❝ Chase your dreams ❞
MY BRACES JOURNEY
Posted Thursday, 14 December 2017 // 3:46 pm

I have always wanted to put on braces and I know everyone will say there isn’t a need for braces after looking at my X-ray. We all have our insecurities and for me, it’s my side profile. I always feel that my mouth is protruding because of my teeth and I do not look good in candid photos. If you look at my photos, you will notice I have a tiger tooth on one side as well. Every time I told someone the reason why I want to put on braces, they will say there isn’t a need for it and it’s cute like this. I have no issues with my front profile and it’s really only my side profiles I have issues with.

Whatever it is I’m determined to put on braces despite all the pain I know I will have to go through. I was having my driving lessons last year and I cannot afford to have 2 huge expenses going out every month while saving for my school fees at the same time. I decided to start my braces journey after I have completed my driving lessons. While waiting for the time to come, I researched on multiple clinics, how much it cost etc. When I went for my dental cleaning, my dentist told me that having braces will have a higher chance of plaque and decay and you will have to clean your teeth more frequently. One of my wisdom teeth is bothering me as it’s only halfway out and it is not easy to clean between the tooth and the gum but he is just a normal dentist and refused to do any extractions for me until I consult the orthodontist since I have the intention to put on braces.

June 2017, I finally passed my driving test and have sufficient money for the consultation and booked my first appointment with iDental on 10 June via Facebook Messenger. I decided to go with iDental as they offer student packages for part time students while many only apply for full time students. Their rates are one of the cheaper ones too, $3.5k doesn’t matter how many sessions you need and it includes first consultation. Although retainers are not included, they are charging $450 and above per pair. On top of what I’ve mentioned, iDental Customer Relationship Officers, from Facebook enquiries to hotline and front desk, they are 10/10. It’s almost like a friendly friend there to coax you into booking an appointment with them. iDental has a few outlet but I chose Capital Tower since it is nearer to my workplace and more centralized.

First Consultation (10 June 2017)
Moving on to first consultation, my orthodontist dentist, Dr Dian Samijono (University of Melbourne, Australia) is a nice, young and gentle girl. At least that’s what I thought until my first wisdom tooth surgery. First consultation cost $220 which includes X-rays, photo taking and constructing your teeth model. Instead of having to bite into dough like substance, iDental uses a scanner to go around your teeth.

Second Consultation (24 June 2017) 
I made my appointment in the evening and went down after work for the review. We talked about my teeth, look at my X-rays and discuss how my teeth can be corrected. This is also where they will inform you the packages they are offering and how much it would cost. The second consultation is free as it is only a review. For braces, I would have to extract 4 teeth, including 1 milk (baby) tooth and 2 wisdom teeth that’s optional but it’s a you’ll-have –to-do-it-sooner-or-later kind of thing so I decided to just remove it. If you are curious about the milk tooth, there isn’t any adult tooth above the milk tooth and that’s why at the age of 21, my milk tooth is still intact. If you look at my X-ray carefully, you’ll notice that one of them is hollow in the gum which means the tooth has got no root. It can fall off anytime and no adult tooth will grow out so we decided to just go ahead with that tooth since it has the highest risk of falling out. Here I made the next 2 appointments for my wisdom tooth extraction surgeries. Unlike other dental, iDental doesn’t give you the X-ray copies and your teeth model. I’m okay with that since you’ll probably just throw it out a few years later and I requested for them to send me my X-rays via email. By the way, the appointment was quite a wait and it’s probably due to everyone scheduling their appointments after their work. Since I’m often a few minutes late for my appointments and the clinic was quite full, I was okay with the wait. So far my weekend/weekday morning appointments are quite fast.

 First Wisdom Tooth Extraction Surgery (11 July 2017) 
If you don’t already know, wisdom tooth surgery gives you 5 days Medical Certificate (MC). Before I see Dr Dian, I was asked how I was going to pay the surgery and I paid mine with Medisave and the rest in cash. Before this appointment, I did consulted my regular dentist if he can do the extractions for me but his staff recommended I get the specialist to do it since mine is a complicated case and they require a letter from the orthodontist stating which teeth to extract to prevent any miscommunication. iDental is agreeable to have my teeth extracted somewhere else but I decided to just stick with iDental since it’s easier and safer this way.

