Creating Beautiful Smiles Everyday: Father and Son

Yes today I created another beautiful smile!

Shah came in with his dad. His father had come in many months earlier with a peculiar swelling in his left cheek around his ear which came and went and was sore. After the initial checks I asked him if he noticed the swelling appeared just before meals and during meals. I asked if he noticed a salty or sour taste when it was swollen. He looked surprised and after a bit said that I was right. He only just realised it when I asked.

I told him I suspected that the gland that manufactured his saliva was blocked which was why the swelling came and went, and why it was around meal times and also explained the salty/ sour taste as the stale saliva tended to have that quality.

I referred him to the Dental Faculty in University Malaya to do a special xray where a contrast dye is introduced into the gland and then the xray will map out the salivary ducts so the block could be identified and treatment could be given.

Shah’s father came back saying I was right! The blockage was found and everything was OK now as it had been sorted out.

This time he brought Shah, his son who had really badly discoloured teeth from smoke stains. First thing I did was to do a scaling and polishing to clean them up!

Shah was nervous and said he hadn’t seen a dentist for some time. I sort of figured he was convinced and coaxed to come visit me by his father!

The scaling and polishing was done in a flash and I took more photos before I did his surprise makeover! He had no idea that I could do more than the scaling, though his dad had already had some teeth straightened out earlier.

I asked Shah if I could continue and give him that perfect smile? I explained that it looked like he had congenitally missing teeth, which simply means he had missing permanent teeth even though the milk teeth were all there. They just never grew!

He said to go ahead after he got some encouragement from his dad. 

We had such fun as his dad was so excited whilst he watched the transformation taking place. 

The results was just awesome, as you can see from Shah’s HUGE smile when I finally handed him the mirror! Both father and son were more than just pleased. 

 

Yes …. I just love creating beautiful smiles everyday!

And it took less than an hour too!