I have actually managed to fix this. I clicked on "Format" then "Styles and Formatting" - something I think I've never done before - and found a box that had stuff in it that I'd never seen before... including options without the dots AND with the dots. I navigated to the places that were annoying me so much, clicked on what I wanted - without the dots - and the dots disappeared!
What was really strange is that now - when I go back to the same box - there are no options with the dots anymore.