Burmese model Mable Soe gets her teeth whitened for Xmas.

Eee… Why Like That?

That was my initial reaction to seeing those ugly trunks worn by the Singapore waterpolo team in the Asian Games. And after an initial “cooling down period”, I looked at them and went “eee… why like that?” again.

Not for an unnamed Singapore official in Guangzhou. He/she told The New Paper that it looked “obscene”. Next, Carol Tan, the resilience and marketing division director at the Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts denied any involvement with the design of the trunks.

Ms Tan said: “We would have told them that their design is inappropriate as we want elements of the Flag to be treated with dignity.”

Not their fault.

Quite predictably, when team manager Samuel Wong heard about the complaints, he said: “There was no question of being disrespectful to Singapore or to the national flag. We sincerely apologise if it has offended anyone.”

A remarkable show of national pride, but Mr Wong and Ms Tan can save their apologies for me. I may find the design ugly and funny, but it will take a much bigger and thicker crescent moon to offend me. Apparently, the majority of Singaporeans are perfectly OK with the trunks. Even those who objected to them only had issues with the crescent moon and not with the stars. I’m not sure how small they’ll have to make the crescent moon to please everybody, but the last thing we need is for some puritanical prig to stand up and condemn the harmless trunks. And let’s not make the crescent moon too small or it’ll look paedophilic.

The trunks may look ugly and/or silly, but as a patriotic Singaporean, I’m not even going to say that they are ugly and/or silly. I’m going to say that they look great on our waterpolo team and all my support goes out to them. May they do our country proud and wear it over that unnamed official’s head after the match.

Screw Inner Beauty

Screw Inner Beauty - lessons from the fatosphere by Kate Harding and Marianne Kirby.

I thought this book would be a wicked revelation of how superficial modern soceities are. I thought it would show us what really fills the minds of people who emphasise on inner beauty over outer beauty. I expected a funny, honest, candid and sarcastic style. Well, this book turned out to be totally beyond my expectations.

Well, it did start off with some revelation of hypocrisy by magazines that tell you to love yourself the way you are on one page and then carry tons of advertisements telling you how to change your looks for the better. Then, the authors revealed that they are fat and not ashamed of admitting it. That’s fine with me. It’s their own bodies. But the insights and advice that follow show how little they understand nutrition and physiology. It’s true that most people who embark on weight loss programs succeed at first but regain all the weight they lost, but that does not mean that the science behind dieting and nutrition is all wrong. Yes, experts have been paid to endorse programs and products. Some have even written books aimed more at selling than informing, but the science still holds. People become obesed because they take in too much and burn off too little.

Healthy At Every Size (HAES) is an interesting concept. I might even agree with it. No matter how some people exercise, they just can’t get rid of their thick thighs or buttocks. In fact, the majority of people who attend slimming programs aren’t even overweight. These are genuine victims of “media standards”. They should go for counselling instead of extreme weight loss programs if they are healthy in spite of an isolated chunk of stubborn fat that just wouldn’t go away. Perhaps they should even read the more sensible parts of this book.

However, there are many people out there who are indeed overweight and at risk of serious chronic illnesses. It’s factually incorrect for the authors to say that the majority of people will not be able to maintain their weight within healthy limits even if they exercise sufficiently and eat good food. The authors further postulated (wrongly) that there is no such thing as good food and bad food - just eat intuitively. That would be a recipe for disaster.

They seem to have forgotten that very few of our ancestors were fat because there weren’t much junk food, travelators and escalators back then. Malnutrition was a bigger (no pun intended) problem than obesity. We live in very different times and going intuitively with food loaded with trans fats and sodium without any discipline or knowledge to discern is exactly the source of weight problems (with accompanying health issues) in the developed world.

The part about choosing doctors who don’t tell you are obesed and at risk of certain illnesses is preposterous. How about avoiding the doctor who tells you you’ve got a tumour that needs to be investigated? Aren’t they supposed to be confident and in full acceptance of their bodies? Why bother to avoid doctors who comment on their weight? While I admire the authors’ positive outlook in life, I can’t help but conclude that they are people who are happy because they are blissfully ignorant or in denial.

