A ‘Magic’ Smile : Dr Nik

Shira is a young lady who has been our patient for quite some time. She stays in Kuala Terengganu and had been traveling to our clinic for her regular routine dental check up. She normally takes a bus leaving at night from Kuala Terengganu so that she could come in for treatment the next day before leaving for Kuala Terengganu on the same night..

Shira had completed orthodontic treatment (braces) to correct her teeth alignment few years back and had her braces off for almost two years now..

On her last visit for normal check up and scaling, she requested that I make her a new retainer. Upon initial examination I saw that there was a slight gap in between her lower canine and premolar. This gap developed due to relapse of her orthodontic treatment.

Relapse is a term that we, dentists use to describe tooth movement after orthodontic treatment. This sometimes happens because as we moved the teeth, the teeth may not be in a stable position and would have a tendency to move or drift over time.

I asked Shira whether she realized that a gap had developed in between those teeth. She nodded and said that she realized it but was not keen to go through braces again.

“Well I can help you and do some magic to close the gap..” I said jokingly. “You don’t need to be on braces again to close the gap”

“Really Doctor…how is that possible?” she asked.

“Aaaa…let me show you”…and I did a mock up and she was amazed to see the result. “oh…that was fast and it looks like normal teeth…Ok just go ahead and do it doctor” Shira said.

Hearing she said yes, I happily started off with scaling then the makeover. I knew that it will be beautiful and look so natural that Shira would not have any regrets.

Sure enough, at the end of the treatment, as Shira gazed into the mirror she smiled happily and said that she never thought that a filling can look so natural.

It does look natural…don’t you think so?