I hate dentists, but didn't even need an anaesthetic

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But faced with a rotting tooth and advice from his dental nurse girlfriend, the 36-year-old finally agreed to make an appointment with Emmanouel Koloutsos.

The web designer was able to conquer his fear of dentists after a 10-minute session with the new laser, during which he had a filling with no anaesthetic.

He said: "I have been terrified of dentists since I was five years old when I had to have four teeth removed. I started kicking and screaming when I went into the surgery so the staff took me into the dentist's room and told my mum to wait outside. They pinned me in the chair and forced gas on me. They whipped out my four teeth and gave me back to my mother still bleeding.

"Since then I have had a phobia. It is the drill that really gets to me. Even the smell of the dentist's surgery on my girlfriend when she came home from work could set me off." The former Royal Navy airforce engineer, from Southend, said: "I'm ex-military so lots of things do not scare me. But dentists send me into a cold sweat."

Describing his experience at Mr Koloutsos's Harley Street surgery, he said: "All I could hear was the clicking sound of the laser. I didn't even need any anaesthetic.

"I felt no sensations at all and it was all over in 10 minutes.

I even went home and had lunch. Being scared of dentists has been a real problem for me since 1976 but I know as I get older I can't keep avoiding them. This was such a relief."