Brand new smile for a brand new year : Dr. Dini

Don’t you think that is a beautiful smile ? I for one think, her smile is perfect! Of, course, perfection and beauty is subjective. However, I’m looking at it in a dentist perspective. Dear readers, meet Siti.

She, however feel weird about her new smile. Yes, this is Siti’s new look. She explained that, she felt that her front teeth is protruding.

Let me explained to you the reason why she felt uncomfortable with her new look.

Siti, first came to our clinic early October. She requested for me to do extraction on her upper left canine. After a thorough examination, I explained to Siti in detail, that she had two options for that particular tooth. First option was to restored  the tooth by doing root canal treatment followed with a crown. By doing this, she doesn’t need to redo her current denture. Second option was to do extraction and yes, by doing this there will be no more pain but, she needs to redo her current denture.

After listening to my lengthy explanation, Siti finally told me the actual  reason she wanted to extract the canine was because she couldn’t commit to the root canal treatment due to her hectic work schedule. Also she wanted to have a new denture to close the gap that she had.

Now, I fully understand the reason behind it. I smiled widely at her and immediately proposed to started the treatment with closing the gaps on her lower teeth , followed with extraction on her left upper canine during this visit. I also needed to add a fake tooth on her current denture to replace the canine that we just extracted. She agreed to my plan knowing that she had to come back in one month time to record her impression for her new denture.

One moth has gone by and Siti came back  to complete her next stage of makeover. I started off with taking an upper and lower impression. I explained to Siti what I intend to do with her new denture. Because of her lower jaw is slightly forward or protruded compared to the upper jaw (we call this, Class lll malocclusion) I wish to make it less visible by arranging the upper fake teeth slightly forward. By doing this it can closed the open bite she had. I also explained that she won’t be feeling comfortable at first  with this new arrangement. However after a week plus, she will ADAPT to this new arrangement.

She looked worried at first. I do understand her concern. I told her, this is a makeover that she has been wanting to do for a long time and changing her current look is a big thing. A lot of things was on her mind. What if, the result was not as she expected? What if the old look was better than the new one? These were few things on her mind. I hold her hand and looked at her while reassuring that it will looked BEAUTIFUL.

Siti had to come 5 times to achieved her dream smile. 5 times ? That was a lot of visits for a denture, you must said to yourself, right? Well, the reason because, on the first try in stage, both I and Siti were not  happy with the arrangement of the teeth.  I had to send back the case to the technician and rearrange the upper teeth again to the desired alignment. During the second try in stage,everything was perfect. The color of the fake teeth matched with her original teeth. The arrangement was what I and Siti wanted. I asked Siti if I can send back the case to the laboratory for processing. She nodded. I continue to reassure her that the final product will be the same thing as during this stage.

As promised Siti  came in last Saturday  for the final fitting of her denture. As I inserted the denture, I couldn’t stop smiling to myself. This was because not just the color matched the shade of the teeth, but it also look like her own teeth. I passed a mirror for her to see the result. She too, was smiling when she saw her own reflection. Her main concern was that she FELT that it was protruding compared to her old denture. I smiled and again reminded her this was a new thing in her mouth and she needs time to adapt to it.

Before we bade our good bye, I explained to Siti that she needs to come back again for any adjustment if she feels pain or any discomfort. As a denture wearer , she understand this well. We hugged and she looked at me and said, “Thank you doctor for this beautiful smile. This is actually what I imagined my new smile is.”

Now, how was that didn’t make me happy? 😉

Love,

Dr. Dini (dini@story.drfauziah.com)