Before my surgery, Dr Dian went through the side effects of wisdom tooth surgery as a standard procedure, sign against it to acknowledge that I’m aware of the possible risks. Numbing cream then injections and they will cover your face with a cloth leaving only your mouth exposed. I requested to have my ears plugged with my earpiece and music playing to minimise the sound but I would say it’s not much of a help. The drilling sound is awfully loud, there’s so many hands pulling and pushing around my mouth and you’ll never imagine a dentist that look so gentle has this much strength. I didn’t think it was painful, it wasn’t supposed to hurt after injections anyway but the sound is really loud. This session, I extracted 2 teeth, 1 wisdom tooth and 1 milk tooth. We decided to do it side(right) by side(left) so I could at least eat with the other side. The milk tooth extraction was so easy I was convinced I can actually do it myself at home with the right tools.

The wisdom tooth surgery is $800 and milk tooth is $60. Adding all the medicine and other stuff, it totaled up to $1,033.62 (Including GST) and I paid $969.42 by Medisave and the rest by cash. This surgery is more expensive due to the fact that it’s growing horizontally and buried completely under my gums.

I was given a mask and on the way home I kept drooling but I couldn’t tell because half of my mouth was numbed. You will salivate a lot and it’s normal. Extraction is not included in the $3.5k braces package.

Second Wisdom Tooth Surgery (24 July 2017) 
More or less the same thing happened. I put my earpiece on, numbing cream, injections and a mouthful of blood and saliva on the way home. I was told I don’t have to pay anything which I found it weird since I remember clearly I can only pay from Medisave for the wisdom tooth extraction and the adult tooth extraction had to be paid in cash. But I just left after taking my medications and I didn’t eat most of it, mainly the antibiotics only. Overall I would say my wisdom teeth extraction is quite pleasant and it wasn’t as torturing or scary or painful as what others have said. Maybe because I have quite a high tolerance for pain and the Dr Dian did a great job. Either way I’m glad it was smooth.

Top Braces Installation (31 July 2017) 
I was quite excited about it and the whole process was actually quite fast. The only discomfort I had was the UV ray that stung my lips a little during the curing. I didn’t get to choose any colour because the dentist used the wire to secure it and she mentioned that I will use the wire for the first few months. What’s the difference? I don’t know. I couldn’t quite close my mouth properly and my Wesley kept asking me to just close my mouth properly. The feeling is just weird and a little tight. It was fine by the 2nd week and I spent a lot of time brushing my teeth. I chewed with my molar teeth and swallow as soon as it’s small enough. By the 3rd week, I could eat and chew with my front teeth without pain. You’ll slowly know what you can or cannot eat. Beehoon is one of those no-no things. It will hang on your braces like beard in your mouth. This session, I paid $800 for my braces down-payment and $90 for the adult tooth extraction which they made a mistake the last appointment. Normal extractions are not claimable by Medisave. I did scaling and polishing during this session as well and it’s $90. They asked if I would like to purchase their braces items like toothbrushes and fluoride rinse which is $37 in total. I feel a little cheated into buying it since you can definitely get it outside at a cheaper price. Not forgetting that everything at iDental is before GST. After putting on your braces, they will ask you to watch a video on what you can or cannot eat; how to brush your teeth and what you should do if the wire comes out or the brackets become loose.

Wire Repair (28 August 2017)
Bad idea to eat rambutans with braces on and that’s exactly what I did and my wire came off on 26 August 2017, Saturday. It wasn’t much of a big deal to me and since my next appointment is 4 September 2017, I thought I would wait just 1 week but Wesley insisted I go and get it fixed or at least call them and let them know. I called iDental and they advise me to see Dr Dian which I did and the whole appointment was less than 15 minutes and I didn’t have to pay for anything. So, whatever happens, just call your dentist. Luckily she was available on Monday in the evening so I could just drop by after work.

