PROCESS OF BRACES

Here's how the process of getting braces is like:

(1) First, Dr Alfred Cheng inserted spacers into my teeth. It was painless and the procedure reminded me of stapling. In fact, I called them 'staples' until I talked to my friend who is also doing braces currently and she told me they are called spacers. The purpose of it is to create a little bit of gap which is necessary for the treatment to proceed. I paid SGD 535 (including 7% GST) for the first visit. I did X-Ray, took photos of my teeth & did impressions as well.

(2) Dr Cheng removed the spacers and inserted molar bands. Once again, I only knew they were molar bands when I asked my friend Y. Dr Cheng does not explain much. He just does his job. However, if you are really curious to know what's happening, just ask, I'm sure he'll explain everything to you. Painless as well. Paid SGD 535 for the 2nd visit.

(3) Third appointment will be on 25th June 2012, Monday, at 930AM. Prior to this appointment, I need to extract a tooth. Did it at New Dental Centre yesterday. If you don't already have a regular dentist, seriously just go there. Dr Ng is really good & nice :D 



P.S. I'm actually slightly worried. The gap after extraction is so huge. How are my other teeth going to fill that up? D: Oh well, FAITH IN THE DENTIST MY DEAR!

P.S.S. I really hope my existing baby teeth do not drop out during the braces treatment. I don't want so many implants in my mouth! I will just replace them individually when they drop by themselves, without any external factors involved. 

P.S.S. Read some super SCARY article about how oligodontia (since I have slightly more than 6 missing adult teeth) is due to a mutation in the AXIN2 gene. This mutation has been alleged to be directly correlated to colon cancer in a study. More about that next time. But there's no point worrying about colon cancer (of all things) at my age? I'll just live life as per normal. More about this depressing research next time. 

I forgot that it is a scientific research. Nobody knows how it is conducted and statistics are inherently biased towards certain objectives. Let's just YOLO.