Roja finally gets her dream smile

A very interesting and challenging case, indeed!

Roja’s brother is about to get married. This made Roja want to have a nice smile for that important day even more. She talked to her cousin Sathiah who told her to check out our blog.

When she saw the makeovers we had completed in this blog, she got really excited!

She discussed doing a makeover with her family but her mum was unconvinced … her mum knew about having braces to correct smiles but had never heard of correcting smiles with cosmetic dentistry ala Klinik Pergigian Fauziah.

Nonetheless, she came along with Roja to the clinic for her consultation.

Roja’s mum came in with her and told me to explain to her that braces was the only way to go! I smiled and explained that I will give Roja all her options, give her all the pros and cons of doing both the makeover via braces and composite veneers … the choice will be up to Roja and her family.

I couldn’t ethically make her choose … I can only advise her as to the choices she had!

Not quite sure she was satisfied with my answer, Roja’s mother sat in to hear what I had to say after I examined Roja.

I turned out that Roja had several concerns: She had what we call an open bite, there was a space between her upper and lower jaw even when she was biting on her back teeth and had a missing tooth which had been replaced by a denture. When her milk tooth fell out and there was no permanent tooth to replace it!

She also had two retained milk teeth in her lower jaw which meant her lower teeth had been pushed out …. poor dear….. and she had a gap between her front teeth too.

I explained that I could do her makeover with a combination of composite veneers and a bridge (she needed 8 veneers and a 3-unit bridge … it would take two visits (the bridge takes a week to make) and it will all be over in one week.

Orthodontics/braces will take a minimum of two years to correct the gaps, the gap between her upper and lower teeth, as well as between her front teeth. But it will probably mean she needs to remove at least 3 teeth in the process.

The bigger consideration is that she will still need to do the 3-unit bridge at the end of the ortho treatment and, and, and during the two years she will have to go without her denture! She will probably have to let the missing tooth exposed, as the denture base will be in the way of any movement by the braces!!!!!

I doubted that she would want that as Roja is working!

I told her to not just take my word for it but consult an orthodontist and ask specifically if she could continue to wear a denture during the two years of treatment.

The estimated cost of doing the Makeover via composite veneers would be cheaper by RM3700 too.

I asked Roja to discuss both the treatments advantages and disadvantages and also ‘do her homework’ by consulting another dentist preferably an orthodontist before she decided. I wrote everything down for her so she could figure out what she felt was the best course to take.

Today Roja came in … she had decided on the Makeover via composite veneers and a bridge! Yay!!!

Roja came in accompanied by her mother … that was sweet! I knew then that her mum was OK with Roja’s decision and was there to support her!

This first visit was a complicated one … I had to do her lower jaw first, then her upper makeover before I could even start her bridge!

At last her makeovers and the temporary bridge was ready … it took me quite a loong time but it was done!

I passed Roja the mirror and she broke into a huge smile … she looked quite, quite different. It was a tough, tough case but wow! was it fulfilling to see her new (albiet not quite done yet) smile.

Now all we need to do is wait for a week for the permanent bridge to be completed by the technicians!

Stay tuned … I’ll take plenty of pics when the final permanent bridge is ready. 😉