Xin Wei gets her Dream Smile: Dr Fauziah

Xin Wei is a lucky young lady. She came in with her father David who was going to have his dental bridge done.

As I had the time, David asked if I could do a scaling and polishing for Xin Wei and perhaps plan out a makeover for her.

Xin Wei’s two other sisters had come in with David during an earlier appointment. Both of them also needed makeovers but as we discussed the treatment options David, the two girls and I decided that they would have better results if they did orthodontics (braces) instead of composite veneering.

When I first examined Xin Wei, I realised this young lady had been battling with bleeding and swollen gums for a very long time!

“Your gums must bleed a lot each time you brush,” I said. “I am sure they bleed even at the slightest touch!”

Xin Wei nodded. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s better not to brush my teeth,” she said sadly.

“I can imagine so,” I countered, “Actually once I clean off all the calculus, you will find the gums will go back to the normal size and in a day or two they won’t bleed anymore.”

I explained to David and Xin Wei how the sharp calculus accumulates below the gum line and ‘scratches’ her swollen gums each time she brushes her teeth. The calculus (karang gigi) is full of germs too which is partly why the gums are swollen. Food traps under and over the calculus which makes everything worse.

And so to make the calculus easier to remove, I painted SoftScale onto the areas which were particularly thick to soften the calculus … it makes everything so much easier to clean up!

Once I finished cleaning everything and giving her a nice polish, Xin Wei looked in the mirror.

“Wow! It feels so different! It’s like I have gaps now!” Xin Wei said as she peered at her newly cleaned teeth.

“The ‘gaps’ are just the space you feel where the calculus used to be. Your gums are still swollen as I have just removed the calculus. Now that there is no more irritating, sharp, germ-filled calculus, the gums can shrink back to it’s normal size and in a day or two you won’t feel any gaps anymore.” I explained.

Xin Wei looked satisfied.

“But what about the stains? Can we do something about it? My teeth still look yellow.” Xin Wei said.

“I can do your makeover now if you’d like,” I offered. “The gums are not bleeding anymore so it will only take 30 minutes for the upper teeth …. let’s do the lower teeth another day though as I’d rather wait for the swelling to go down more.”

Xin Wei’s lower gums were still very swollen. Doing her composite veneers now would be difficult!

Xin Wei looked at her father David … “Can I?” she asked.

He laughed and nodded. “This will be your Chinese New Year present from your Dad!” I said as I began.

It took only 30 minutes too as I only needed to do 4 Composite Veneers to reshape and create her dream smile!

Xin Wei could not believe her eyes when we passed her the mirror.

“It wasn’t painful at all! And it was so fast that it’s like magic!” she said.

“Your sisters are going to be so jealous … they have to wait 2 years to get their dream smile.” I laughed.

I reminded Xin Wei to brush normally and go ahead and eat all her normal food as she left with David.

Both father and daughter left with wide smiles.

Happy Chinese New Year to both of you, Xin Wei and David. You are one lucky girl to have such a loving father!