Hello, my name is Doris and I'd like to make a complaint.

In my last blog I mentioned one particular man with a missing tooth . Check out the PS section at the end of that blog entry. That's Dave. Not David. Just Dave. Second most boring date I've ever been on. A close second to the infamous I've-had-a-fucking-Brad-day Brad. That's another story. I mentioned in my last entry that Dave sent me a text before we met to explain that he'd just been to the dentist and his mouth was vewy vewy sore. He'd need to recoup before he could contact me again and he told me not to expect a text message from him that week. I guessed that he'd just had a tooth pulled. Silent gag. My brother has recently introduced me to the idea that I'm in what he refers to as 'the transition phase'. He sees this as a very healthy and sensible process I'm doomed to go through where I finally warm to the idea that I am in fact better off never dating again. When the pain outweighs the gain and all hope is lost.

I've only dated one man in the last year who hasn't been missing at least one tooth. And I've dated a few. It goes like this. Introductions over, perhaps sit and chat for a bit. You say something worthy of a LOL, or more likely, he says something he thinks is funny, he arches his head back and opens his mouth. Your first magic moment together. And bingo, there it is!  Or rather, there it isn't.  No matter how many times I see that 'space' I'm always shocked. 4th or 5th tooth back from the midline, usually upper mandible. Always obvious. These men have good cars (yes, they tell me), they're reasonably employed, ok clothes and hygiene...but their teeth! When you look at the Australian statistics, it's undoubtedly the poor who are missing teeth - adults without private health insurance, those on lower incomes and those who are eligible for public dental care have more missing teeth ( 1) . The cohort available to me on RSVP. Usually lower socioeco