A dentist may be seen as a person one only encounters a couple of times a year, with this being an intimidating prospect for many. Yet it makes no sense to see dentists as scary people who are somehow bent on inflicting pain, whatever the dark fears of dentophobia sufferers may be.
However, if ever there was a chance to see dentists as humans with often very interesting lives outside the surgery, the Grand National provided it as Sam Waley-Cohen, the founder of Portman Dental Care who was riding his last race as an amateur before retirement, won the race.
He surprised pundits and bookies alike by riding the 50-1 outsider Noble Yeats to victory, the least fancied winner since Aurora’s Encore in 2013.
It may have come as something of a surprise to imagine the person they would normally envisage in a white coat with a big drill jumping The Chair instead of putting people in it, or being more concerned with furlongs than flossing.
Of course, most dentists are not jockeys in their spare time and if you need root canal treatment in Bishops Waltham, you won’t need your practitioner to be someone who has just ridden round the Canal Turn. But you will need someone who can do an effective, efficient job and get your oral health back on track.
You might gamble when putting money on a horse, but you can be assured of success when we are in the saddle.
As for Sam Waley-Cohen, he may not have any more horse races to run, but his dentistry and the racing world have not completely parted ways just yet.
The Daily Telegraph reports that he now has to fix the gap teeth of stable lad Mike Molloy, who made him promise before the race to do so if he won.