Hi everyone, thanks for dropping by this forum. For start, im a certified dentist currently serving at the Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia. Im a little bored here and i cant find much related to teeth in LYN, so i decided to open up this tread to discuss a little bit of teeth and dentistry

PURPOSE
1) Increase awareness of oral hygiene
2) Debunking some myth about dentistry related stuff
3) Serve as a platform for dentist to gather and give opinion
4) For those who wish to take up dentistry as their career, this is a great place to ask , to know what you are expected to do once you graduate!

' Dentistry is the art and science of preventing, diagnosing and treating diseases, injuries and malformations of the teeth, jaws and mouth'
Above is the definition of dentistry, it is a unique career that require you to master both art and science. What you study theoritically may not make you a good dentist, and you cant do practically without a theory behind, hence the word ART AND SCIENCE. It is very true when you think that a distinction student may not be the best dentist, and vice versa the bad student will not necessary be the worst dentist. You have to put the theory into practice and perfecting it, so i prefer to call ourself PRACTITIONER , because we are and we will be practicing and perfecting our skill and knowledge everyday. Oww...not mentioning the SKILL OF COMMUNICATION, which is a very very very important skill that every good dentist must have!!


*Disclaimer*
World of dentistry is ever changing, there is alot of argument, different school of thought on dentistry. What i write/express is my own opinion, it may differ from one practitioner to another

Reading Zone
Is a blog created not by me, but other dentist in Malaysia, good info there!

Ask.DentistMY


This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 14 2014, 10:34 PM

Top 10 Reasons Why People HATE Dentists

#1 THE PAIN
#2 THE NEEDLE
#3 THE ANXIETY
#4 THE DRILL
#5 THE INVASIVENESS
#6 THE SOUND AND SMELL
#7 THE COST
#8 THE LECTURES
#9 THE POOR SERVICE
#10 THE BAD MEMORIES

This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 10 2014, 11:16 PM

-Reserved-

The purpose of scalling is to remove the calcalus deposit that are form through the time and cant be remove by regular brushing. Increase the frequency and by using the correct brushing technique will only make the formation of calcalus much slower, but it will not halt the production of the calcalus.

In normal healthy person ( no shaking teeth, no gum bleeding/swollen ) , it is recommended to do scaling once every 6 months. For those who have shaking teeth, gum bleeding, gum swollen ( Medical term, Periodontitis ) has to do scalling every month until the condition improve, then you can increase the duration to 3 months, and then to 6 monthly.

Hope this helps

This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 9 2014, 04:24 PM

Sorry to said that, there are not alternative for crown. Maybe you can try other material such as metal or porcelain crown, it usually be cheaper then Zirconia crown. Im practising in northern part, what i know is they charge Rm600 per crown here. So i suggest you go to a few a dental clinic and ask for quotation.

Or, you can go to government clinic, but not all clinic can do crown, only a specialist clinic can do

To answer your question, we must know how a tooth cavity is form. The acid in our mouth will de-mineralised the tooth structure, especially the calcium. When the time goes by, the loss of calcium is too much and the tooth collapse and hence , the cavity is there. We can prevent the demineralisation by applying high concentration of calcium on tooth surface ( GC tooth mousse ). BUT this REmineralisation can only be done on early stage, once a cavity is form, the only method is do filling to prevent further caries progression.






Actually that depends on how much calculus you have, if you have huge big chuck of calcalus sticking onto your tooth surface, then it will take longer. On the contrast, if your tooth is relatively clean, 10 minute is sufficient.

Another explanation is that the private clinic might be doing deep scaling for you. Deep scaling usually cant be done in government clinic as it need special instrument. Hope this answer your question

I think all the gov clinic is the same, haha.
Errrr... Yes and no to your second question. It really depends on the clinic and the doctor. Like my clinic, we have a duty roster, if im working for today, all the patient that come today will be seen by me. So if you want Doctor A, you ask when is the day he duty and you come that day, or simply ask to put your appointment under his/her name. BUT, all clinic have their own system, try ask if you can choose your own doctor. This is common especially for woman patient who want to be treated by woman doctor.

Yes, there is always a risk, either from patient to patient, or dentist to patient. So if you ask how to prevent this, i would say the best way to prevent the transmission is to only visit the clinic that have good sterilization equipment and do the proper sterilization procedure. Just to add a note, infection control in private clinic is COST CONSUMING, it involve alot of money. So sometime it is better to visit the dentist who charge a little bit high, but the clinic is clean



Sorry dude, i prefer stay anomalously. My clinic is at norther part of M'sia



Use soft toothbrush!! Hard toothbrush is use to wash the toilet bowl,haha!! I know how enjoying or 'feel' more clean after brushing with hard toothbrush, but trust me, is the technique that matters, not how hard is the toothbrush.

