Years ago, I had a wisdom tooth that was growing in crooked and trapped by my jawbone. It was all I could think about, it put me off my food and kept me awake at night. My NHS dentist tried and failed to take it out and ended up referring me downstairs, to a private ‘implantologist’ (a confusing title for a man who pulls teeth for cash).

Everyone reading this will be familiar with a time when they’ve struggled with that kind of pain, but it’s becoming much, much harder to find help if you need to rely on NHS dental care. This isn’t dentists’ fault. They’ve been sounding the alarm for years about stagnant rates of pay for NHS work while an SNP/Green government, with its head in the sand, is unprepared to talk or listen in a meaningful way. No wonder industry representatives liken engaging with ministers to pulling teeth.