting myself in for - but the searing pain in my mouth left me with no choice. 

As it happened, the choice turned out to be root canal surgery there and then, or lose the tooth altogether. 

I lay back in the chair and tried to focus on the piped-in movie theme tunes and the poster-sized photograph of Harrison Ford looming above me on the ceiling, but even then the trial of Neil Entwistle was never far away. 

As I was left alone to wait for the novocaine to start doing its job, conversation in the next cubicle was all about the trial as another patient mulled over the evidence with a dental nurse. They covered every aspect of the case, the witnesses and the media coverage. I was almost glad when the drilling started and drowned it out. 

And as I finally sat up slack-jawed, dribbling and disorientated three hours later, my dentist began: "So, my visitor from England, I've got to ask - did he do it? Do British people think he did it?" I tried to mumble something intelligent, or at least coherent, in reply.  

Hours later, dosed up on codeine and antibiotics, I looked at the letterhead on my aftercare advice and saw the dentist's motto: "Smile like a star".  Suddenly the movie theme made sense. Or at least as much sense as it ever could.