So a while back….I had a photoshoot lined up for a Sunday morning 3-4 models, make-up artist, location was set and everything was ready to go..
I was pretty tired from the previous day of shooting (10+ hours straight) but I crawled out of bed, ready to rock again.
I felt something in my mouth, a foreign object, I spat it out and it looked like a lentil, I thought where the fuck had that been hiding? I hadn’t fully woken up yet so I didn’t realise what it was…until I’d stumbled around for a while then I thought it might actually be a filling. Right enough I bit on it and it was hard as rock, definitely not a lentil!
I checked my back tooth (I have a cavity on the side) and sure enough there was a hole there, damn it, my goddamn filling had fell out.
It wasn’t too painful unless I ate or drank anything, which was unfortunate..I canceled the shoot and took some painkillers and went back to bed for a while.
I couldn’t find a dentist open on a Sunday in KL for quite some time, I did find one but it was only open until midday and by that time it was past 12 so I reluctantly waited for the next day. I was a bit worried too as I’d never been to a dentist in Malaysia before and hadn’t in fact been to a dentist for 4 years since I left the UK. The dentist back there said my teeth were very healthy and I should just have a check up every 2 years. I forgot about the 2 years thing, I’ve had very few problems with my teeth since I started a proper dental hygiene regime with an electric toothbrush.
Anyway the next morning I asked around a few people to see if anyone knew a dentist, KY suggested one in SS2 which I went to the next morning but it so happened it was closed on Mondays. I found another on Google but they had no places…sorry but I can’t really wait a week to get my tooth sorted out, don’t you allow any space for emergency appointments? Obviously not..
I found another clinic too, which Suan had also mentioned in SS25 (very near my office) by the name of Tiew Dental Clinic.
I went along there and the dentist was free in the afternoon, so I made an appointment for 2pm and went back later on.
I was nervous, but I couldn’t be doing with a huge hole in my tooth..thankfully the dentist was very professional and competent and gave me confidence in her work.
She said that I had some tissue damage and a little decay as it looks like the filling that fell out might have been loose for a while (I had noticed that my tooth was a little sensitive to hot/cold but thought nothing of it) and that I should have a temporary filling called a dressing which contained clove oil (Eugenol) and was a lot softer than a full hard filling. This would allow the tissue damage to heal and the area to get itself repaired before sticking a rock hard filling in.
I had to have an injection as I have very sensitive teeth and some drilling was required to remove the decay, the injection always hurts like hell..but it’s better than feeling the drilling. I also had scaling and polishing done since I was there.
The whole procedure was pretty quick and afterward my mouth tasted a little spicy like cloves, I made another appointment for August 29th (when I returned from UK) and went on my way. In total it cost RM115 (RM40 for the dressing, RM5 for the injection and RM70 for the scaling/polishing) or something like that..can’t remember exactly.
The temporary filling lasted just fine and I went back today to get the proper filling put in, it was very fast all done in 15 minutes (it was a buccal composite as it was against the cheek). There was a little bit of pain when she was removing the dressing as I didn’t have a jab this time, but it was bearable, it cost RM50 for the filling.
All in all I have to say private dental care in Malaysia is better than the crap NHS service we have in UK.
I fully recommend Tiew Dental Clinic!
