kRUUKKKkkk!!!!
hmmm why does this nasik feels like batu??
whhooppss.. its my tooth filling!!!
#@@***@@##!
i just did that filling about a week ago!!!!!!!
*sigh*
trust me, its a dentist's worst nightmare.. having to face your patient again after you've just filled his teeth just one week before. worse still, now he's complaining of pain that has not been there before..
and now i feel obliged to explain how can a filling become loose. it might because of one or multiple reasons. but first and foremost, please dont come banging on the clinic's counter... at least go inside and let your dentist have a look at the tooth and explain to you, okay.. we are also human, we really dont like to let our patient feels dissatisfied, really we dont,.. so satisfy yourself by hearing our explanation.
so my preaching today would be aptly titled-
why does and how can tooth filling become loose/fallen:
1. the filling has probably become too large for the tooth to handle. the tooth will be unable to withhold the filling, the tooth structure becomes weak, and after slight pressure onto the tooth while we are eating, the filling become loose. there are cases in which the remaining tooth structure is fractured. the solution: crowning. for this type of problem dentist will always suggest crowning for that tooth. just like our socks will cover our feet, the crown will cover the whole tooth structure so the tooth will become stronger and able to withheld great pressure (i.e chewing/biting).
2. there might be a secondary infection/caries underneath the old filling. tooth filling is bonded to a cleaned surface, but when the area become infected it will become soft, causing the filling to dislodge. this will usually accompanied by pain because the infection will further deepen the previously restored tooth. your dentist will have to remove the old filling, scoop out the infection until no more is left and refill the tooth. when needed some type of medication will be placed so that the floor of the filling is stronger and void of further infection.
3. our material is very sensitive to moisture. if ever our saliva is mixed with the material, the material itself will become weak. so please avoid putting your tongue whilst having your tooth filled, okay. that's the need of the suction, and some dentists resort to using rubber dams (rubber sheet placed over your mouth to prevent any water/saliva into entering the tooth preparation, but some people claim its really uncomfortable). but contrary to popular believe that expensive material will bond better, well, it wont. the price of material depends more on the polishability/cosmetic/colour/strength, not how they bond to tooth surface.
4. there is one condition called abrasion cavity, this is caused by usage of hard or medium-bristled toothbrush that is just too harsh for tooth surface. the cavity is triangular shaped, situated at the neck of your tooth near the gum, and it will cause sensitivity. your dentist can fill it easy, with one really important condition: change your toothbrush!! your naturally hard enamel tooth surface itself cannot withstand the harsh effect of hard/medium-bristled toothbrush, let alone tooth fillings. preferably change it into a supersoft/extrasoft-bristled toothbrush. you might have to change your toothbrush more frequently, but i supposed that is so much better than to have your teeth filled repeatedly!
5. erm... you might accidentally bite on a really hard thing i.e small stone or chicken bone that may have caused the filling to break. i encountered one patient with his whole, unfilled, healthy back tooth split straight into two after he indulged in his favourite snack during a man u game: kacang cap tangan. i assure you the pain is terrible, i really feel sorry for him. i had to extract his tooth, there was no other choice. :( . anyway, if a healthy tooth can break, so can filled tooth..
mmm.. i'm pretty sure your eyelid will become heavy if i continue droning on this subject. so that's it. the important ones, that is. there are more to these, of course, but they are less important and less frequently happen.
if ever your tooth filling become loose after only a few weeks having it filled, please visit your dentist a.s.a.p. its never good to leave your tooth unfilled, because it may lead to more problem. and as a normal practice, dentist will usually charge you nothing if you come back (to the same dentist) within 30 days to redo the less than a month old filling.
its free! so why delay??
and what about the rest of our children? those in primary and secondary school?
i used to work in the government for almost 4 years before i resign, and i know for sure they do have a solid dental program for schoolchildren. basically the program involves dental check ups and simple treatments for all schools.
this is how it works:
every start of the year the klinik kesihatan in the constituency (for example klinik kesihatan in sec 3 bandar baru bangi) will draft a schedule as to where and when they will pay a visit to each of the schools within that area. the program will be two tiered: they will first call all students class by class to do a general check up. then the next step they will call, also class by class, only those who needs treatment. usually before they call the student for the second time students are required to get consent from their guardians. the involved personnels are generally divided to two teams:
teams for primary school consists of
- 2-3 dental nurses
- 2 attendants
- and occasionally a dentist will accompany them whenever needed
teams for secondary school
- 1-2 dentists
- 1-2 dental assisstants
their coverage for each area is quite thorough although for secondary schools its quite difficult for them to cover all schools; the reason being
1 they're almost always lacking in numbers of officers.