I can’t comment on their advice on social life. I’ve never been fat and if one of them is happily married and other dating successfully, I guess, it’s OK to take some advice from them. Finally, take a look at Kate Harding’s picture below. Does she look that fat to you? Think twice before buying her book.

Bond & Conlour

This Filipino Tai Tai's problem is quite obvious. Wear and tear chipped the biting edges of her upper incisors. Though she only complained about the chipped edge of the left incor, we decided to complete the picture, so to speak, by dong bonding on the left incisor and some contouring on the other teeth.

The chipped tooth has been repaired with composite resin. The other teeth have also been "sculpted".

Not many people will dare show their cases as this magnification.

Cost of Conscious sedation.

We provide moderate conscious sedation for procedures taking less than 1 hour. Unlike deep sedation which is administered by an anaesthetist and costs $600 per hour, conscious sedation costs only $200. It is suitable for 1 simple wisdom toothe surgery or multiple extractions.

Getting To The Church On Time

Here is one young gentleman we want to get to the church on time and having teeth like this just won't do . He was wearing a removable plastic denture. His central incisor is dead.

We did root canal for the dead tooth and bleaching for the other teeth.

His gums are still not "level". Gum surgery will be required to correct that and produce a more harmonious gum line.

We removed gum tissue on the left side.

Weeks after gum surgery shows remarkable healing. We prepared the 2 bridge supporting teeth.

The temporary bridge is in place. Even thought the shade of the temporary bridge is light, it appears darker than the patient's bleached teeth.

Cost of Root Canal Treatment

If you are looking to do the root canal treatment in Singapore. Yes, you should ask for the cost of the treatment but the cheap root canal might not be the cheapest in the long run. Don't go to a dentist with whom don't have experience or you are not familiar just to get a cheap treatment. The better you should search to be sure first but I didn't saying that the dentist with the cheap fee won't do a good job .

How much does root canal treatment cost ? (in Singapore)

Central incisor, Lateral incisor (front tooth) about $ 350 - $400
Canine $400 - $600
First premolar, Second premolar $600 - $700
First molar , Second molar $700 - $950
(This price for GP )

For Endodontics Specialist about $950 - $2000

We are a Medisave accredited day surgery centre.

Everybody wants to announce that after going through all that paperwork, briefings, training etc to become a Medisave accredited day surgery centre. Why do we go through all that trouble? Well, being able to draw from the patient’s Medisave to pay for surgical treatment is really cool. The patient is happy to tap into frozen savings, not having to pay cash and day surgery centres offering these services can look forward to better business from patients who may find it difficult to pay hundreds of dollars in cash. It’s a win-win situation.

Sure, the number of surgical cases rose after we became Medisave accredited. But along with those minority of genuine surgical cases, came a majority of irritating enquiries.

“Wa, your clinic accepts Medisave payment ah? Good wor. Ei, I do scaling can use Medisave or not?”

“For surgery only. Here is the list http://www.luckyplazadental.com/medisave/

“Scaling cannot ah? The filling can or not?”

“Please check the list of surgical procedures that are covered.”

“Filling also cannot ah? Then braces leh?”

It happens on the phone, it happens at the reception counter and it happens especially in email enquiries. Certainly, these people must either have seen the We are a Medisave accredited day surgery centre. sign at our clinic or saw our webpage with a list of claimable surgical procedures. So why do they still ask us these questions?

“Crown can or not huh?”

“Root canal can or not huh?”

As we receive more and more of these emails, we become more and more convinced that Singaporeans are becoming functionally illiterate. Is the word “surgery” such a piece of proprietary jargon that laymen can be excused for not knowing what it means? That’s obviously not true. Whenever we mention surgery to someone with an impacted wisdom tooth, he/she runs for the door. So why don’t people understand what surgery means when they see the word Medisave? Does seeing the word Medisave diminish one’s ability to read?

Perhaps it’s a little like the Hokkien pengs of yester-years who didn’t understand any orders in English except “book out”. Or could all these irritating enquiries come from spies acting on behalf of competitors who just want to see us wasting our time explaining to fake patients who pretend not to know? We may never know the source of the problem, but literacy aside, anyone not willing to pay for something not claimable is obviously not a very good patient to begin with.

