FEAR NO MORE! : DR DINI

I am always happy if I get get a patient who managed to overcome her fear and no longer be scared of the dentist.

It is an overwhelming feeling, to make a patient happy and satisfied with our treatment and also no longer afraid of us.

Asih is one such patient.

Asih is an Indonesian lady who has been living in Malaysia since 2002, when she followed her husband who is attached with Petronas back here. She came to our clinic after being introduced to us by her friend who found us through our blog.

When I first saw her, she struck me as a very shy lady, but … was I wrong! She is a very friendly and has a warm personality.

The first thing that came out from her mouth was, “I have to be totally honest with you doctor, I’m very very afraid of dentists and haven’t seen one in 4 years!” I laughed hard hearing her confession. I reassured her there will be no pain during the treatments.

Since, this was her first dental visit in 4 years, I did the initial examination and diagnosis first. I explained to her the  treatments she needed, which was fillings, scaling and an extraction of her retained roots.

Upon hearing the word “extraction” , I saw her face turned white.

I immediately told her that there was not going to do any extraction that day! She looked relieved and happy at the same time.

She has a badly broken premolar on her upper left side. I explained to her that she had 2 options, either to do a Root Canal Treatment followed with a crown or extract the tooth and  replace the missing tooth with a 3 unit bridge or an implant.

Upon hearing the dreaded word EXTRACTION, she quickly chose the first option … to not remove the tooth but instead “save” with root canal treatment so it can stay safely in her mouth and restore the broken off part with a crown.

I completed her Root Canal Treatment in 3 visits. As I will do a crown for her in less than a week time, I fitted her a temporary crown so her smile would look nice!

After all we are celebrating Aildil Adha  this week! Asih told me she is going to Legoland with her family to spend Hari Raya holidays.

I built up the tooth using composite material. In 30 minutes, she had her tooth again.

She couldn’t stop smiling when she looked into the mirror.

Now, Asih can keep smiling and take loads of picture in Legoland.

How do I feel?

Happy of course! Not just because Asih has her gorgeous smile back once more, but she overcame hear fear of the dentist as well.

See you next week Asih and to all Muslims have a happy and blessed Aidil Adha.