A visit to the dentist for the first time in a decade for The West Briton’s coffee-loving reporter Matt Dixon revealed that his “pearly whites” weren’t all that bright.

Bear in mind that black coffee is one of my small daily pleasures; and consider the fact that I hadn’t seen a dentist for 10 years, and you have some idea of what sort of state my “pearly whites” were in.

Also embrace the knowledge that I have never, ever indulged in any beauty enhancements (I did wear eyeshadow once, but that’s another story), so there was a certain amount of trepidation ahead of my teeth whitening treatment.

As I approached the idyllic surroundings of Dr Simon Fox’s home at Penelewey, near Truro, my pre-bleach nerves were not helped by an eager dog roaming the perimeter fence.

However, it looked friendly enough, so I chanced my arm and wandered to the front door where I was welcomed by an equally friendly Dr Fox, a dental practitioner of 17 years.

He instantly made me feel at ease in his Brighter Smile Studio, talking me through the procedure and the possible adverse affects of power bleaching.

Sensitive teeth and susceptibility to staining in the three days after treatment were the only real concerns so I sat back and let the fun begin.

First he measured the colour of my teeth and my little stained devils were just four off the bottom rung.

As I had expected, plenty of room for improvement.

He then gave them a polish and general buff-up, before placing some cotton wool protectors in my mouth and a plastic implement to prevent my tongue from interfering with the teeth.

Next up was a coating to protect my gums and I began to feel a little uneasy, probably because for once in my life I was denied the chance to talk.

Then came the bleaching process – he literally painted my front teeth as far as my first molars, before placing an ultra violet light in front of my mouth, activating the solution and accelerating the whitening process.

After 10 minutes the solution was removed and replaced with fresh solution and the process was repeated twice more, totalling 30 minutes.

During that time, Dr Fox put on some soothing music, activated my massage chair and encouraged me to lie back and relax.

I didn’t find it desperately easy – receiving dental work has never been my favourite pastime – and although it wasn’t painful, it was slightly discomforting.

However, after rinsing off the solution and assuming my first smile in the mirror, the improvement was overwhelming.

I grinned at Dr Fox, I grinned in the mirror again, I grinned at the dog, I grinned until my face ached.

My rejuvenated gnashers had rocketed up the tooth scale, the transformation was amazing.

I left Brighter Smile Studio, gleefully stroking the dog one more time and got into my car, where I promptly adjusted the rear view mirror for another celebratory glimpse of my gleamers.

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