Issue Of New Dentures.: A new journey of life with dentures. Adapting to something foreign in the mouth takes few weeks to few months. It’s like wearing a new pair of spectacles that requires time to get comfortable with using it. For first few days, wear the denture to sleep to adapt to it faster.

Denture Hygiene & Care:                                                                  

1. After 1st few days, never wear them overnight. Remove them so that the soft tissues in the mouth can rest.
2. Every night before sleep， Clean them thoroughly over a basin half-filled with water in case they slipped out of the hands. Brush with a soft denture brush then soak overnight in denture cleansers.                    WHY Clean thoroughly?: to remove plaque with bacteria/food stains that is adherent to the dentures that may lead to foul odour or undesirable oral diseases.
3. Never use hot water/ let it dry out overnight.
4. Brush your tongue, gums and palate every morning before wearing dentures, with a soft-bristled brush. This is to promote blood circulation and aids in removing of plaque.
5. Rinse your mouth and dentures with water after meals.
6. Never adjust cracked/loose/tight dentures yourself, your may risk damaging them further- see your dentist.

Long Term Care:

Dentures can be worn out, or become loose when the mouth changes as we age. They may need to be rebased, relined or remade. See your dentist at least once per year.

如何照顾您的义齿/假牙

假牙是解决失去牙齿后所带来问题的方法之一。其他方法有牙冠，牙桥，植牙等。

新的假牙？：就像佩戴一副新的眼镜般，一般人需要几个星期到几个月的时间来适应，学习如何使用假牙。

照顾您的假牙：

1）除了头几天，不要戴着假牙睡觉。 让您的肌肉，牙龈等能够休息。

2）每晚睡眠前，备一盆水， 在上面洗您的假牙。义齿非常脆弱，如果掉到地上可能会摔坏。用特制假牙刷刷假牙，然后隔夜浸泡在假牙清洁剂里。这样能去除牙斑（牙垢）及细菌/食物残迹，避免异味及口腔疾病。

3）勿用烧水来洗假牙/勿使义齿干燥。

4) 每天早上，用软毛牙刷刷牙龈，舌头及上腭。这样能够促进组织的血液循环，并有助于清除牙菌斑。

5）在饭后漱口及用清水清洗假牙。

6）若假牙有裂痕，太松/太紧，勿自己调整。请看您的牙医。

使用了一段时间，假牙可能会磨损，或因口腔随发生的变化而变松。

因此，你至少需要每年看一次牙医，进行口腔检查。

Care:

Bite on the guaze provided for 30min till bleeding stops without opening or closing mouth. Minimize taking 3-4hrs. It’s normal to ooze slightly after 24 hours, and should any bleeding occurs, bite on guaze, applying pressure to wound site to stop bleeding. Don’t touch the wound with your tongue and disrupt the blood clot essential for healing. Don’t suck too hard e.g. on a straw as vacuum generated may disrupt wound.

Rest well, take painkillers prescribed when necessary and you should be fine. (for patients prescribed antibiotics pls finish the whole course.) Only in cases wth Massive uncontrolled bleeding, bright red bleeding, large clots that you should call your dentist, go back to your dentist or to A&E in hospital.

Swelling is a normal physiological process post-extraction. So not to worry as swelling, reaching peak at 48-72 hrs should subsize after 3rd days, increased swelling after that maybe an indication of infection rather than post-surgical edema.

Trismus/Limited opening of mouth: is common especially in lower wisdom tooth operation butusually won’t affect activities too much. Not to worry.

Diet:

Take in lots of fluids. Take high caloric and high volumeric food especially when mouth can’t be opened fully often after wisdom tooth removal. Generally take SOFT(porridge,mashed potato) and COLD food, (e.g. ice cream milkshakes should be fine!) Try to chew on the opposite side of jaw with extraction done. Rationale: to not to disturb the wound as much as possible.

Oral Hygiene:

Don’t gargle/rinse mouth vigorously on day of extraction but rinse mouth with warm salt water after meals and before sleep. Oral hygiene should be maintained as much as possible as this helps in healing too. Brushing and flossing of teeth is maintained avoiding extraction site for a few days. Resume normal brushing & flossing after a few days. Mouth rinse with chlorhexidine 2x/day for about a wk can be used when it’s more difficult to maintain oral hygiene as per normal e.g. in Mutiple extractions at one go.

referene: OMS, Larry J Peterson

The Mouth is not part of the Human Body?                                                                                                         Your answer is No now??

