I graduated from then the University of Singapore dental school in 1978. That makes it 32 years of practice as a dentist but the oldest patient has been seeing me for 33 years. How can that be?
Well she was my patient when I was a dental student. I made her a cantilever porcelain fused to metal bridge with an anti rotation device. Sounds confusing. Surprisingly it is still in her mouth .Some dentist extracted one of her front tooth.Well in those days most dentists pride themselves in taking out teeth and made a living on making dentures. Since then shen has never loss a tooth. So thats how far dentistry has progressed.
To tell the truth what we were taught in the dental school then have long been discarded. I have seen tremendous changes in my profession that all of us can go to the next world with all our natural teeth present albeit with a few crowns here and there to make up for the wear and tear. I am sure soon there will be many people who will go through life without having an idea of a filling in their mouth.
There are many things readers of this blog cannot believe.
The most common dental problem is a toothache. I am sure it is the bane of many people especially where dental care is poor.
First I can say all the children who came to me without dental decay and followed me to adult life has never experience a toothache. Majority will have no fillings in their life.
You can come into my clinic with the most severe toothache and within half an hour leave without pain. You can have a wisdom tooth surgically removed , go a play a game of soccer and celebrate your party at night.. My daughter did just that .You can have your front tooth broken and be repaired in half an hour. The best is even if you to take it out we can glue back the tooth so that you can leave the clinic as if you have not taken out the tooth.
Isn't it a wonderful world.
