19 May
Beautiful Smile, Dental Crown

Dental Crowns to Restore Youth, Smile and Function

What Is Dental Crown?

Dental crown is a tooth shaped cap which caps or encircles a tooth.

It is getting popular nowadays for different reasons.

Among the reasons are:

  1. Restore and protect a tooth when a dental filling cannot support the tooth which otherwise risks being pulled out
  2. Reshape a tooth for aesthetic reason

 

Nora’s Experience of Dental Crowns

Nora had been a patient of mine since few years back.

One of her biggest concern about her dental condition is her damaged two upper front teeth.

Her two upper front teeth slowly worn out over years due to her habit of grinding teeth.

We had been monitoring these teeth and protective measurement i.e. night guard had been carried out since long.

However, the teeth continue to fracture piece by piece.

One day finally we both agreed that it is time to take active action to protect these teeth before the condition become unsalvageable.

 

In Nora’s case, we decided to go with two dental crowns as these are the two most injured teeth.

Honestly, the result of this case turned out to be surprisingly beautiful.

The two beautifully crafted crowns not only protect Nora teeth, but also immediately made her look much younger than before.

On the day she got her new crowns, we both were amazed that she not only got new stronger teeth, but she got new smile;which immediately made her look younger by at least a decade.

I am amazed and happy to see the life changing smile that she got, so does she.

A picture tells everything. I am sure you could tell how happy she is.

Her smile undoubtedly tell you that she is now a much confident and happy elder citizen.

And I recall this phrase: Do not let you age to decide how old you are.

You are in charge of yourself and how your smile looks like.

Do not let your teeth to decide who you are and worse make you look older than you are!

Make a change now and you too can gets old gracefully!

 

With Love,

Gwen Gan

19 May
Beautiful Smile, Dental Bridge

Dental Bridge: Dump The Denture, Pick Up Confidence

WHY MISSING TOOTH?

People lost tooth for various reasons.

It could be because of a decayed tooth; it could be an accident; or it could be there wasn’t any to begin with (congenitally missing tooth or born without it).

 

IMPACT OF MISSING TOOTH

Some may think, we have 32 teeth, so what is the big deal of losing one?

Yes, we have 32 teeth, but every single one is unique and important in its way, just like our finger. You could hold a pen like before if you lost your thumb.

Missing a tooth means altering the function of your chewing and speaking.

On top of that, what comes along with a missing tooth is missing confidence.

You could never imagine a beauty queen in pageant with a missing tooth when she smiles, neither could you imagine if she smiles, a denture falls out from her mouth.

 

CASE STUDY

Here I have a very pretty lady, who unfortunately lost one of her front teeth due to accident when she was at her young age.

She is a dancer, she is gorgeous, she has everything that you wish you have as a lady.

However, she has this hidden pain of not confident to laugh out loud as she is using a denture.

She longer for a change; but she was also worried that something other than denture will be worse than what she had now.

After being in dilemma for a very long time, she finally decided to find a solution to it.

We discussed about different options and finally decided that a fixed fixed dental bridge (tooth bridge) would be the best solution in her case.

The missing tooth is a right upper central incisor. She is currently using an acrylic denture.

 

Her upper right central incisor is a denture. Though not very visible, you could tell there are something pinkish at the side of the tooth.

 

As the tooth had not been there for very long, the bone above the missing tooth is very thin and look very empty.

 

We decided to go for a fixed fixed bridge.

It is fixed!

 

Now she will never have to worry that people will notice her denture , nor will she have to worry that the denture will fall out when she smiles.

She is now a truly gorgeous lady as she is born to it!

Congratulation!

With Love,

Gwen Gan

 

19 May
Beautiful Smile, Whitening

Bleaching: How I Whiten A Single Discoloured Tooth

Single Discoloured Tooth

Do you have a friend who has a weird colour tooth?

Have you wondered why?

Or are you one of them who hopes to find a solution?

.

.

.