Another Extreme Makeover by New Age Cosmetic Dentists's (Singapore)

You don't need to be a dentist to tell that this is a challenging case. We marked her 2 canines for extraction. We'll also need to do some gum surgery on her laterals. Her incisors on the left side will also need to be "moved" to close the gap after the canine has been extracted.

Another look at how difficult this case is. Apart from extractions and gum surgery, we also need to do root canal on the incisors on the left side.

Extraction just done on the right side. There is hardly any gap between the lateral and the first premolar. This will be the easy side.

The other canine has also been extracted. Gum surgery done, exposing more crown height for the lateral incisors and the premolars. The gap on the right side is more significant.

Here's the patient's left side. There is a gap about half a tooth wide. We have already done root canal on the left incisors. We will later cut them off and rebuild with post crowns to close the gap.

4th day after surgery. Check out the healing.

The teeth have been trimmed down and temporary plastic crowns placed.

We will wait 2 months for the gums to stabilise, then we'll place emax crowns over them.

Emax crowns fitted, another ready for have nice smile.

Unbreakable Flexite Plus® Dentures

Flexible dentures created a great deal of excitement when they were first launched. No more ugly metal wires. No more broken dentures. What's more, the denture can be bent or even twisted. It springs right back into its original shape. But the flexible denture fever quickly turned cold. Patients complained of dentures that didn't function (no chewing power) and caused pain whenever they tried to eat anything harder than boiled potatoes. Dentists complained of a material that curls up when trimmed and pressure spots that remain after trimming.

A few years ago, I had a debate with a manufacturer of a system of flexible denture material. I argued that basic prosthodontic principles dictate that major connectors of any removable denture cannot be flexible. For a long while, I have been making hybrid acrylic dentures with flexible clasps and rigid plates to take advantage of both systems. However, these dentures were breakable like acrylic dentures and the bond between the two materials was never perfect. I didn't believe that a fully flexible denture will work. True enough, many patients who have done their long-span flexible dentures have a lot of complaints.

Finally, one manufacturer recognised the problem and introduced a new partially flexible material. Flexite Plus is now our material of choice for all removable partial dentures. Unlike their predecessors which were flexible throughout and create problems when they are long-span, the new material is selectively flexible and shows rigidity when due.

The biggest advantage of this sort of dentures is that unlike the hybrid dentures I used to do, they are unbreakable like the former fully flexible denture systems. Like their fully flexible predecessors, they also do not have the unsightly clasps seens in chrome dentures. Flexite Plus clasps are still pink in colour. Unlike their predecessors, however, Flexite Plus plates are not flexible. This makes them capable of supporting chewing forces in long-span dentures.

New charges

As our emax restorations become better known, we are also seeing more and more demanding patients. To compensate for our time, effort and increase in cost of material which we used to absorb, we will be increasing our charges for full ceramic restorations. Emax crowns will now be $900 per unit and zirconia crowns will cost $1000 per unit.


New Age Cosmetic Dentists team.

Is it "Sap Sap Sui" for you uncle?

Shall we provide these entertainment for our surgery patients? Yes, i think we shall IF they will say YES to us after the consultation. How many of them won't say THAT'S EXPENSIVE? If they say "ok, i will do it."

Anyway, our clinic don't provide these kind of service at all. If you want, please bring it along on your surgery day.

We could provide IF NO ONE COMPLAINTS THAT WE ARE EXPENSIVE.

A RICH and EDUCATED man who scolded me on that morning. I remembered clearly that i told him "if you do any treatment in our clinic, we won't charge you any consultation fees". I thought he would understand my simple and broken english.

After he consulted the dentist, i told him "sir, it's $50 for your consultation." He starting to @#$%^&* to me. He scolded a lot of nonsense, i only can remember that he said "for me, $50 is just like a peanut! But i won't pay for it, because you told me that it's free consultation."

Wah!!! Since when i told him is "FREE"??? "If you do any treatment in our clinic, we won't charge you any consultation fees" doesn't mean IT'S FREE, am i right? Somemore he didn't do any treatment in our clinic, so of course we will charge for consultation fee. He was very angry. He said will ask lawyer to sue me due to i told him wrong information.

