Remember when you were young and had to visit the school dentist every six months?
I like to visit the dentist when I was in primary school. She was a gentle lady who would, in our modern lingo, talk cock with me and gave me sweets. I even remember eating some of her very sweet tasting toothpaste powder... haha. And she always remember who I am whenever I go see her, as if I am her VIP customer out the several thousand school kids. It was really fun to see her.
Unfortunately, my dental experience in secondary school wasn't as pleasant. The dentist seemed rushed to finish examining my oral health in as short a time as possible and there was minimal conversation. Just "Open your mouth" and "We are done. NEXT!". No chit-chats. Just the end results.
My dental experience in junior college was non-existent. MOH stop providing free dental healthcare beyond the secondary school level, assuming us to be responsible enough to get our teeth examined periodically. But guess what? Their assumption was wrong. I, for one, haven't been to the dentist for the past 5 years.
Tua pek gong knows what the heck has settled down and colonized the vast stretches of my molar molar terrain during these years. Well, to be honest, I couldn't care less about since I have been dutifully brushing my teeth twice in the day and night all the time. But when something starts to bleed, it definitely isn't a good sign.
So for the first time in 5 years, I ringed up Q&M and booked a dental appointment.
I was attended to by this Doctor Tay.
He was damn friendly, reminiscent of my primary school days dentist. He inserted some sort of camera into my mouth first and started taking photos of my molar atlas. Then with a few buttons presses, he brought up the images onto a screen hovering in front of me. Cool stuff.
According to Doctor Tay, those were the accumulation of the end products formed by the chemical reaction between potassium and calcium substances in our saliva. It is found in everyone's teeth... since everyone has saliva and is the most common stuff he had to clean all the time. My gums and teeth were fine (long live to brushing day and night!). The bleeding in my gums was only caused by the 'excessive' build-up of those yellow stuff and it would be fine once it was removed.
Next, he started putting stuff into my mouth and began cleaning up the filth.
It was all over in about 10 minutes I think. Oh and I found out the drill like thing which dentists use to clean our mouths ain't exactly a drill. Its actually called a scalar. Something that vibrates at a high frequency to knock off those yellow stuff stuck on your teeth. Think of a high-voltage powered micro vibrator. Yeap. I supposed knocking it off causes less damage than scraping it off?
After the treatment, Doctor Tay suggests that maybe I should consider putting on braces.
Because some of my teeth are very close to each other and this makes effective cleaning difficult, but it won't cause too much of a problem in general. But he mentioned that I have a protruding lower jaw and might need to go through a surgery to re-align my jaws if I want the full procedure.
"What kind of procedure?" I asked.
"Basically, they cut open your lower face, saw off parts off your lower jaw, re-attach them and voila!" he said nonchalantly.
...
Thanks doc. Glasgow smile anyone?
But he also advised against it, saying having strong jawline (so I have a strong jaw... hmm...) might not be a bad thing, especially if I am comfortable with my looks. He had a friend who went through the surgery and Doctor Tay felt that he looked worst after that. Haha.
I guess I will putting off the braces thing. Besides, kissing someone with braces reeks of kissing a metallic hammer. Yucks.
I was given an appointment card and a rather big bill ($103). Gonna have my teeth checked in 6 months time again. I am taking good care of my mouth from now on, without which, I won't be able to savor the sweet, creamy taste of my favorite durians!!!
You guys should visit a dentist soon too if you haven't done so for years!
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