Colonel J. J. Proudfoot, the Managing Director of Proudfoot Industries, is bursting with fury when his latest product, a toothpaste called Dreem, fails to attract the attention of the public. Everyone in the organisation comes in for a taste of J. J.'s tongue and the brunt of his temper is vented on his Advertising Manager, Mr. Duff.

To save his skin, Duff suggests that the firm should engage a dentist to endorse the toothpaste. A tricky ask, as any dentist endorsing a commercial product in such a scheme would be liable to be struck off the Register. But J. J. thinks that Duff's idea is a good one and he knows just the man who will help him - his cousin, the Dean of King Alfred's Dental College.

Identifying his two worst ever students for the job - the newly (but only just) qualified David Cookson and Brian Dexter - the Dean is quick to despatch them to the Dreem factory before they can be let loose on an unprepared general public; and, perhaps all too true to form, the pair quickly sign up to the £1,500-per annum salary - not realising quite what their job entails!

Soon realising that they are to be marketing stooges rather than in-house dental workers for the factory's staff, Cookson and Dexter seem to be stuck; and with one of Proudfoot's executives, Macreedy, having taken a particular dislike to them, it's an increasingly uncomfortable situation.

Fortunately, there is one friendly face: beautiful blonde Jill, who was to be the star of the company's new advertising campaign, who has also fallen foul of Macreedy's duplicitous nature. And luckily, whilst he may be a haphazard dentist, Dexter has proved to be a pharmacological whizz - a workable plan to save their skins could yet be in the offing.