The Plastic Man

Have you accidently ever bitten on a small piece of stone, or plastic while chewing on your delicious meal? Its like a jolt of pain shooting to your head, blowing your brains apart!! Now imagine biting through this piece of plastic everyday for 25 years. Can you bare the discomfort of chewing your meals with a heavy piece of acrylic for your breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner, and supper??  The answer is = DREADFUL ! 

Mr. Akram has been trying to get comfortable with his upper dentures for at least 25 years now. He has literally celebrated a silver jubilee of 25 years of horror, trying to eat and chew through that heavy piece of acrylic! Mr. Akram didn’t have the best options for treating his teeth when he was very young due to unethical decisions made by his previous dentist. He had lost most of his upper teeth as a result of extraction.

Dentures had been his only option to replace his missing teeth back then. Ever since, he had to suffer to learn how to eat using a set of false teeth, with his tongue constantly in contact with the acrylic on his upper palate. He couldn’t taste his food, since his tongue does not touch his palate ( the upper part of the mouth ). His speech was affected, where he had to learn to speak and pronounce words clearly with the presence of the denture. Overtime, the denture got loose once the bone started to resorb. This occurs as a result of loosing teeth over a period of time, as the bone around the extracted tooth socket tends to resorb due to absence of the tooth. This causes a change to the anatomy of the gum and mouth resulting in reduced support to the denture. It is a series of unfortunate events that a denture wearer has to live with, not forgetting the fact that they will have to remove their dentures at night before their sleep.

                                

Mr. Akram had decided to end his tourment. He paid us a visit, seeking advice on his dental dilemma. He was keen on getting rid of the denture for once and for all.  He asked for some professional advice, and we started analyzing his case. We ran a full dental examination on him, observing his smlie line, width of mouth opening and his facial profile.

            

We had then begin our cosmetic treatment for Mr. Akram. We planned an upper Zicornia bridge for him, mimicking his original teeth shape, size and profile as much as possible. Within 2 weeks, his new bridge had arrived. It looked like a set of polished diamonds, ready to be installed.

            

The bridge was inserted into his mouth. It was a MATCH ! The color, texture and fitting was perfect, and Mr. Akram was overwhelmed. He was very happy with his new prosthesis. He had now a new set of teeth, feeling like brand new ones.

           

            

Mr. Akram was satisfied with his new set of teeth. They were better, stronger, whiter and much lighter than his previous denture. He was able to speak comfortably, smile confidently, and above all, he could now TASTE HIS FOOD! What a relief … no more plastic tastes, no more rocks to bite from !! With his new Zicornia bridge, he was able to appreciate his food better… say Good Bye to plastic roof!

                  

        

  

            

A Good Day to Smile - Understanding the Law beyond Just a Beautiful Smile...

Not everyone is born with a perfect set of teeth, beaming white and crystals glowing as they smile. A good smile comes from a beautiful lip line, high cheek bones and an attractive set of teeth. But what happens if you were blessed with such a fortune of a smile, but with defected teeth??

Smiles are just mesmerising when it feels right...

Rampant caries is a very common disease of the dentition. It is an aggressive, devastating type of  decay of the teeth due to invasive bacteria, and the lack of  protective mechanism to the teeth itself. Very simply, we prevent decay  (demineralization of the enamel and dentine) by our day to day routine of brushing and flossing. What we do not realize is that there are more than just this 2 methods to restore balance to your oral hygiene. Its connected to our daily activities and lifestyle, which plays a big role in keeping our teeth healthy and protected.

Study the list of options below. Interesting as it may be, these might just enlighten us on the complexity and the dynamics on how tooth decay can be prevented.

1.              Proper diet – less sugar and starchy food, flruoride

2.              Proper brushing method

3.              Brushing frequancy – 2 times daily

4.              Flossing

5.              Mouth rinse

6.              Eating timing

7.              Eating frequancy

8.              Adequate rinsing

9.              Water intake

10.          Frequant visits to the dentist

Lets take number 8 for instanse. Adequate rinsing simply means cleansing the teeth with a form of liquid ( water,mouthwah,saliva ) to remove any reminants of food particles or pelicle layers over the tooth surface.  Any cause of deficient rinsing, or inability to rinse efficiently would be a major causative factor for decay to form. So could you imagine a child with impaired salivary production sufering the consequences of rampant caries due to his/her inability to produce adequate saliva to wash away all the food particles? The impact to the child is severe, as while he suffers from lack of confidence to smile and interact with children of  his age, his teeth is undergoing damage every second. Such cases require good dental intervention and a proper treatment plan for the child.