Here is the solution: Internal bleaching – a procedure to whiten the dead tooth from within.

Chris’s experience with internal bleaching

Chris had this discoloured tooth accompaniment since forever.

She always had this doubt why is it so, but she never actively looks for a solution.

Until recently when she came to me and I propose this solution and she agrees.

The whole procedures took about a month to complete.

She came about three times in between for me to carry out the procedure.

Each time when Chris came, I would put some whitening gel into the tooth, and she could go home within about 5 minutes. It is a total pain free procedure that is quick and easy to carry out.

 

Who are the suitable candidates for this procedure?
  1. Root canal treated tooth that discoloured.
  2. Tooth that had trauma before
  3. A tooth that without reason turn darker over time

If you have been troubled by this situation, the best is to go to see a dentist for consultation to be sure that if this could be your solution.

 

With Love,

Gwen Gan

 

19 May
Children Dentistry

Baby Teeth: When Does Baby’s First Tooth Come In?

First, congratulation of your new-born!

By the time you are checking on this topic, your baby is probably about 6 months of age and you just cannot get over with how fast your baby changes and develops.

Out of all the developmental milestones, having the first baby tooth is one of the most exciting achievement that you want to celebrate about.

BUT WHY?

 

WHAT IS THE SIGNIFICANCE OF BABY FIRST TOOTH?

The appearance of the first tooth means more teeth are coming!

Your baby is now more ready to chew food.

After drinking milk for 6 months or some purees for the past few months, baby is eager to explore the world, taste the food and to join you and the family at dining table.

Other than the abovementioned, there are more reasons of why we should be exciting about baby teething:

  1. With teeth, they are now ready to eat more variety of food and that means nutrients for them to grow.
  2. Chewing solid food means encouraging the jaw to grow.
  3. They are ready to join us at the dining table and start picking up social skills and table etiquette.
  4. Psychologically, they are eager to imitate us to do what we are doing.
  5. Finally, is time to start speaking. (You need teeth to speak and pronounce word properly)

 

When Does Baby’s First Tooth Come In?

Everyone is different in this. A general rule is 6 months.

At about 6 months old, the two lower central incisors come in.

The location is right at the centre of the lower jaw, and they normally come in pair.

The diagram below shows the timing of when the baby teeth erupt (comes in) and shed (falls out)

 

However, everyone is different, some babies get their first pearly white as early as from the first day they are born; and some get it much later.

As long as they are coming, there is absolutely nothing to worry about.

Having say that, even if your baby does not get a complete set of 20 teeth, there are nothing to worry about still, as they are just baby teeth.

Just discuss with your dentist if you are worry and the dentist will be able to advice.

With Love,

Gwen Gan

19 May
Children Dentistry

Baby Teeth : Why, When and How To Clean Baby Teeth?

In this topic, we are covering cleaning a baby mouth before the eruption of the first baby tooth which is about 6 months old.

Most of the first time mum are confused with this question. They know by heart that baby needs to be shower everyday, but do they have to clean their baby mouth every day?

 

DO I NEED TO CLEAN MY BABY MOUTH? THERE IS NO TEETH?!

Yes, you are right. A new born has no teeth in their mouth. (Only in very rare cases, baby is born with teeth)

There is no teeth to brush, and why should I be bothered to brush then?

The truth is you still need to clean your baby mouth even though you are not brushing their teeth.

 

WHERE TO CLEAN SINCE THERE IS NO TEETH?

The area that you need to clean is the soft tissue of the mouth.

These includes tongue, gum pad, inner side of the cheek, inside of the lip as well as lip.

 

WHY DO I HAVE TO CLEAN BABY MOUTH ?

Two very important reasons to clean baby muth:

First, by cleaning your baby mouth, wiping away the milk residue, you are preventing infection

Second and the most important reason is you are instiling a brushing habit to your baby, which is crucial to the future dental health.

Same as any other routine, the earlier you train them, the easier and less resistance you will face in the future.