Let’s not talk about how much things to learn about in the different field of dentistry here and explains it’s not jsut 32 teeth but here in this section, let’s discuss about the importance of dental health related to the systemic health i.e. general body health.

this is a section decicated to dentists, medical professionals, and all ppl.

I came into dentistry with some goals and expectations. i was quite sure of what i want. I maybe at times be the “maverick” or the crazy odd one out who seems so passionate about dentistry when some ppl can look at me in the face and say dentistry is alternative to medicine for them.

Dental sch is not easy; managing patient’s appointments then calling patients, doing admin paperwork before and after seeing patient(Argh!!!), reading up, preparing for the session, designing and making dentures for patients, worrying about clinical work/patients when we are supposed to listen to lectures…… are all not seen by ppl. When finally seeing patients, there’s the factor when they fail to turn up/or are super late, and not the least when the most fierce teacher is around to scold you. (most of them are wonderful) The intangible rewards are really what really make the hard work and effort worthwhile. Recent 2 experiences with patients proved so.

1st is one that initially I’ve not probably communicate sufficiently with XXX that XXX don’t seems to understand or care what i say/do. i finally realised that instead of fearing not doing the “tangible things” fast enough, the most important is communication. well, in retrospect, this is what i always wanted to do once i decided on dentistry- to talk to patients. (it maybe hard in sch at times cos we need to fulfil certain requirements and are bounded by very limited time constraints). but i realised now that no matter what, the psychological aspect of patient is part of the treatment. make the choice to make time for them even if i may lack behind my peers in term of schedule. well, it’s not wise to say i can be allow to lack behind, instead all the more i should aim to improve on very efficient communication, time management, so i can spend more quality time to talk/understand the patient. well back to XXX who become very motivated and so excited about brushing! A 180 degree change due to other factors too(maybe also due to the tooth paste i gave XXX that is speical ha), but really encouraging for me as i wanted them to be able to learn how to improve their oral health. i thought last time that the “heart is most important”, but in the end i realised that that only part of the equation/statement. the “heart is most important and must be coupled with best communication”. failure to do so may not allow the patient to understand/feel that you care…

the 2nd person is that encouraged me is my first patient whom i extracted teeth for- apparently AAA has dental anxiety previously when taking out teeth some years ago even with LA given. This time round, AAA told me it wasn’t painful(during the extraction), and the most happy was when AAA put thumbs up when i showed AAA the extracted teeth on the tray. I must really give credit to the oral surgeon Supervisor who supervised me in extraction, she helped me alot and was very patient when i was so inexperienced. maybe the reason for such painless extraction was due to much of her effort. thks! nevertheless, i feel happy for my patient! (thks my mom who prayed for success of my first extraction too. ha.).

To me, i don’t mind going the extra mile for patients cos most of them understand that you care! must learn how to communicate better!

CCC= CARE, CONCERN, COMMUNICATION!

YOUR SMILE IS MY REWARD!

RUIXIANG

MAY YOU HAVE A SWEET DREAM WITHOUT DENTAL CARIES.

Scaling and Polishing: cleaning up!

LA: Local Anasthesia

GA: General Anasthesia 

well, maybe it’s time to change your perspective and see the dentist more regularly to save more money! sound ironical? no! read on!

Disease severity accumulates overtime. Generally, the cost/complexity/length of the treatment of the disease increases with length of time disease is left untreated. To elaborate: “

A regular scaling and polishing per year           =  $30-50 (11+)
Small cavity to be filled-Added cost per filling =  $50-100                                                                Extensive cavities to be restored with crown     = $400-600                                                                Extensive cavities extended to pulp to be restored w/                                                                                 Root canal therapy and crowning                        = $1200                                                                         Tooth beyond hope indicated for extraction       = $50-80(simple extraction); $400-800(LA op) plus the following:                                                                                                                                               Dentures after tooth extraction                           = $600                                                                                OR Implant and crown                                         = $3000-5000 

These are just mere rough estimates and can vary according to different practices. but the message sending across here is that the wiser way to save your money, enjoy your quality life without pain, see a dentist regularly! (in fact the money, time, sleep loss due to dental pain unresolved can be more than what’s listed above!)

RX: pain comes from the disease(left unattended by the individual) and not so much from the dentist. Few dentists go through all the gruelling years of dental sch to finally graduate and say, “yeah i can inflict pain! yes!” . Well, at least i’m here to relief pain from the disease.

Your smile is my reward.