There is a contrary opinion is rinsing after tooth brushing. Toothpaste has fluoride and other type of material in it. The risk of NOT rinsing is swallowing the toothpaste. High amount of fluoride in our body will lead to fluorosis of the bone and teeth ( if it is consume during tooth formation stage ). Personally, i would recommend to rinse after brushing as the main purpose of brushing is to brush out the food that stuck. Not forgetting regular flossing and gargle with mouthwash twice a week



Brushing method


This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 10 2014, 12:30 PM

Haha, thanks, i already edited and the youtube is uploaded

Above is the price list for gov clinic, if foreigner is different price

This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 10 2014, 09:02 AM

1.I believe you meant what we called as 'the black triangular'. It is formed when your bone and gum shrink, and if the process continue down the time, eventually your teeth will be shaking. There are few minor oral surgery that can make the bone and gum regrow, but not everyone is candidate for the surgery, it has to depend on your level of bone. For non-invasive method, i recommend regular scaling to AT LEAST maintain the already shrink-ed gum, rather then let it progressing worsen.



2. Actually our teeth have some amount of transparent, it to make light to pass through and make our teeth nice. It is usually at the edge of our teeth, it is normal. What abnormal is when you notice your teeth has become more and more transparent. It usually due to acidic food, such as orange juice or maybe you have the habit of night grinding ( Bruxism ), which make the teeth thinner.



I think the statement i have put it in a wrong way. It should be if didnt rinse the toothpaste after brushing, there will be increase risk of us swallowing the toothpaste, and it will cause fluorosis of bone. For a teeth to become fluorosis, high amount of floride must be consume at the TEETH FORMATION STAGE, which is before the teeth erupt. The amount of fluoride in typical toothpaste will be 1000ppm to 1500ppm. Even our tap water has fluoride in it , it is below 0.1ppm. Many cases of tooth fluorosis is due to ingestion of these fluoridated water, it has been a debate whether we should put fluoride in our water system or not, but i think the pros wight more than cons

I have completed my fydo, are you a dental officer too??

This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 13 2014, 08:35 PM

Above is the fees recommendation from Malaysia Dental Association. It is written scaling and polishing is Rm100 and above, but it really depends on the clinic setting and location. I heard some place they have Rm25 for scaling too...

Fluoride somehow is a double edge sword, but as long as you didnt swallow the toothpaste, it actually serve to protect your teeth. I found a phrase from the net and would like to share it here : 'Apart from fluorosis, the only other danger with fluoride is overdose. The lethal dose of fluoride is about 5 mg fluoride for every 2.2 lbs. (1 kilogram) of body weight. If you swallow a little, you'll be OK. But one tube of toothpaste holds enough fluoride to kill a 60-pound (30-kilogram) child if the whole tube was swallowed [source: Fluoride Action Network]. This is why children should be only given a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on their brushes and supervised so they spit out, rather than swallow, after brushing. '

But ultimately, its your choice, is your mouth, your teeth, your body and life. But for me, as a dentist, i will still using fluoridated tooth paste



This post has been edited by AskTheDent: Sep 10 2014, 01:44 PM

Hi Doc, you must be a very senior oral surgeon. You are the Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon? Because i notice some GP they put oral gurgeon too, i dont think they refering to Oral Maxillofacial Surgeon. And why sir dont need to serve last time? Mind take us down the memory lane?

Another debatable topic, im not in a good position to provide you the answer,so i will leave it to the expert to answer your question

FDA on Triclosan


Good question! One of the common headache for people. You can remove wisdom teeth IF
1) Food get stuck between wisdom teeth and second last teeth and find it difficult to clean the area, and eventually caries is form on both the teeth
2) It is not erupting to the place it should be ( it maybe be tilted, rotated, or not fully erupted )
3) Persistent gum swelling and pain
4) If you dont have upper wisdom teeth, there is no point to have lower wisdom teeth. The lower wisdom teeth act as a DECORATION in your mouth and it is a risk for you. The risk is stated in point 1

So, if the wisdom teeth is in a correct position, you manage to clean it, not giving you any problem,you have upper wisdom teeth to bite on i would suggest to keep it. Otherwise, it is advisable to get it remove as young as possible, because the older you are, the bone become less elastic ( more difficult extraction ) and your capability to heal is slow and less compare to younger age.

