Finally she summoned up her courage to go for dental braces.
We have been hovering over it for years for she was and still is worrying about the pain. After seeing more and more of her classmates who had their teeth fixed, she finally agreed.
So, after her piano lesson on the Saturday before Chinese New Year celebration, the father drove us around Taipan. After 3 clinics which we were not so comfortable with, she told me about the "chic look" clinic which is 3 doors away from her tuition centre. True enough, the clinic is modern and looks new. The nurse briefed us on the types of braces and the total cost which is about the same with the popular Smile Clinic (we dropped that because it is in the Curve, too far). I decided to go for the Damon System for the clear braces rather than the conventional metal one. The total cost is 8k, excluding extraction and replacement.
Last Saturday, we were at the clinic promptly at the appointment time. After about a 10-minute wait, the nurse told us to follow her to the x-ray room. The X-ray room looks well equipped with brand-new-look apparatus. First, she took the X-ray from the front of her face, then she continue with the side.
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| The nurse prepare her for the X-ray. |
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| The "sensor" went around her head. |
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| The one for the side view. |
Then we were brought to a Dr Dennis Lee who is very young and very friendly. He is also very gentle which is what we used to talk about. A dentist has to be gentle enough so that the patient will be comfortable. Everybody is afraid of dentist!
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| Bao makes faces to calm herself. |
Dr Lee started by asking Bao the reason why she wanted to have braces fixed. She answered that she has problem with chewing and of course the fact with the protruding front teeth, her looks is affected! He then examined her set of teeth carefully and we were told that the condition is quite good. He further explained in details of the process and the duration. Apparently, Bao's jaw is very narrow. The teeth has not enough room to grow hence resulting in the pushing and protruding.
He then showed us the X-ray on the screen. We saw that from the side view, the protruding front teeth looks really bad, he said it's about 6mm protruding which is quite serious.
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| The X-ray. |
He also pointed out that the lower wisdom teeth are not out yet. He further explained they will usually surface at the age of 17. I then noticed with horror that the 2 wisdom teeth are buried horizontally in the gum. He told me not to worry too much about that yet.
He introduced the different options to correct the condition. We decided there and then to have the braces fixed first before he extracts the 2 teeth to make rooms for the rest of the teeth. He said by doing this, the extraction will be painless and much easier.
And so the mould was taken. The whole process impressed us very much as we have never pay much attention to dental care before. How technology advances!
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| Mould for the top set of teeth. |
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| Gel mould for top and bottom. |
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| The Mould. |
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| The gel mould. |
To make us even more comfortable, Dr Lee showed us a mould belongs to another young girl with the condition worse than Bao.
The next appointment was made for the braces to fix and there will starts the long process of the whole period of about 2 years.
It is quite a relief to me that we finally made the first move. I can now stop worrying about her protruding teeth and can sit back to wait for the result of it!
Update:
On 01.04.2017, the dentist finally removed the braces from her mouth. She had been wearing the braces for 3 years 2 months.
And we thought the days of braces are finally over. Sadly it is not the case, she has to wear the retainers to secure the teeth for 24 hours for 2 months and every night after that until the dentist is comfortable to have it off for good. He explained that in many cases, the teeth "moves" after removing the braces.
The cost of the retainers X 2 is Rm1,200.00.
Finally she can smile without being self conscious.