2 usually schools dont allow the program runs on exam period i.e pmr/spm/midterm exams
for example in bandar baru bangi the klinik kesihatan dental teams will cover
primary schools
- sek jalan 2 - sek jalan 4
- sek jalan 3 - sek chung hwa in kajang
- sek jalan 6 - sek convent in kajang
- sek integrasi - those that have slipped my mind
secondary schools
- sek jalan 2 - sek maahaad hamidiah
- sek jalan 3 - sek jalan reko
- sek jalan 4 - sek al amin
so you see its pretty thorough, but i have to mention that schools with the best cooperation given during my working year in the government (2004-2007) (from the children as well as teachers) are sek men jalan 4 and maahad hamidiah.
i also do understand your concern.
i do always hear complaints from parents and students that the dental service given at school left much to be desired. that doesnt give you an excuse so that you can run away when the dentist starts calling your class. the first tier (the general check up) is the one which plays the most important role and also the simplest: to determine whether you need any treatment or not. if you dont, good for you. if you do....
actually you have 2 choices- 1. let the dentist do her job... its not bad actually. we usually try to do the best that we can. it just the time constraint. just imagine.. we are to do up to 100 dental fillings from 8.30 am to 12.30 pm.
move on to no.2. you can always decline treatment. tell your dentist that you want to have treatment at nearby clinic. or for parents, you can always inform the dentist that you dont want your child to have dental treatment at their school. the dentists are always glad when you tell them that. it will take a little bit off their shoulder, u know.
just dont run away when they call you the first time, okay. its nothing, they wont do the treatment right away. its just check ups, but an important one, so that you'll know whether you need a dental treatment or not.
fact 1 -
yes, milk tooth is rrreeeeeaaaaaallllyyyyy easy to have holes on it. its minuscule, plus the fact that our child almost all the times doesnt want to hear us...
no sweets!!
but i want it!!
go brush your teeth!
but i dont want to!!
they always seems to LOVE contradicting us!
fact 2 -
but they can also brush their teeth fine! yeah... they also can eat fine by themselves... but theres always mounts of nasik on the table and floor...
so lets fast forward to lesson number 2:
routine dental check up for your child (age 2-6 yrs)
as i mention earlier, milk tooth is too easy to become rotten, because
1. they take their milk often, and milk are like vitamins for bacterias.
2. their size is small, so however small the hole might be, it can straight away become big the next week.
3. their motor control (i.e their control of their toothbrushes) are still not very good (thus the nasik on the floor) so no matter how loong/short they take to brush their teeth its still not thoroughly clean..
4. not to mention the amount of sugar they take... (i do wonder whether mine can get juvenile diabetes with her granny/grandpa/aunties/uncles feeding her all sorts of tidbits every half hour or so...)
5. and because of no. 2, all in a sudden before you realize there's a hole in your child's tooth, he's already crying, not able to sleep, not able to eat, and worse- now you see his face is asymmetrical- because the swelling becomes so big, one of his cheek becomes extra ermm.. 'comel'....
so please bring your child to dental checkups as early as at the age of 2... the earlier the better.. so that anything can be detected early... early intervention also means less pain and less cost..
and if your child is below 6 yrs old please dont let him brush his teeth only on his own. of course you can encourage him, its better that way,but also make sure you yourselves help him brush everytime..
its just so sad to see children as young as 2 years old crying their hearts out because the pain is unbearable.. we ourselves cannot stand toothache, let alone a 2 year old... no wonder dental treatment is such a phobia..
so let your dentist help them. small lesions/holes can easily be filled, but large ones will be a completely different story altogether.
