a reward

Dad has been searching high n low for his glasses for the past few days.
he got a bit frustrated n pissed off cos he couldn't remember where he placed them.
so he gave us a challenge....the person who found his glasses would get a free japanese dinner.

of course i was up for the challenge....n it didn't take me long to find them :)
dad kept his promise! we ordered some Ebi temaki, tempura udon and Sake dengaku set.
Burp.....oishii !

Cosmetic Dentistry : diastema

A diastema is a dental term that means " any space between two adjacent teeth".

a lady patient was brought in by her husband. He asked "Doc, i don't like the gap between my wife's two front teeth. is there anything you can do to make her look prettier?"

"Sure of course." i assured them.

Closing the central diastema is easy.i used a composite resin to bond to both the front teeth so that the size of the teeth is balanced.
the whole procedure took about 25 mins.

The tooth bonding is durable so a veneer or crown is not necessary.
the end result pleased my client. She certainly look prettier now.

the story about the chocolates....

So much for being a thoughtful daughter....
Mum demanded ," Fi..where did you hide my chocolates ?GIVE IT BACK!"

She had this don't -mess-with -me-look that used to scare me when i was little...
I pointed to the little corner where i hid the chocolates, she picked them up and walked out of my room grinning.
at the back of her mind she must be thinking "Idiot!"

Mum's got tooth infection!

this morning Mum woke up with a swollen lower jaw...
and she had a very tender premolar.
she had a tooth infection...so i took her in and open drained her pus and gave her some antibiotics to treat the infection.

during lunch time, i came home n did something evil!
i confiscated most of mum's chocolates n biscuits and butter cookies.( she will find out in a few days...oooops!)
i decided to do some private investigation on my own.
Godblimme!! i counted there were more than 20 types of chocolates n biscuits in her cabinet n bedroom fridge!
no wonder she kept coming in for fillings!

she didn't buy those sweets herself.
they were gifts from my brothers n sisters n friends of hers whenever they go on holidays.
i am sorry MUM...but you are not having anymore of those junk!

her birthday is coming soon...and also xmas n new year.....dear brothers n sisters ...if you love mum, please don't buy her any confectionery anymore. it is not only bad for her teeth, it will also contribute to unnecessary weight gain, heart ailments n diabetes.

surely you don't want to see mum with fewer teeth than YingYing.

anyway...i hope mum will feel better soon.
to end today's note, i would like to say my mum is really SUPER....
even though she was feeling very uncomfortable all day with her swollen jaw, she still completed the xmas quilt she made for my clinic.
thanks MUM.

Derrick n Dixon at 85 % completion of bracing

Derrick

Derrick

Dixon

Dixon

Which is Which?!!

i have been treating a set of 14 yr old identical twins Derrick n Dixon for orthodontics since May earlier this year.
Every time they come for their monthly brace tunings, my nurses n i get quite confused as to who is Derrick or Dixon.
I find it quite fascinating sometimes amusing about the twins' appearance n mannerism as they are very similar in many ways.

However, once they open their mouths , i can identify them right away.
Teeth n dental records are one of the best ways to identify a person.
Not one person's teeth is the same as the next.
that is why forensic science always utilizes dental records as a important means of identification.

the twins have shown great progress with their teeth alignment in a short period of 5 months.
I enjoy treating them because they are always jovial n talkative.
they would share with me stories about their school, their horrible maths teacher, n what they get up to during the weekends.

Company Outing

Every 3 months, i make it a point to bring my nurses out for a company outing.
I reckon that is good for our relationships at work n at play.
at the clinic ,they respect me as the doctor but when we are out, they treat me as their close friend.

our initial plan was to visit one of the nearby islands this semester. however, we have been having foul weather past weeks so we decided to have lunch at a Korean restaurant instead.

we had Korean BBQ chicken, fish pancakes and Tofu Kimchi soup.
Seen her Dora,Anita n Hanie enjoying their food.
There were only empty plates left at the end of lunch ! it was a good meal!

Emily found us!

When Priscilla n i were studying in Singapore, we grew up in the boarding school with many friends, including a lovely pair of YAP sisters Emily n Florence.

Later when we moved to Australia n then to England, we somehow lost touch.
It was only a few weeks ago that Emily managed to trace us.
And the great news was that she was bringing her family to Sabah for a short visit.

We learnt that Emily n Florence have since been PR residents in Sydney.Emily got married to Brett an aussie and they have a sweetie Jade who is 3 yrs old.

James, Priscilla n I met up with Emily, Brett n Jade for dinner at Little Italy restaurant.
Sure enough, Emily n Pris had to tease me about my coconut hairdo in Singapore!
yep....my mum used to put a coconut husk over my crown and trace her scissors over the edge of the coconut!
all i can say is , Emily ,Florence n Pris were always getting into trouble with the nuns at the convent!those girls were rebels!

we ordered some pizzas,pastas and garlic breads for dinner.and celebrated our reunion with lots of funny old time stories.
What i found impressive was that Brett counld read n write chinese...and even more impressive was that Emily could read MUCH less chinese than Brett ! Emily....are you sure you are a chinese?!! kekekekeke!!
You see, Emily took english n malay as her main languages at school and studied very little chinese.

Later that evening,we saved a little space in our tummies for some desserts at Vedablu across the street.
Emily chose durian icecreams. Pris , James n Brett chose Belgium chocolate flavour while little jade had strawberry icecreams.
Brett warned Emily, " I am NOT kissing you tonight Emily! " in reference to her durian choice....
Emily cheekily replied ," that 's alright Darling.....i will kiss you instead!"
Whooahahahaha!

how a tooth crystal is fixed

1) discuss with patient on the tooth and crystal selection.
2) clean and polish tooth surface.
3) etch the tooth surface with 37% phsphoric acid for 1 min.
4) wash and dry tooth surface.
5) crystal is secured with heliobond and orthodontic cement material.
6) the bond is light cured.

the whole process takes about 10mins.
the tooth crystal can enhance a bright smile....it's glamorous yet subtle.
GROOVY!!

Dazzling Tooth Jewellery

People express themselves with different fashion statements.

tattoos, necklaces, bracelets, earrings, nose rings, tongue rings , navel rings etc !!!

how about a tooth crystal?

this afternoon a 28 yr old chap came to my clinic .he asked his teeth to be cleaned and also requested a tooth crystal to be placed on his lateral incisor.

i have placed tooth crystals on young ladies 15 -30 years age range....but a first on a man!

the tooth crystal is a 1.8mm diameter Swaroski collection design.
the placement is non-evasive in that no holes are drilled.

The patient was pleased with the result....he jokingly said to me," i wonder if girls would find me more attractive now?"
hahahaha!

Spice Garden

Our family friend Dr.Kumar recently recommended a new indian restaurant the" Spice Garden" to us.
Since it was the weekend, we decided to try it out.

We ordered some garlic naan, palek paneer (spinach with cheese) and a platter of spice garden assortments which featured some fish n chicken tikkas,barbecued prawns, some lamb n chicken kebabs.

nevermind the knife n fork, we dug in with our fingers!
funny how Indian food always tastes better when eaten with hands :)

Denise's new trick

Denise learning to sit .
She is also starting to eat porridge this week.

3 cheers for the Birthday Boy

Ice cream cake for dessert.....woohooooo!

it's 3 layers mango, vanilla n chocholate..... Burp!

Mummy ....i am growing .......sideways.....ouch.....gotta start your training soon Fi !