actually the temporary crown and the ceramic ( dentally it is call composite ), both are under resin family. Im quite sure the one use for filling are stronger than the temporary crown material. The composite company will market their brand by comparing the strength of their composite to one another, so they have to be strong, moreover, it has to withstand biting force for a very long time in our mouth


Good question. First , we must understand that our teeth are constantly moving ( in a very slow pace ). For left and right,teeth stay in the position because it is control by the force of tongue and our cheek muscle. For front and back, it is control by neighbouring teeth. If the opposing teeth is missing, the teeth will erupt to occupy the missing teeth space.

It may be confusing, but let me give an example. If your front tooth is missing, it will move/tilt forward. If the your back tooth missing, it will move/tilt backward. If you upper tooth is missing, the opposing lower tooth will grow upward occupy the missing tooth.

So the answer to your question is YES, it will get crooked. Some it takes more time to move, some it take shorter period, but it will definitely move

Sorry bro, i dont know ampang area, but most newly establish clinic should have. If not you can visit those franchise clinic, they should have it

Rumour has it that is not good for you to go scaling often, as it will make your teeth thinner. By the way,our teeth is the strongest in our body, even stronger than bone. So it is impossible that scaling will make our teeth thinner. The scaling frequency is actually depend on your gum health and amount of deposit ( calcalus ). If your gum is persistently swelling, bleeding, shaking teeth, then you may have to go for regular check up. I always advice my patient, those who have all those symptom, to come scaling every month, after their condition improve, i will make it every 3 months then progress to every 6 months. So next time you go, try ask your dentist about your gum condition and when is your next appointment

Yeah, its 2 years now. Heard they going to further reduce to 1 year
Sir please, give some opinion and advice too in this thread, your experience is much more compare to me

Thanks for your question, i think most of the public have the same thinking too.

First of all, the scaler is an ultrasonic device, it act by the action of 'cavitation', which simply means it generate small bubble to break the hard calcalus. Actually i noticed those patient with unhealthy gum ( swelling, bleeding, calculus, shaking ) they will experience the sensitivity during scaling. After a few follow up and scaling, there are noticeable reduce in sensitivity.

If the calculus is formed throughout the years, it will act as a 'cement' and it 'hold' the teeth in position. Once we remove the 'cement', naturally the teeth will be shaking.


Many of public they didnt notice the importance of scaling. Ok lar, generally, 9/10 people will visit dentist ONLY they have pain. So many they wont bother to come for regular check up. Gum disease is A VERY SLOW disease, it take up years for the calculus to 'eat' away your bone and gum, leading to shaking teeth. Once your teeth starting to shake, im afraid is a bit too late. So think of scaling as prophylaxis, you wont feel any different after scaling, but it long term, it helps.

General health also related to gum, people like uncontrolled diabetes usually have poor gum , same goes to those who take some medication. Some patient the calcalus grow very fast, some is slow. There are alot of factor into it, i dont want to go into detail. I take me myself for example, i notice my calcalus started to grow after 2 weeks, but at home i scale myself ( by facing the mirror ), haha

Hope this clear some of your doubt!

Sorry bro, i dont familiar with Selangor/KL area.

Just a quick survey, what is your acceptable price for a filling. And will you pay extra like Rm30 for a faster filling. ( Due to advance technology, we dentist actually can speed up the filling process, but it require newer technology, which require $$ )

and sometime slow is good, because the dentist is doing your teeth very carefully.

Yeah, i did

1)Use enough floss. Break off a piece about 15cm long. That sounds like a lot, but you want enough to keep a clean segment in place as you move from tooth to tooth. Wrap most of the floss around either the middle finger or the index finger of one hand, whichever you prefer, and a small amount onto the middle or index finger of the other hand. (Using the middle finger leaves your index finger free to maniuplate the floss.)
2)Slide between teeth. Gently slide the floss between the teeth in a zigzag motion and be careful not to let the floss snap or “pop” between teeth.
3)Form a “C”. Make a C shape with the floss as you wrap it around the tooth. Then carefully pull the floss upward from the gum line to the top of the tooth.
4)Roll along. As you move from one tooth to the next, unroll a fresh section of floss from the finger of one hand while rolling the used floss onto the finger of the other hand. Use your thumb as a guide.
5)Reach both sides. Don’t forget to floss the back side of each tooth.