At that moment, i feel so innocent. I did nothing wrong. Is my english problems? Or the information i gave him is not clear enough?

After he @#$%^&*, he left clinic.

Well, that's the difference in between EDUCATED him and UNEDUCATED me! I think this is TOO MUCH for me!!!

Payment For Dental Surgery With Medisave

Medisave audits have been driving many dental clinics crazy. Almost no clinic can escape without refunding money due to "overclaiming". It has been and will always be our clinic's policy to help our patients claim the maximum amount that MOH and CPF Board allow. We are not in the position to dictate or even advise our patients on what to do with their own money.

On the other hand, organisations which regulate the use of Medisave funds have the duty of protecting our patients' Medisave reserves. The maximum claimable amounts stipulated by MOH are not meant to cover 100% of the bill. As private practitioners, however, we always try our best to charge and claim in a way that results in no cash payment on the part of our patients. Nevertheless, this is not always possible. MOH has very rigid guidelines on the maximum claimable amount for a particular type of wisdom tooth condition. At the MOH side, the evaluation is based purely in xrays. It is common knowledge that Medisave is only for surgery and medication for chronic illnesses requiring long-term medication. Please DO NOT ask us if dentures, fillings, crowns etc can be paid for with Medisave.

Below is a detailed explanation on how much is claimable for each type of surgery:

1. Single Wisdom Tooth Surgery (maximum $950)

If your wisdom tooth looks like this on the xray, we will be able to claim up to $950 for the surgery. $600 is well within our charges for this surgery. If you present at our clinic for the removal of this tooth, we will take no cash from you.

If your wisdom tooth looks like this on the xray, we will only be able to claim up to $350 for the surgery. If you present at our clinic to remove this tooth, we may not be able to charge within the limit. Figure on paying about $200 in cash.


If your wisdom tooth looks like this, we will not be able to claim anything for you regardless of how difficult the extraction is. Sorry, we don't make the rules.

Surgical excision of 2-3 wisdom teeth (Max $1550)

If you are taking out 2 or 3 wisdom teeth at the same time and at least one of them looks like the second xray on top, you can claim a maximum of $1550. This may not cover you fully when all 3 extractions are difficult. You may need to fork out $200-$300.

Surgical excision of 2-3 wisdom teeth (Max $1850)

If you are taking out 2 or 3 wisdom teeth at the same time and at least one of them looks like the first xray on top, you can claim a maximum of $1850. This is within the range of our charges. You will not need to fork out cash even if both lower teeth require surgery.

Surgical excision of 4 or more roots/wisdom teeth (Max $2150)

If you are taking out all 4 of your wisdom teeth where at least one of them looks like the second xray, you can claim a maximum of $2150. If the upper teeth are simple extractions, $1400 will be well within our charges for the entire treatment. You will not need to fork out any money.

Surgical excision of 4 or more roots/wisdom teeth (Max $2600)

If you are taking out all 4 of your wisdom teeth where at least one of them looks like the first xray, you can claim a maximum of $2600. $2600 should cover everything. You will not need to fork out any money.

2. Surgical excision of soft tissue tumour ($200)

3. Drainage of Pus ($150-$200)

4. Root Canal Surgery (surgical removal of root tip after failure of root canal treatment) ($800)

5. Implant Surgery excluding crown $1250 to $2150 claimable

6. Biopsy ($200)

Change your gummy smile with crown lightening

The patient shows a bit too much gum when she smiles.

We can tell that her teeth are not fully exposed. Quite a bit of her pearly whites lie beneath the gums.
Crown lengthening surgery exposes the covered teeth.

This is her new smile and gum line immediately after surgery.
We'll wait 2 months for the gums to stabilise before we make her veneers.

Do you want other people to respect you?

It seems that a lot of people think that respect should just come to them. How can you really earn someone's respect?

Ms. Lee, came to our clinic yesterday. She was late for 45 mins by her appointment timing. When she came in our clinic, she looked so unhappy with everyone. I should say it more look like everyone was offended to her.

------ You need to do is respect others first. It doesn't matter who are they and so on. If you judge, you'll be judged. To do on to others as you want done on to you, treat others the way you want to be treated. You must respect those around you, before you'll get respect back.



