Before leaving my employment in Macau, I utilized the dental benefit by the company for a free scaling and polishing session with one of the panel dental clinics.
I always thought of my oral health as being great, I mean, there isn't any problems over the past few working years. No toothaches etc. So I was quite shocked when the dentist told me I have FOUR decaying teeth and it needs to be removed.
REMOVED? Does that mean I'm gonna have to live with false teeth at the age of 26? My Cantonese sucks, so I didn't ask for more elaborations on that. The only thought I had was: HELL NO! Ain't nobody gonna remove four of my teeth!
Well of course that news scared me a little. I started brushing a little harder and longer than usual. But if my teeth are decaying, I need professional help!
And so after 4 months from knowing I had tooth decays, I finally went to a dental clinic in Penang - SmileBay. As usual, I Googled for dental clinics in Penang and SmileBay popped up. They have several branches in Penang so it should be good. Plus the reviews states the dentists are friendly too.
So I made an appointment on 15th Sep, and yes that's the day Penang got flooded and caused major traffic jams everywhere.
Anyway, it's located at Queensbay Avenue, Lorong Bayan Indah 4.
I always thought of my oral health as being great, I mean, there isn't any problems over the past few working years. No toothaches etc. So I was quite shocked when the dentist told me I have FOUR decaying teeth and it needs to be removed.
REMOVED? Does that mean I'm gonna have to live with false teeth at the age of 26? My Cantonese sucks, so I didn't ask for more elaborations on that. The only thought I had was: HELL NO! Ain't nobody gonna remove four of my teeth!
Well of course that news scared me a little. I started brushing a little harder and longer than usual. But if my teeth are decaying, I need professional help!
And so after 4 months from knowing I had tooth decays, I finally went to a dental clinic in Penang - SmileBay. As usual, I Googled for dental clinics in Penang and SmileBay popped up. They have several branches in Penang so it should be good. Plus the reviews states the dentists are friendly too.
So I made an appointment on 15th Sep, and yes that's the day Penang got flooded and caused major traffic jams everywhere.
Anyway, it's located at Queensbay Avenue, Lorong Bayan Indah 4.
The clinic is located on the second floor, with their shop sign clearly displayed to the streets.
I reported myself to the receptionist and waited for my turn. I was ushered into one of the rooms and was greeted by Dr Liew Siew Kiaw. I told her about my teeth decay problems and she started checking for me.
She told me I had 4 wisdom teeth, which I was not aware of cause it didn't hurt when it grew out. Two of the wisdom teeth at the bottom has decayed as it grew our horizontally and has trapped food in between it and my normal tooth, which I did not brush thoroughly. So these two needs to be extracted.
Two of my wisdom teeth at the top does not threaten my oral health, but she did some scaling for me cause it also has some signs of decaying. She told me to brush my teeth deeper than I normally does, in order to reach my wisdom teeth behind.
One of my normal tooth has a hole on it, so she cleaned it and did some refilling for me.
In order to look into my bottom wisdom teeth issue, she sent me for an X-Ray with the nurse.
When the X-Ray result is out, she told me my bottom wisdom teeth has its roots bend slightly downwards, plus it's quite near to my nervous system 神经线. Hence, it's quite a difficult case to handle. If anything goes wrong, my jaw might have a permanent numbing sensation.
She said she will refer my case to another dentist - Dr. Tan, which is more familiar with wisdom tooth extraction. As my case is quite a handful, it'll depend on Dr. Tan if she will take over my case, or further refer me to another Adventist dentist.
So on this day, I paid RM200 for general consultation, refilling, X-Ray and some scaling and polishing. It took less than 30 minutes.
---
On 19th Sep, which is 4 days later, I received a call from the SmileBay receptionist, saying that Dr. Tan has agreed to take over my case, and we scheduled for an appointment on 21st Sep for the extraction.
And so I did a mistake by watching live action videos of wisdom tooth extraction, and it was gruesome! Don't watch it before going for the extraction! However, if you're really curious about the procedures, watch this animated explanation of the procedure.
She told me I had 4 wisdom teeth, which I was not aware of cause it didn't hurt when it grew out. Two of the wisdom teeth at the bottom has decayed as it grew our horizontally and has trapped food in between it and my normal tooth, which I did not brush thoroughly. So these two needs to be extracted.
