Dental laboratory at orchard road

It was a sad moment when my dentist sent what might be my last denture case to SJ lab.

Some background info. SJ stands for Simon and Joseph. The two were formally dental technicians with the SAF. After the left the army, they decided to put their skills to good use and started a dental laboratory at Defu Lane, churning out highly economical dentures of acceptable quality. For the past 17 years at Hougang, My dentist had been sending my denture cases to SJ. They have never disappointed me. Every morning without fail, the SJ delivery man (never got his name) would ride down to the clinic on his little scooter to send or collect cases.

After the move to Orchard, my dentist still sent the denture cases to them. It was a bit inconvenient for SJ because he had to bring the cases down to Hougang for them to be collected and then bring the completed cases back from Hougang to Orchard. But with Hougang closed down, there is no more delivery and collection there.

One evening, My dentist paid a visit to SJ and spoke to Joseph about collecting cases from Orchard. There is still a demand for cheap temporary dentures at Orchard. Joseph said that he was sad to lose an old customer. But his biggest problem is that to enter the city to collect cases, whatever little profit he makes from the denture will be wiped out by parking and ERP charges.

How ridiculously obvious to some yet not to others. So what to do? He has to send the denture cases to new labs which do collect from Orchard. But many of these technicians are not familiar with my style like Simon and Joseph. What’s more, they charge a lot more. Maybe that’s to cover their ERP and parking costs. Apart from numerous phone calls from unfamiliar technicians who need clarification for my instructions, denture costs have also gone up tremendously. Can no longer afford to charge Hougang rates for my old regulars from Hougang.

We’ve been told by a wise leader to eat fish if chicken gets too expensive. Must be talking about ikan bilis as fish is always more expensive than chicken. What about dentures? If ERP charges are going to stop the cheap dental labs from coming down to Orchard, perhaps they could take the MRT? Let’s see how these wise leaders carry a few dozen stone casts and dentures down Orchard Road every day. Fish is cheap and stone casts have no weight. Which world are we living in?

Amalgam Fillings VS. Composite Fillings

Amalgam Fillings

Believe it or not, the amalgam filling has a more than 150 - year proven track re c o rd. It is still one of the most reliable, predictable and safe materials with which to fill a cavity.

Composite Fillings

Studies over the past thirty years have shown composite resin to be a safe restorative material. There is no scientific evidence that composites cause adverse health effects in the general population.

Confidence Smile

Most of the Asian women who see me for a makeover would ask for white teeth - the whiter the better. That's easy to understand. Dark-coloured teeth look dirty and worn with age. However, most of them also want small teeth - the smaller the better. That's horrible. When you restore their teeth to their natural form, they complain that they look like Bugs Bunny. But do people really look like Bugs Bunny when their teeth are "large"?
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.

Location: Japan

by New Age Cosmetic Dentists.

牙痛 Toothache

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.

花生 Peanut

$50 Peanut Principle

Just when I thought I was safely out of Hougang, away from the alamaks …

Never 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.

Dental Crown

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.

Excel Day White Tooth Whitening Gel

DIY Whitening take home kit gels with two bleaching trays @ $350/- only.

NOW!!! You can get your teeth whitened in one visit one hour and one stop. This is procedure ususally performed by local dentists.


These gel is fully DIY kits are effective and relatively safe, very powerful gels.
9 applications over 4.5 days are all it takes to whiten your teeth today.