Dental Care

Hi,
So how has the new year 2008 been treating you?

I just had a tooth crown done on one of my upper molars.

A crown is a tooth-shaped cover placed over a tooth that is badly damaged or decayed.
A crown, which many people call a cap, is made to look like your tooth.

This crown replaced the crown I did more than 10 years ago.

During my periodic dental check-up in Nov last year, an X-ray was done and some decay in that crowned tooth was identified. As I have to take antibiotics before every dental procedure ( because I have a very small hole in my heart, if you have not read my blog early last year ) and the procedure was expected to take 1-2 hours, it was scheduled to January 2008 as I should not be taking antibiotics so often.

Anyway, I am very happy with the dentist's treatment through the procedure. First visit was 2 hours , as besides the crowning preparation ( removed the old crown, clean it and put it a temporary aluminium crown after taking impressions of my tooth ) she also replaced some old fillings. Just yesterday morning, she put in the new crown which has porcelain coated over metal so that it looks like a real tooth. The cost is about S$1,000 but job well done though.

BTW, I have to do another crowning in 6 months' time when I go for my regular check-up again.

I was reflecting on the whole episode and whether I could have prevented such a hefty dental cost.

I am quite sure most of our parents, if not all, are wearing some dentures at their old age. Mine and my in-laws are wearing complete denture; ie no more real teeth! Well, I agreed with my dentist that they did not have such dental facilities and there were other more important priorities then.

But today, we are more aware of dental care and have access to such modern facilites or advancement in dental health. So we should not be wearing dentures like our parents!

Kids are wearing braces in their teens and even adults too, these days. I was told that Jason's best friend did not need braces but asked his dentist to put on a set of false braces as it is trendy and all his friends are wearing braces...?

I have been bugging Jason to brush his teeth so as not to end up like me, with so many filings and crowns. I am proud that he has started flossing his teeth though not regular enough. I only started recently only .....heee....heee.... Bad boy!

BTW, Jas is wearing braces for a year already and he asked for it. But the dentist also found that he has a small jaw and the teeth are compacted. Infact, he has to remove 4 teeth if you read my blog in Dec 2006!

To conclude this posting, I regret not taking better care of my body or health but then I have other priorities like career, marriage, sports and thought that I am strong enough to overcome my sports injuries incurred then.

So to my younger frineds, please listen to your body and pay more attention to your health including mental health; ie work hard but play hard too.

Health is more important than Wealth!

So take care please!