Amalgam Fillings
Composite Fillings
In a normal upper to lower jaw relationship, the upper teeth should overlap the lower teeth. Your upper teeth front teeth should dominate your smile.
A full, beautiful smile should look something like this. Don't ask your dentist to set your upper and lower teeth edge to edge. Always have the upper teeth overlap the lower.
Does she look like Bugs Bunny? I don't think so.
With the focus zoomed out of the face, the "large" upper front teeth harmonise perfectly with the face.
Even with the lower jaw hanging, as if in shock, the upper front teeth should dominate.
Toothache dentistry (a term coined by Dr Chan) is the kind of dentistry that caters solely to people who only see a dentist when they have a toothache.
At New Age Cosmetic Dentists, we certainly will attend to toothaches and other emergencies. But we much prefer to beautify smiles and maintain good oral health.
$50 Peanut PrincipleNever did I expect Hougang to come looking for me. Yes, this couple from Hougang Ave 9. I’ve never met them in my 17 years in Hougang. Now that I’m in Orchard, they just happened to be shopping around Lucky Plaza and decided to let me take a look at Mrs Hougang’s teeth.
I didn’t see what went on at the reception area, but I don’t think my staff told them anything about consultation being free. What they probably heard was: “Consultation charges may be waived if treatment is done.” They probably didn’t stress that conversely, consultation charges will apply if they seek consultation only.
After a 10-minute consultation, the couple stepped out and my staff told them that consultation charges would be $50. They suddenly got furious. First, Mr Hougang insisted that my staff told them that consultation was free. Apparently, many alamak Singaporeans (not necessarily from Hougang) assume that “just see only” equals free consultation.
“$50 is peanuts to me. It’s just a matter of principle.” Mr Hougang claimed. “If my English is lousy, you can say that I misunderstood you. But I speak Queen’s Engrish (sic). You are not giving me free consultation like you promised.”
I explained that my staff have quite clearly informed them that consultation charges may be waived if treatment is done. Nobody said that consultation is free.
“We were just passing by. We’ve got no time for treatment. We planned to have treatment on another day. For today, we wanted to see only.” said Mr Hougang.
So does that mean he did understand that he had to pay for consultation since he was seeking consultation only? Why couldn’t he pay us some peanuts today and then let me deduct it from his treatment cost if and when his wife returns for treatment?
Still no deal. It’s the principle, not the money. He changed his argument and protested that I didn’t even put on my mask on and do a “proper” check on his wife. Wow, now we’ve got an expert who can tell me what is proper. He said that he just wanted to ask me whether his wife’s teeth could be done up nicely. He claimed that he just wanted to know “yes” or “no”. He claimed that I took less than 5 minutes, just told him “yes” and charged him a ridiculous $50. So what actually happened during consultation that made it such a rip off like Mr Hougang claimed?
The Hougang couple happily came in and the lady allowed me to examine her teeth. Her complained that her lower front teeth were almost ground to nothing. On examination, I discovered that practically all her teeth were worn out on the biting surfaces. This is likely due to bruxism, or the unconscious grinding of one’s teeth during sleep. Very often, these cases would require what we call full mouth reconstruction. It is as frightening as it sounds. All the teeth in the patient’s mouth are prepared and turned into crowns.
Mrs Hougang’s case didn’t seem that bad. Her complaint was purely cosmetic. Even though the cusps of her back teeth were all flat, she didn’t lose that much vertical height. Furthermore, her lower front teeth had a gum level that was higher than that of her lower back teeth.
This made it an ideal case for crown lengthening. I proposed root canal treatment for her 4 lower front teeth followed by crown lengthening gum surgery. This will not only bring the gum level to one that matches the back teeth, it will also provide more crown height for the proper retention of crowns. The patient’s bite need not be raised, so the other teeth need not be crowned. If tooth mobility becomes an issue after crown lengthening, we could splint the teeth in twos by joining them with crowns.
I told the couple about the different types of crowns that could be done. Conventional PFMs or full ceramics. I also explored the advantages and disadvantages of extraction followed by implants.
I didn’t take very long, probably 10 to 15 minutes, but I thought I did a very decent examination, diagnosis and prescription for her cosmetic problem and deserve to be paid $50. But no. And Mr Hougang’s last words to my staff were: “You say something wrong I can sue you.”
What a case of 恶人先告状. All because of a $50 Peanut Principle
I don’t know what it’s going to take to wake people up and stop throwing freebies like free dental checkups at patients who aren’t very motivated. It’s not that they can’t afford it. They have plans for long holidays and gigantic HDTVs. These pampered folks may not dare refuse to pay consultation charges at government clinics, but they don’t take private practitioners that seriously. As important as educating them about dental health, those who speak “Queen’s Engrish” should be taught that “just see only” is not equals to free consultation.
This gentleman is an expat exploring Orchard Road when he found our clinic. He presented with receding gums and a post crown that was not in a very good position. We soon discovered that his post crown had no post. So we removed the crown, gave im a post, prepared the margin all the way to the gums. He opted for a PFM. (PFM : Porcelaine + Metal Crown)
After one weeks his crown fitted. Colour follow his other lateral incisor, he is quite happy with the new crown.
NOW!!! You can get your teeth whitened in one visit one hour and one stop. This is procedure ususally performed by local dentists. 
The porcelain replacement tooth with ots 2 metal wingsThe adhesive bridge is cemented. It works for this particular patient because:
Adhesive bridges can be considered permanent solutions only under very special circumstances.
An adhesive or acid etched bridge is a minimally invasive form of tooth replacement. The porcelain replacement tooth is connected to 2 metal wings which are simply cemented to the adjecent teeth which are spared from any preparation.
Problem is obvious. Canine in front and a space directly behind it.
Her emax bridge is ready. Check out the shape and alignment. She's got a lateral incisor and her canine is now in the correct position. Compare this with her pre-treatment appearance.
Scaling & Air Polishing $80
The Past
Many people who are not familiar with us will ask us why we are called Hougang Dental Centre when we are located in the heart of Orchard Road. Well, that's because our clinic has its humble beginnings in the Hougang heartlands. Dr Chan Joon Yee took over a dental practice at Blk 631, Hougang Avenue 8 in January 1991 and has been providing Hougang heartlanders with basic, general dental services ever since.
However, the 2003 SARS epidemic forced the practice to change its focus and direction. A few rare cases of challenging cosmetic makeovers gave the practice an opportunity to realise its full potential. The practice thus moved in the direction of cosmetic dentistry and to our pleasant surprise, we received many well-informed, discerning patients from Jurong, Choa Chu Kang and even overseas. These patients made our practice of dentistry more challenging and rewarding.
With the change in patient profile and the lack of space for new equipment in Hougang, we decided to expand to Orchard Road to make it more convenient for our patients who are not residing in Hougang.
