Maintaining oral health is essential, but many people overlook the importance of regular dental visits. This is the case with 66-year-old Lai Naixin, who went to the dentist seven years ago for a toothache and found that he had neglected his oral health for many years and his gums had deteriorated. He had to undergo a deep cleaning. Unlike ordinary dental cleaning, deep cleaning requires local anesthesia and is performed in four sessions, with each session treating a part of the mouth. “The whole process took me four days, and my gums felt sore after the treatment. It also cost a lot of money, about 200 yuan each time, a total of more than 800 yuan.” This experience made Lai Naixin realize that in addition to maintaining daily oral hygiene, regular dental check-ups are equally important to avoid small problems accumulating into big problems.
Today, he goes to a trusted dental clinic every six months for a checkup and teeth cleaning. “The best teeth are your own. Now I only have the molars on the right side, and I can only chew with the right side. Many people don’t understand how chewing problems affect daily life, and they can only experience it after losing their molars.” As he may need to use dentures in the future, Lai Naixin, who has retired, is relieved that the government provides a higher allowance. From the fourth quarter of this year, Pioneer Generation, Merdeka Generation, and blue or orange CHAS card holders will enjoy higher allowances for seven more expensive restorative dental treatments, such as crowns and root canal treatments.
For example, Merdeka Generation member Lai Nai Xin will receive a maximum allowance of $413.50 per removable full denture, up from $261.50 previously. Dentist: Oral hygiene is the biggest factor in tooth and gum degeneration Dr. Sim Boon Han, a dentist at the Casa Dental chain, said it is well known that teeth and gums naturally degenerate with age. However, age is only one of the reasons, and the biggest factor is oral hygiene. “Most dental problems develop slowly, just like high blood pressure or diabetes. Once pain or symptoms occur, it is usually too late and more complex treatments such as root canal treatment or tooth extraction are required.” Dr. Sim Boon Han pointed out that complex treatments are not only more expensive and more difficult to maintain, but may also cause other problems.
For example, if teeth are not replaced in time after tooth extraction, the remaining teeth will move, causing food impaction and tooth misalignment, affecting eating and speaking. Therefore, he hopes that the government will raise people’s awareness of oral hygiene after increasing subsidies for dental treatment. “We have to promote preventive dental care, including encouraging people to clean every six months, which can keep teeth and gums healthy and repair problems in the early stages to prevent problems from becoming more complicated and treatments becoming more expensive.” Lai Naixin believes that one of the reasons that prevent people from seeing a dentist regularly is the lack of understanding of the charges of private dental clinics in the community. “The general impression is that public clinics require queuing, while seeing a private dentist is expensive. In fact, seeing a private dentist is also subsidized by the government, and the price is not as high as imagined. If more people understand the charging standards of dentists, people will not be so worried.”
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