Friendly Teeth

Arif before

Arif is actually my son Shanaz’s best friend. He usually can be found hanging out in my house on weekends, playing Dota on one of the PCs, or football on PS3 or twanging a ‘guitar’ on Rock Band.

I have been wanting to do something for Arif for a long time, but as most of Shanaz’s friends they are shy and are reluctant to ‘trouble’ me.

The other day, Shanaz told me that Arif had visited the clinic blog and wondered whether he could have a makeover done too! I told him I’d be happy to do one for him but he’d have to get his parent’s OK first.

He is almost 20, I know, and well over the age of consent (18) but … I’d rather his parents know I was going to change their son’s smile.

The following week, the shy and extremely tall Arif came in for his makeover with Shanaz.

Arif after

We talked and I told him what I could do and what I couldn’t. I did a mock so he could actually get an idea of what it would finally look like … and then we started!

Arif loved it! and so did my biggest critique … Shanaz.

What do you think?

I haven’t done his lower teeth yet … That’s stage two!

It’s amazing! My mother turned 80 this week.

My mother turns 80

We had a huge party where all the family members from far and wide came to wish my mother for her 80th birthday. My brother, Alwi, hosted the party in his house, wisely getting everything catered for 100 people who came streaming in to wish my mother on her big day.

I got Min from Mama Min to create a beautiful cake made to resemble a pot of hydrangers and little cupcakes symbolizing my mother’s 8 grandchildren, 7 boys and the sole girl, Giselle.

Mum's birthday cake

Mum was surrounded by her siblings, her cousins, their kids and their kid’s kids. so Alwi’s house was over run with people, all laughing and tucking into the glorious buffet.

Happy birthday Mum!

The gap before I waved my wand

Sarah is the daughter of my best friend from University, Rema Ragavan. Sarah is a sweet 17 and waiting for her SPM results.

She came in with Rema, and though Rema was the one with the big ‘problem’ tooth, Sarah jumped into the dental chair to do something for the gap in the front of her smile first … I think she inherited it from Rema’s Mum, the gap I mean!

Rema reassured her ‘that Aunty Fay can do wonders’ … which made me smile … Rema and I go back a long, long way and it is always a treat to catch up with my good friend.

We laughed and joked about our University days and how Life turned out.

Rema is now a teacher and co-author of the Science text books my kids use in Secondary school … who would have predicted that! I mean we were up to so much ‘no good’ when we were in University, it’s amazing we became respectable citizens!

It was so much fun waving my magic wand for Sarah. Watching her smile light up her eyes when she looked in the mirror for the first time was a magic moment indeed.

See Ma ... no gap!!

Sarah, you have a lovely mother … and Rema, Sarah is as gorgeous as you are!

I love you both.

Julaiza before we started

Julaiza for the blog whilst surfing the net. A teacher, she hails from Kuala Selangor where she teaches commerce. As usual I spend a few minutes talking to my new patients, to get to know them, find out what they were concerned with about their smile and discuss their options.

Getting to know Julaiza was such fun! We became instant friends.

I told Julaiza that her makeover was a little complicated and challenging as she had what we call a cross-bite. I could do it but she would have to come back in for the second stage as the whole makeover had to be done in two visits.

You see, I was mindful that she had a busy schedule as she was a teacher (I do so like teachers … I think they are unsung heroes and heroines of our Nation), and mindful that she was coming from Kuala Selangor!

Julaiza was game for the makeover, which so touched me, as I knew she just had put her faith in me purely by what she read in this blog and the photos she saw of other makeovers I had done previously.

I am determined to do my very best and deliver to Julaiza the smile she always dreamt she wanted.

We chatted and laughed as we did the makeover … I spent an extraordinary time creating her temporaries as I wanted her to have an idea of the finished result. The time flew by as we had such fun!

At last I had cemented the temporary bridge and Julaiza was ready for the magic mirror. I told her as I passed her the mirror that it was a temporary bridge … it’s not the final one that would be so much, much nicer .

She took the mirror and breathed in a deep breath before looking at her reflection.

Julaiza now, before the final stage in two weeks

She gasped with delight and broke into tears as we hugged… Julaiza thanked me whilst I kept saying that it was only a temporary bridge and the final one was going to be so much nicer.

I have no words to explain or describe these moments when I hand the mirror to my patients.

It is an emotional moment that I am so, so lucky I can give to people … the moment when they see their dream smile at last.

Thank you God for giving me this vocation. I am so blessed.

I can hardly wait for the permanent bridge to arrive. Keep tuned and I’ll post the photos when we finish… that’s a promise.

Mrs Tan is an old friend. She runs a busy stationery and printing company with her husband and has been a patient of mine since 1990s! As a typical doting mother, Mrs Tan has made sure her two boys and daughter come for regular check-ups and clean ups many years … in fact her daughter is now studying Dentistry after seeing that this career is actually fun …. I have already offered her a job when she comes finishes.

Mrs Tan had a very protruding tooth indeed

Anyway, last Saturday Mrs Tan came in for her regular check up and I asked her if she’d let me do her makeover for the New Year. She looked at me with one eyebrow raised and surprising even herself .. she said yes!

You see Mrs Tan had never ever thought anything could be done for her smile, other than braces … and she felt she just didn’t have the time for the many visits necessary for braces, she just was too busy.

Secondly, it never occurred to her that I could do something for herself personally … she had always been thinking of taking care of her kids! Doing something for her personally had just not occurred to her!

What a wonderful, caring mother Mrs Tan is … she never ever thought of doing something for herself until I asked her to.

Anyway, I was so, so excited and happy I could, at last correct her smile!

Now this looks better!

In less than half an hour I passed her the mirror and Mrs. Tan was absolutely delighted (and shocked!) at her transformation!

She looked just great!

I am so happy that I could do this for my friend. She always puts everyone else first, her children, her husband, the company, her mother-in-law … this time she had mde some time for herself.

Well done Mrs Tan … you deserve a smile you can be proud of!