Two of my wisdom teeth at the top does not threaten my oral health, but she did some scaling for me cause it also has some signs of decaying. She told me to brush my teeth deeper than I normally does, in order to reach my wisdom teeth behind.
One of my normal tooth has a hole on it, so she cleaned it and did some refilling for me.
In order to look into my bottom wisdom teeth issue, she sent me for an X-Ray with the nurse.
When the X-Ray result is out, she told me my bottom wisdom teeth has its roots bend slightly downwards, plus it's quite near to my nervous system 神经线. Hence, it's quite a difficult case to handle. If anything goes wrong, my jaw might have a permanent numbing sensation.
She said she will refer my case to another dentist - Dr. Tan, which is more familiar with wisdom tooth extraction. As my case is quite a handful, it'll depend on Dr. Tan if she will take over my case, or further refer me to another Adventist dentist.
So on this day, I paid RM200 for general consultation, refilling, X-Ray and some scaling and polishing. It took less than 30 minutes.
---
On 19th Sep, which is 4 days later, I received a call from the SmileBay receptionist, saying that Dr. Tan has agreed to take over my case, and we scheduled for an appointment on 21st Sep for the extraction.
And so I did a mistake by watching live action videos of wisdom tooth extraction, and it was gruesome! Don't watch it before going for the extraction! However, if you're really curious about the procedures, watch this animated explanation of the procedure.
The receptionist asked me to eat before going for the extraction. And so I did. As I arrive at the clinic, I was ushered to Dr. Tan Pui Ling, who is very friendly and nice. She pulled out my X-Ray onto her monitor and explained about the procedure again, she also told me that I have an extra tooth beneath my bottom front gum. But she said the tooth is very unlikely to emerge, so I don't have to be bothered by it... ever. Hence while most people have 32 teeth, I have 33.
She asked if I'd like to remove one of the wisdom teeth or both at the same time. I didn't know what to answer so I said I'm fine with both options. So she suggested that I extract the one of the right first, or else I'll have difficulty eating.
Once we've done with the discussion, Dr. Tan injected local anesthesia into my gums, which she then explained that the injection was directed into my blood stream that will carry the anesthesia along the right side of my jaw.
I was sent back to the lobby to wait for the anesthesia to fully take effect. Meanwhile, the nurse gave me some medications to eat before the extraction process. After 5 minutes, they called me back in for the real deal.
I felt numb from the back of my right jaw towards the center of it. And that numbness covers my lips, gums, teeth and tongue. I tried pressuring my fingernail onto my chin and felt nothing. Great, I'm good to go.
The one thing that I'm TERRIFIED of while going though surgeries is the fear that the local anesthesia will wear off half way through the procedure. I mean, what am I going to do at that point? Scream? Yell in Pain? Be petrified of surgeries forever and ever? Let's just hope we will never have to experience that, and have faith in our doctors!
Anyway, I thought I'd be provided with some device to aid my mouth wide open, but it turns out I had to do it manually, exercising every muscle I have in my jaw to crank it open for 10-15 minutes. But it's alright, cause I get to close my mouth every now and then when they changed the utensils and such.
Okay, not trying to scare anybody, but the process was kinda...mentally torturing. The tools that Dr. Tan used to crack my teeth into smaller pieces is not what you want to show to little kids. I mean, from my view, it just looks like the thick handle of a screwdriver.
Dr. Tan was very nice to comfort me throughout the procedure. She saw me clenching my hands, which I usually does whenever I'm expecting pain. She held my hands and told me to relax. Plus before doing anything to your teeth, she'll explain it to me first and told me what to expect.
When she was cracking my teeth into smaller pieces, she told me I'll hear some 'pak' sounds and to not be worried about it. I really appreciate it when the doctors tells me what to expect throughout the surgery so I won't go crazy thinking of all the negative stuffs.
It seems like the surgery went on forever, but in fact it was done in 10-15 minutes. I didn't keep track of the duration of the actual surgery, but I arrive at the clinic at 10:30am and left by 11:14am. So it didn't take as long as I thought it did.
Anyway, after stitching up my wound, Dr. Tan showed me the pieces of my wisdom tooth, and it was much smaller than the ones I saw online. She gave me a gauze to bite on to soak up the remaining blood. She told me I had 3 stitches on my gums, and to only eat soft food for the day.
