We all remember going to the dentist as a child and the most important part of the whole trip: getting a sticker.
But sadly one of the things that I hear about often from people in St Albans is the difficulty of finding an NHS dentist appointment for their children.
In theory, in England, children are entitled to free dental treatment, and the same applies to women who are pregnant and for a year after giving birth, as pregnancy and birth can affect dental health.
The key words there, sadly, are "in theory". In reality, local residents tell me of enormous challenges finding an NHS dentist.
Childhood should be the time when we start little people on good habits and good health; instead, 70 children a day have teeth removed in hospital.
As ever, when you tell me, I raise it in Parliament. Indeed, I've spoken twice in the Commons this year already on dentistry, to raise concerns over the “access crisis” and the lack of appointments, and to urge the government to ringfence unspent money from this year's funding so it can be spent next year.
That second point is an indicator of just how broken the funding for NHS dentistry has become.
It's a combination of a lack of dentists and a labyrinthine system of funding that sees dentists lose money every time they treat NHS patients, leaving dentists with no choice but to give up NHS work at all.
It's a mess, and, like a toothache, the longer it's left, the worse it gets.
I took your concerns with me to the Liberal Democrat spring conference where we formed the basis of the party's new policy on NHS dentistry.
I'm really proud of the package we've come up with - there are practical suggestions that would massively improve the situation.
We want to train more dentists. We would launch an emergency scheme to catch up on the backlog of appointments to which children, pregnant women, and women who've given birth in the last year are entitled.
We'd remove VAT on children's toothbrushes and children's toothpaste.
Most of all we'd change the funding system to put an end to "dental deserts". Recent research found that nearly eighty per cent of dentists are not taking on any new child NHS patients, and that just isn't good enough.
I urge the government to change things, quickly. Meanwhile, I don't think they deserve a sticker.
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