Retired dentist John Furniss takes a light-hearted look back at a long and varied career during which he helped to developperiodontal care for children, including those with special needs, played a role in the introduction of fluoridation and expanded dental health education and played a national role in dental vocational training. It wasn't all plain sailing - he was interrupted by adventures on the sports field (one of which left his leg in plaster for four months), a little incident where a dropped drawer led to the dentures of six patients being irretrievably mixed up, and a series of obstacles to his long campaign to improve dental health in the young and disadvantaged.