Don't walk around mad or frustrated about what's happening in your life or in other people's lives. Take life as it comes. Be the first one to start up a conversation with someone, even if you don't know them. Find something you can talk about. If they're having trouble, help them out if they let you. Offer to lend a hand before you're asked...and most important, be honest with others and with yourself. If you know you won't be able to do something or can't make an appointment, don't lie just to make that person feel good that you'll meet with them. If you don't have time or have other things going on, tell them the truth. People respect an honest answer and an honest opinion.

No matter what the situation. When you see someone, smile. It's contagious, for the most part anyway. 95% of people you smile at, will smile back. They'll know that you are happy with yourself and with your surroundings. In turn, they'll give you respect by smiling back.------

Well, back to our patient. When i told her the total amount is $1xx.00. She asked "how much is the cleaning?" "$x0.00 for scaling and air polishing, another $x.00 for x-ray", i replied. She told me that "BUT I DIDN'T WANT TO TAKE X-RAY", so i told her that everyone of our new patient are compulsory to take a x-ray. She was very rude to said "but you didn't tell me!" I show to her immediately that we were written down on the medical history form. She just kept quiet and throw her ATM card to me.

After i passed the receipt to her, she just walk away.

Huh~ finally she left.

Please teach me what should i do?

I still can remember clearly that our patient's husband blamed me late for work.

That was Monday. I was early reached clinic that morning, exactly 9.10am i reached.

When i squated, trying to unlocked the door, i heard he said:" Wah! A neh wua jia kui meng!..." He spoke to his wife in Hokkien. I felt so annoying, but i just kept quiet. Once i unlocked the door, i told his wife, "please go in and take a sit. Doctor will be coming in at 10am. Next time may be you can called up to book appointment in adbance, so that you no need to stand for so long to wait at outside. Some more we are open at 10 am."

I guess only blind people cant see that WE ARE OPEN AT 10am!!! I did't late, i was not only on time, i was early 20 mins than working time. She was politely replied me "it's ok. I called yu0 yesterday. But no one answered the phone."

I nearly vomit blood when i heard that. Yesterday was Sunday. Who is working on Sunday? I felt so helpless. I didn't bother about them after that until my boss came in.

Who can understand my feeling?


Teach me what should i do?

Ready to get new smile!

This lady had always known that something was wrong with her smile. She thought it was just her protruding front teeth. Projected results of pushing her teeth back didn't help her see a favourable outcome. She also insisted on no braces.

She consulted us and was given a proposal for an extreme makeover incorporating gum surgery, root canal and emax crowns.

This is the gumline we thought she should have. All 4 front teeth must also be drastically shortened and pushed back.

The patient could tell that her upper lip and teeth were not "normal". This was her her very self-conscious "smile".

This is what she would look like if she had tried to smile naturally. Simply crowning her teeth backwards would not have helped much.

The patient is ready for crown lengthening surgery

Gum and bone were removed.


Suturing was done and her front teeth (root canal treated), were trimmed back and shortened.

It's barely 2 weeks after surgery. Healing is satisfactory. She is still hesitant about smiling, but this is roughly where her new gumline will be. The final exact position of her gums will only be known in 2 months. That's why we can only place temporaries.

Her temporaries will be removed in 2 months for impression taking.

Finally, the patient's emax crowns are ready. This is her new smile.

Posterior composites

For the posterior composites we need only one appointment approximately on hour per tooth after already did the patient need to maintenance like use the normal brushing with the toothpastes and flossing. Avoid biting on extremely hard foods such bones, ice, meat, sugarcane etc. and can last about five to ten years for the cost will starts from $80 and above...

Why have to do Crown?

Many patients call up and not really know what's a Crown?
Why have to do Crown and How much does it cost ?

A crown is commonly called a cap to cover / replaces that part of the tooth. The crown can be done for many reasons like you tooth chipped off , after root canal treatment done , your tooth discoloured or miss- shaped . The cost of the crowns is depend on the materials used and the skill of the dentist . For the crowns materials they are many type like metals, porcelain- metals, E-max , Zirconia .