The earlier you start the oral hygiene routine, the easier and smoother to transit to a brushing routine.

Seriously, DO NOT wait until your baby has many teeth then only to start the cleaning routine, you will get a lot of resistane and you will need much more effort to do it.

 

HOW TO CLEAN?

Before the first baby tooth comes in, you can use a wet gauze or softcloth to gently wipe against the soft tissue.

You can also purchase dental wipes for this purpose. I find it very useful whenever I am outside the house so that I do not have to skip cleaning my baby mouth.

Develop a routine of how you will clean the mouth so that you always remember where and do not leave out any area.

Step 1: Wet gauze or softcloth with drinking water

Step 2: Wrap it around your index finger

Step 3: Wipe the lower gum pad, upper gum pad, the inner side of lips and cheeks, then finally the tongue

Step 4: Ta-da, cleaned!

This is one of the prepackaged dental wipes available

 

There are two wipes in each package

 

Wrap it around your index finger and you are ready to clean.

 

WHEN TO CLEAN?

If you are hardworking enough, the best is to clean after every single meal.

This is not as simple as said, a newborn needs to be fed almost every two hourly and you are exhausted with the feeding.

Try to do it whenever you feel you can do it in daytime AND NEVER SKIP MORNING AND NIGHT CLEANING.

Make it as part of the morning wake up and night sleeping ritual.

After a while, baby will get it that brushing teeth twice a day is just part of the life.

 

CONCLUSION

Brushing teeth is like a battle between you and your baby, and it is a battle that last for years.

You never see the benefit of you doing it until many many years later.

Start earlier and it really help to ease the whole process of oral hygiene routine!

Good luck cleaning and I wish your baby to have healthy teeth in the future.

 

With Love,

Gwen Gan

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

19 May
Children Dentistry

Baby Teeth: Natal Teeth

Most babies are born without teeth. They look so adorable, innocent, and harmless without teeth.

When teething comes at about 6 months of age, we are all delighted with the two cute little bunny-like teeth at the lower jaw.

“SOoooooooooo cute!” That is how you feel.

But……

What if…. Your baby is born with teeth?

“What???????? Why?????????? What should I do???????????”

 

Natal Teeth and Neonatal Teeth

Natal teeth are teeth that are present at birth.

Neonatal teeth are teeth that develops in the first month of life

The incidence varies from 1:2000 to 1:3500.

The most common location is the centre of lower jaw (location of lower central incisor)

 

How To Find Out

At birth, the paediatricians will examine the oral cavity and it includes checking for natal teeth.

Another common route is if the mother has problem with breastfeeding due to sharp structure in baby mouth, then a thorough examination is required.

In such case, a pediatric dentist will be the right person to examine your baby.

Radiograph will be required to investigate the teeth and decide what treatment is necessary.

 

Possible Complication of Natal Teeth

The potential complication includes:

  1. Risk of swallowing the tooth if it is very loose
  2. Breastfeeding problem as mother may be injured.
  3. Injury to the baby tongue due to the sharp structure

 

Management of Natal Teeth

Management is different base on the findings from the radiograph and examination by the pediatric dentist.

  1. No treatment
  2. Grinding or smoothening of the sharp edges of the tooth
  3. Extraction / Removal of the teeth

No matter which is the treatment of choice, the baby should be followed up until at least the eruption of the permanent teeth.

 

Myth about Natal Teeth

I have heard patients telling me that the baby is born with teeth because the mother has taken too much calcium during pregnancy.

Also, there are superstitious belief that baby born with teeth is bearer of misfortune.

The truth is multiple hypothesis have been established about the condition. These includes hormone disturbance during pregnancy, nutritional deficiency and etc.

The most acceptable theory is the location of the tooth germ that is at a more superficial level.

No matter what the reason for such condition is, the focus should always be at what to do to manage the condition and love your baby unconditionally. The paediatrician and pediatric dentist will help in such a situation and baby will grow healthily just as any other kids. =)

 

With Love,

Gwen Gan