Upon paying for my bill, the receptionist gave me a bag of medications and explained it to me one by one. I had antibiotics, painkillers and extra pieces of gauze to bite on.
I paid RM800 for the day, and that includes the removal of the tooth, local anesthetic and all the medications:
Amoxycillin Capsule 500mg - three times a day after meal
Metronidazole Tablet 400mg - three times a day after meal
Ibuprofen Tablet 400mg - only consume if it's painful
Dexalone Tablets 0.75mg - 4 tablets on the first day, 3 on the second, 2 on the third and one on the fourth day.
The receptionist/nurse is very nice to write down the amount of medication I needed on the packaging so I don't forget, and she explained everything really well and made sure I know the pills I need to consume daily.
She also told me to not gargle too much cause it will not stop the bleeding that way. She also asked me to swallow my saliva after realizing I was having trouble talking properly due to the fear of swallowing saliva+blood.
I almost gagged when I swallowed for the first time after the procedure. I was like I JUST SWALLOWED BLOOD! I'M A VAMPIRE! *GAG REFLEXES KICKING IN, HOLDING IT IN AS HARD AS I CAN**
....
Team Edward.
She asked if I'd like to remove one of the wisdom teeth or both at the same time. I didn't know what to answer so I said I'm fine with both options. So she suggested that I extract the one of the right first, or else I'll have difficulty eating.
Once we've done with the discussion, Dr. Tan injected local anesthesia into my gums, which she then explained that the injection was directed into my blood stream that will carry the anesthesia along the right side of my jaw.
I was sent back to the lobby to wait for the anesthesia to fully take effect. Meanwhile, the nurse gave me some medications to eat before the extraction process. After 5 minutes, they called me back in for the real deal.
I felt numb from the back of my right jaw towards the center of it. And that numbness covers my lips, gums, teeth and tongue. I tried pressuring my fingernail onto my chin and felt nothing. Great, I'm good to go.
The one thing that I'm TERRIFIED of while going though surgeries is the fear that the local anesthesia will wear off half way through the procedure. I mean, what am I going to do at that point? Scream? Yell in Pain? Be petrified of surgeries forever and ever? Let's just hope we will never have to experience that, and have faith in our doctors!
Anyway, I thought I'd be provided with some device to aid my mouth wide open, but it turns out I had to do it manually, exercising every muscle I have in my jaw to crank it open for 10-15 minutes. But it's alright, cause I get to close my mouth every now and then when they changed the utensils and such.
Okay, not trying to scare anybody, but the process was kinda...mentally torturing. The tools that Dr. Tan used to crack my teeth into smaller pieces is not what you want to show to little kids. I mean, from my view, it just looks like the thick handle of a screwdriver.
Dr. Tan was very nice to comfort me throughout the procedure. She saw me clenching my hands, which I usually does whenever I'm expecting pain. She held my hands and told me to relax. Plus before doing anything to your teeth, she'll explain it to me first and told me what to expect.
When she was cracking my teeth into smaller pieces, she told me I'll hear some 'pak' sounds and to not be worried about it. I really appreciate it when the doctors tells me what to expect throughout the surgery so I won't go crazy thinking of all the negative stuffs.
It seems like the surgery went on forever, but in fact it was done in 10-15 minutes. I didn't keep track of the duration of the actual surgery, but I arrive at the clinic at 10:30am and left by 11:14am. So it didn't take as long as I thought it did.
Anyway, after stitching up my wound, Dr. Tan showed me the pieces of my wisdom tooth, and it was much smaller than the ones I saw online. She gave me a gauze to bite on to soak up the remaining blood. She told me I had 3 stitches on my gums, and to only eat soft food for the day.
Upon paying for my bill, the receptionist gave me a bag of medications and explained it to me one by one. I had antibiotics, painkillers and extra pieces of gauze to bite on.
I paid RM800 for the day, and that includes the removal of the tooth, local anesthetic and all the medications:
Amoxycillin Capsule 500mg - three times a day after meal
Metronidazole Tablet 400mg - three times a day after meal
Ibuprofen Tablet 400mg - only consume if it's painful
Dexalone Tablets 0.75mg - 4 tablets on the first day, 3 on the second, 2 on the third and one on the fourth day.
