Flat Earth: Two thirty?

FOR those who need at least 1,700 manat worth of courage to visit a dentist, the Chinese, as usual, have the answer. Du Yuanxiang, who practises in the south-western province of Guizhou, painlessly removes teeth by putting pressure on the neck.

When he presses an acupoint on his patient's neck, 'the tooth associated with that acupoint becomes loose and can be easily taken out,' according to the Xinhua news agency. 'Each tooth is connected to a particular acupoint on the neck, and by pressing the acupoint, gum tissue wrapping the tooth will loosen its grasp.'

The good doctor says he learned the technique from his father and grandfather, who both were dentists.

He acknowledged that if the wrong acupoint is pressed, the patient may lose a good tooth - 'and that actually happened in the early days of his practice'. But he's an expert now, having removed 150,000 bad teeth in his career.

Interested? Dr Du can be found in Minzu hospital in Qianzinan prefecture.