We had a patient, 19 year old male from Perth who had similarly suffered from xerostomia (inabillity to produce saliva) and faced issues with his teeth. He had generalized caries, some of which has caused his teeth to be non-vital and presented with dental abcess. It was quite sad to see a young individual sufering from multiple carious lesions due to his natural inability to produce adequate saliva.

 He has a good long future ahead of him. However looking at his current condition, he might not even pass 25 before all his teeth are fully damaged. This young man needed help, and the sooner he received it the better it would be. So we designed a treatment plan for him, bearing in mind about his diet, hygiene level and most importantly his inability to produce enough saliva. It was not an easy task as if also involved smile designing. Our team had initially proposed veneers and fluoride therapy.

 However we realised that his with state of tooth decay, the palatal and lingual surface where the veneers end were at risk of having recurrent caries- thus causing the veneers to vulnerable to failure. Despite being the best and most minimally invasive treatment, veneers were perhaps not the best option for him. Well, given the limitations at this point, the only option left were Zicornia crowns. This is simply due to their nature of being compatible with his  gums, which were going to help him in the long run, and as well as securing his teeth from any further damage due to lack of salivary flow.  The saliva acts as a source of lubricant to wash away food particles and sugar that might adhere to the tooth surface, as well as providing the first line of defence against regular oral bacterias. It was absolutely necessary to now protect the whole tooth for this reason. 

teeth with normal salivary flow

teeth with limited or no salivary flow

Mr. Marten Stroh, our German technician was designated with the job task to design a precise set of Zicornia crowns for our patient. It was constructed to match his teeth profile, size and shape. These new crowns were measured and fabricated from the Zicorn core, then later adjusted with the overall occlusion for the patient. Finally, they were given a superior polish touch with a glaze to it that made the crowns very smooth - ideally for easy cleansing. 

When the crowns were finally fitted in for the patient, the results were satisfying. He looked amazing, with his new set of white crowns dominating his smile. A job of such precision, deserved a moment of joy for both the patient and our team. We were just glad we were able to make a difference to a persons life. 

... before and after ...

A Whole New Smile

One fine morning, we received an email from a lovely couple living in Perth, Australia. Juliana, had wrote to us inquiring about our dental centre and was keen on getting some dental work done. She was interested in getting her upper front teeth treated as they were yellow, chipped and started to show gaps between them. She expressed her desire that she wanted to get herself a nice set of natural looking teeth that would return her smile to how it was 10 years ago. Understanding her needs were important as she was about to embark a 5 hour journey up to Malaysia just to get her teeth done. She had sent us a couple of pictures to show me how her smile looked like.

We understood her need to get her teeth fixed almost immediately

Juliana arrived in Malaysia the following month. She was excited as she was really looking forward to her brand new set of teeth. We were very happy to meet her and her husband. We carried out a thorough check up for Juliana and inquired about her expectations as we wanted to Deliver What She Wanted. Judging from the condition of her teeth and from the her dental history, Juliana had undergone multiple cosmetic treatment for her upper anterior teeth. She was never truly satisfied with the results and was seeking for a permanent solution. So we assembled our cosmetic team together with our German technician to start our dental odyssey in getting Juliana the smile she needed.

We... had work to do!

Our team started doing the necessary ground work of digital records and radiographic examination to determine the health status of her dentition. Juliana needed 3 root canal treatment followed by 10 Zicornia crowns designed by our very best German technician. Her treatment was done is stages, to reduce her chair side time and also to allow proper healing in between her dental visits. 

Finally, her crowns had arrived and was ready for installation. She was amazed by the natural architecture of the Zicornia crowns, designed to give her a natural smile. These crowns are made from Zicornia core, finished with Noritake porcelain and finally glazed to perfection.

The final results were stunning. Juliana was really happy with her new set of teeth that had changed her smile, moreover her husband couldn't stop complementing her and was really pleased with the crowns.