Teeth Extraction (2 September 2017) 
By now you must be wondering how many teeth I removed. I removed a total of 6 teeth; 2 wisdom and 4 for braces purpose. My next appointment with Dr Dian was for the extraction of 2 lower teeth and to put on lower braces but after much thought, I decided to have my extractions done at my regular dental which is cheaper and nearer to my house. They charged $75 per tooth nett and I paid a total of $150 for 2 teeth. iDental charged $90 for 1 extraction and that’s before GST. If you think the difference is not much, you can do it at the same place. The difference is quite significant to me so I chose to do it at my regular dental. The process was quick and almost pain free. I went to JB right after my extractions and ate A&W for lunch about 3 hours after my extraction. I did eat any of the medication given to me since I felt fine. The horrible part was the numbing cream. The bleeding slowed down after about 2 hours and I decided to eat some bread as breakfast but I couldn’t feel my lower lips and I can’t tell if I’m biting the bread or my lip. I look like a mess basically. I tried drinking gongcha and it was a disaster, it kept flowing out of my mouth from everywhere and my Wesley was cleaning me up the whole time while laughing at me. It took 3 hours for the numb to go off completely and I was all normal again.

Lower Braces Installation (4 September 2017)
It’s really not easy to book appointments at iDental. This is the earliest date for me since I am only free after work or on weekends. Dr Dian is only in the clinic in the evening on Mondays and Saturdays she’s there for half a day only. I’m equally as excited as I was during my upper braces installation. It’s gonna feel weird and I might not be able to chew normally for a few weeks but I’m ready! This appointment I should only have to pay $180. It’s gonna be $180 for each appointment plus GST until I finish my $3.5K.

(So I stopped recording until 13 Dec 2017 because I got lazy and by now I have already changed my braces colour rubber band for 3 times. I will still give a brief update on each session since I do record all my sessions in my calendar and I can recall more or less what the session was about.) 

02 Oct 2017
I’m finally switching from metal wires to rubber bands and I get to choose the colour! I couldn’t decide what colour to choose since I wasn’t told beforehand that I’ll be using rubber bands for this appointment and I didn’t have time to think about it. I wasn’t shown all of the colours available at the clinic but you can see it on their website. It was too late for me to refer to the website while I’m already in the chair with the light in my face so I just told Dr Dian to go with something neutral and she suggested a few colours and I picked silver though it looks just like grey. The rubber band goes on top of the metal wire and I’m guessing it’s to make it tighter. Eating was fine and no pain at all. It has only been 2 months since I put on braces and I can see my teeth are straight now and the tiger tooth is aligned with the rest now! Braces are magicccccc!

 30 Oct 2017 


This time round I chose light yellow because Wesley said it might make me look for cheerful. Dr Dian removed the metal wires for the top braces and switched the wire to a thicker one. The bottom braces remained as it is with just a change of yellow rubber bands. It was tight for the first few days but nothing to crazy till I cannot eat or sleep.

27 Nov 2017
This appointment I chose light pink and Dr Dian the bottom wire to a thicker wire well. She just did some tightening and adjustment but it’s all pretty simple and eating was a little tight for the first few days but it was all good after 2 to 3 days. Now I will decide on my colour before stepping into the clinic and so far I have no issues with the colours I have chosen.

Initially, I mentioned it’s not easy to book an appointment, but you can usually find a slot if you book 1 month in advance which is usually the case since your appointment is once a month and the next appointment is booked once you finish your session with the dentist. You can call in to change your appointment but I usually stick to it. Whenever the wires are cutting my cheeks or lips, I can call in and book a 5 minutes appointment with the dentist and they will do some simple trimming or adjustment for me at no cost which is great, so I don’t have to suffer till my next month which would be weeks away.

So far my braces journey has been smooth sailing and Wesley has been super nice, always peeling chicken wings and satay into smaller chunks just so I can eat them easily. This journey will end once all the gaps from the extractions close up which will take about 3 years and I'm sure I'll miss it when I'm done with braces.

Before I decide on doing braces with iDental, I read lots of review and their experiences so I hope this will help someone in some way.

And you will have no regrets.
Joyce.

I'm a walking sunshine and I blog about everything and anything under the Sun. And, I might have a slight obsession with Jigsaw puzzles, Snow globes and Stars.

twitter // tumblr // instagram
mejor que todos.



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