The receptionist/nurse is very nice to write down the amount of medication I needed on the packaging so I don't forget, and she explained everything really well and made sure I know the pills I need to consume daily.
She also told me to not gargle too much cause it will not stop the bleeding that way. She also asked me to swallow my saliva after realizing I was having trouble talking properly due to the fear of swallowing saliva+blood.
I almost gagged when I swallowed for the first time after the procedure. I was like I JUST SWALLOWED BLOOD! I'M A VAMPIRE! *GAG REFLEXES KICKING IN, HOLDING IT IN AS HARD AS I CAN**
....
Team Edward.
GRUESOME PICTURE AHEAD !!
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I have to go back one week later to remove the stitches, and also to extract the other tooth.
I really don't want to go through the entire procedure again. *Cries*
Oh and the anesthesia was in effect until I drifted off to sleep at 5pm+. So I guess there really isn't necessary to fear that you'll feel pain halfway through the process...unless they did not give you enough anesthesia...I don't know, I'm no doctor!
People, brush your teeth thoroughly. It doesn't matter how tired you are after a long day of work. Brush it! And go for check ups regularly.
Anyway, I paid RM1000 so far, and that's for one wisdom tooth only. Sigh. It costs a lot to repair the damages done by your laziness. But I still had to remove the wisdom tooth even if it didn't decay, cause it was growing in the direction that will disturb my permanent teeth.
UPDATE ON 23RD SEPTEMBER:
The day after I extracted my wisdom tooth, my gums were swollen and my tongue was enlarged as well. I had scalloped tongue for about 2 days, which totally freaked me out!
Scalloped tongue is a condition where your tongue was larger than usual, and it presses against your teeth which imprints the shape of your teeth on your tongue. It resembles uneven ridges at the side of your tongue.
I really don't want to go through the entire procedure again. *Cries*
Oh and the anesthesia was in effect until I drifted off to sleep at 5pm+. So I guess there really isn't necessary to fear that you'll feel pain halfway through the process...unless they did not give you enough anesthesia...I don't know, I'm no doctor!
People, brush your teeth thoroughly. It doesn't matter how tired you are after a long day of work. Brush it! And go for check ups regularly.
Anyway, I paid RM1000 so far, and that's for one wisdom tooth only. Sigh. It costs a lot to repair the damages done by your laziness. But I still had to remove the wisdom tooth even if it didn't decay, cause it was growing in the direction that will disturb my permanent teeth.
UPDATE ON 23RD SEPTEMBER:
The day after I extracted my wisdom tooth, my gums were swollen and my tongue was enlarged as well. I had scalloped tongue for about 2 days, which totally freaked me out!
Scalloped tongue is a condition where your tongue was larger than usual, and it presses against your teeth which imprints the shape of your teeth on your tongue. It resembles uneven ridges at the side of your tongue.
SmileBay Dental called me on the 23rd Sept and asked on the condition of my stitched area. But I didn't tell them about the scalloped tongue cause it's fading already, and I assume it's a side effect from the anesthesia that I got for the tooth removal. The nurse also reminded me to take my medication, which is so sweet of them cause I actually forgot to take it at that time.
So a week after the extraction, I went back to the clinic to remove the stitches. It doesn't hurt at all, and I don't have to pay extra for the stitch removal. I guess the fee has already been included during the previous payment.
Oh and now there's a hole where my wisdom tooth used to be at. It's weird to look at it, but according to Google, the hole will be filled gradually by tissues and what-nots over the months.
So a week after the extraction, I went back to the clinic to remove the stitches. It doesn't hurt at all, and I don't have to pay extra for the stitch removal. I guess the fee has already been included during the previous payment.
Oh and now there's a hole where my wisdom tooth used to be at. It's weird to look at it, but according to Google, the hole will be filled gradually by tissues and what-nots over the months.
SmileBay Dental Surgery, Bay Avenue
A-16-2, Lorong Bayan Indah 4
Bay Avenue, 11900
Bayan Lepas, Penang
Malasia
012-438 1321
04 640 2673
Mondays - Saturdays
9am - 6pm
Sundays
9am - 3pm
Public Holidays Closed