Saturday, April 27, 2013

O stands for Orthodontics

A stands for Alfred, Angela and Alvin  
E stands for Emperor
F stands for Fairy Tales
stands for my Genarasi (generation) 
H stands for Hubby
I stands for I
J stands for Jobs
K stands for Kitchen deco
L stands for Life is good
M stands for My Man and his 1st car
N stands for NTU




O stands for Orthodontics
"Orthodontics is the study of dentistry that is concerned with the treatment of improper bites, and crooked teeth. Orthodontic treatment can help fix the patient's teeth and set them in the right place. Orthodontists usually use braces and retainers to set the patient's teeth."
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wanted the content for this post to be for letter 'Q' to 歌颂 about how wonderful my dentist, Mr Mohan, from Q&M dental is but i couldn't contain my excitement about getting my teeth fixed again till letter Q so here goes.... 

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JC time was the time where i first received criticism for my protruding lower jaw and crooked teeth .... was rather upset about it but as i didnt have the habit of asking my parents for big bucket item, it didnt cross my mind that i would get them corrected... 

fast forward 7 years, after 2 years of work life (= have savings liao), at the age of 24, upon a friend's recommendation, i visited Q&M at Bukit Gombak to have my teeth check for braces by Dr Mohan... opted for ceramics braces because they were 'invisible' and cost only about a few hundred (less than $400) more  than metal braces. cant remember the exact amount but i know i definitely spent less than $4k in total. The price included everything; extraction x 4, braces, retainers, monthly consultation with tightening and scaling & polishing. paid $1k upfront and went on an interest free instalment payment scheme. 

I was also given a massive discount for the teeth whitening kit which i bought after removing my braces.... =) ... He also gave good discount to all my friends (lene, adele, wx) whom upon hearing all the good things about braces from me decided to get their smile enhanced too... =) 

But i wasn't a good patient.  i would skip my monthly consultation every now and then, my record was missing 2 consecutive appointments hence the whole process took me 3.5 years, from dec 2005 to may 2009.... =P


my 'show no teeth & braces' smile for most part of the 3.5 years 


my once in a while 'show teeth & braces' smile when 自拍-ing... 

except for a close-up shot else the braces can't really be seen at all lo... the above and below photos were both taken during the same period of time while holidaying in bintan with mab and laurice in 2007. 



fast forward 4 years after removing my braces.... not a good patient once more cos i have not put on my retainers for at least 3.5 years liao.....yes, i was only good for less than half a year with the retainers.... =P.... i even threw away the retainers cos my gum and teeth were in so much pain when i tried to fit it in about 1.5 years ago.... ='(....


i realised that at least two of my teeth have shifted.... my teeth are no longer lined up neatly and beautifully.... =S.... i was so concerned that i had even contemplated to put on braces once more to achieve my perfect teeth alignment..... i can live with my flabbiness, i can leave with my pimpled face hence i am also puzzled why i m so anal about my teeth.... i can only conclude that the criticism back in jc must have dented my confidence damn much.... =S


anyway, made an appointment and visited the Q&M at hougang mall for my 'yearly' scaling and polishing of my pearly 'whites' by another dentist as Dr Mohan only specialises in braces matters.... 


but i was just super lucky to be at the clinic on the right day and at the right time; Dr Mohan was at the hougang branch and happened to be free in between appointments too... =).... so clinic admin "hooked" us up and i managed to slip in for a quick consultation and he said that a corrective retainer would do the trick.... =D.... chop chop, the mould was made and i can collect my corrective retainers in another month's time.... Yippy ya yo!!!! 


woohoo....happiness.....and to add on to my happiness, he gave me a 50% discount (=$200) and a waiver of sterilization & disposables charges ($10)..... and tatatatata..... my corrective retainers only cost me $214 inclusive of 7% gst... 


by the way, the charges for the scaling and polishing was only $70 with an additional $10 for sterilisation and disposable and with gst, it only totals up to $85.60. It's considered freaking cheap la...i paid $150 for the same service when i visited wong's dental clinic at hougang ave 8 last year lo. =S


5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello, just wondering is corrective retainer actually the hawley retainer?

Candy said...

Hyee,

my corrective retainer is a clear retainer. I don't like hawley retainers as i find them super uncomfortable...

Marisol said...

How much was your total cost in NT dollar?

Candy said...

https://www.google.com.sg/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=4000 SGD to TWD

based on the conversion on the above website, it should be around 92189.06 New Taiwan Dollar

Marisol said...

My daughter doesn't need that much work just too braces for a year. Curious if the insurance covers any of it.