My Story - Duo

Directed by Ms Atin Amat, who needs no introduction in the professional Malay theatre scene, ‘Gigi oh Gigi’ or ‘Teeth oh Teeth’ is such a pacey hilarious story that it is hard to watch it with a straight face at any point. There was always a funny event being introduced to tickle your funny bone. It also has historical elements such as the various campaigns held by the Singapore government ever since the launch of its first campaign ‘Keep Singapore Clean’ in 1973. Dalifah Shahril, the renowned theatre actress with more than 60 plays under her belt, is easily one of the most engaging storytellers around. 

The story, inspired by a true life event, drags the audience on a journey of chaos when Datin Lynn’s niece, Yani accidentally dispose of her newly-constructed dentures into the toilet bowl. As dentures take a considerable amount of time to be replaced, Datin Lynn racked her brain on alternative ways to solve her problem in the meantime. Her wacky ideas include desperately heading to a costume shop and buying the different types of fake teeth available to try them on. The story ends with Datin Lynn finally getting another set of new dentures after two weeks instead of supposedly a month’s wait. It was an important lesson for Datin Lynn as she realizes the importance of her teeth when she had to literally survive without them in that short period. She had been a heavy smoker and had to go through Gingivectomy, a type of gum treatment due to her poor care of oral hygience.

Although it was a monologue, the obvious transition of characters made it easy for the audience to differentiate between the main character and other secondary characters in the play. There was only one massage chair, a luggage bag and a mobile phone as props but those were enough to transform our imagination as the play progresses.

After a short ten-minute intermission, the play moved on to its second monologue ‘Sayang Musalmah’ or ‘My Dear Musalmah’ performed by Suryana Norddin and directed by Nabilah Moen. It was a stark contrast from the first play as it has a more solemn mood, starting off with the main character, Musalmah in a white telekong reading verses from the Yaseen after her mum’s demise. It is a story of love and forgiveness. A story about life and its final destination: death. As the main character deals with the grief of losing her father, she slowly matured and moved on to mend her broken relationship with her mother. As Musalmah’s relationship with her mother was just improving, she was delivered another blow when it was her mother’s turn to leave her in this world.

Suryana was able to emote convincingly enough and moved the audience to tears as we feel her devastation upon her mother’s demise. There could be a more distinct switch of characters although I can identify the different characters she played. The play has been cleverly directed such that the transition of a character occurs each time as the actress changes position e.g. from sitting to standing or from standing to moving to the chair. At some point, it was predictable when there is going to be a switch to the next character.

Since it is a double-bill of monolouges, I personally feel that it would have been better to have ‘Sayang Musalmah’ first so that the play would end on a ‘high’ with ‘Gigi Oh Gigi’. Both plays were performed in Malay with English surtitles at the Malay Heritage Centre Black Box.

"If you want to be popular all the time, you will misgovern."

This picture was snapped by the dental assistant at Orchard Surgery Centre located on the 16th floor of Paragon Medical Suite. She insisted to take a photo of me in the protective cap and scrubs as she found it cute. It was her first time seeing someone in hijab wearing a protective cap. The question now is why was I required to put these on in the first place.

Let's backtrack a little...

I noted some slight discolouration on my firstborn's two front teeth sometime in February. I have been meaning to bring her to the dentist just to familiarise her with the routine of dental check-ups once she has her full set of baby teeth. I made an online appointment request on 23rd Feb 2015 and received a reply two days later. I did a double-take when I saw the appointment date. I need to wait for almost a year for a subsidised dental appointment.

A1

I doubt it would be advisable for me to wait that long so I went ahead to book a dental appointment for myself and Azeen at AMK Hub NTUC Unity Denticare on 25th Mar. As the dentist was not a paediatric dentist, she only helped to check Azeen's teeth by getting her to open her mouth and just did a simple routine check. Her consultation fees amounted to $22.50 but after her CHAS subsidies, I only had to pay $1.50. We were then referred to a specialist in child dentistry located at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

A rude shock was in store for me on 15 Apr when we visit Dr JA Intarasoot the Paediatric Dentist. A close-up inspection of her teeth showed multiple cavities. Fillings were required to repair around 10 teeth. Plus each tooth might have 2 or 3 affected surfaces. As she is too young, she will not be able to take in the drilling noise and the pain of anaesthetics so she will have to be put to sleep while the procedure is being done. Some might think that since these are baby teeth and will fall off anyway, treatments will be unnecessary. Contrarily, due to the build-up of bacteria on the gums, the child may get a fever and require tooth extraction/s in the case of an infection. The day's bill amounted to $101.65

Close-up of teeth

I used to be very strict with Azeen. No sweet or carbonated drinks and no sweets was allowed. She was introduced to the toothbrush the moment a tooth sprouted. As she hit 2 years old, sometimes I closed an eye or two with well-meaning relatives who sneakily gave her sweets and carbonated drinks. Although these contributed to her tooth decay, I believe the main cause is her bad habit of milk pooling when she drinks milk from the bottle. I have ceased giving her milk from the bottle for around 3 days before her first appointment with Dr JA. She now drinks milk only from the cup. I should have been more firm and stopped her bad habit the moment I noticed her liking for milk pooling and sleeping with her milk bottle. It would have been better to handle her tantrums than fixing her teeth. I also feel that it would have been better to stick my ground on not allowing her sweet sugary stuff and communicating effectively to others on my stand. We are fortunate that she did not have to go through any tooth extraction or worse scenarios.

We had to prepare an estimated $3600 for the dental procedure. A deposit of $1500 (before 7% GST) was required to confirm the procedure. The remaining amount can be paid by CDA (Child Development Account) or Baby Bonus. That was A LOT OF MONEY! I was floating around in a daze that day thinking of the expenses. After going back to discuss with my husband and our family, we managed to gather the amount required to confirm the procedure and it was booked for 28 Apr 2015.

The dental procedure was held at Orchard Surgery Centre @ Paragon Medical Suite at 8.30am. Azeen was required to fast for 6 hours before the procedure. She had to put the gas mask on to put her to sleep. It was heartbreaking seeing her struggle initially and then her body went limp as she goes to sleep. She was then placed on the operating theatre as I was ushered out of the room, only to return after 1.5 hours later. I can imagine her fear as we enter the brightly-lit room full of masked people in operating gowns and not knowing what was about to happen.

The staff were all friendly as they briefed me thoroughly before and after the procedure on what to expect. She was advised to be on a liquid diet and to consume food or drinks at room or low temperature. Her gums will still be numb as there was local anaesthetic used. Dr JA said that her teeth have been much better since the first appointment. She believes it is due to stopping her from drinking milk from the bottle and brushing her teeth in the morning and before sleeping.

Azeen was still groggy after the procedure and I was beside her when she started waking up. She whined a little and calmed down as I hugged her. She was up and about being her usual energetic self within 2 hours after the procedure. I hope we will never have to go through such an expensive emotional lesson again. Total bill for procedure minus deposit: $2313.45

Oral hygiene is very important and good habits need to start young. I will be more firm in my stand with her and to only allow sweets or chocolates occasionally. Most importantly is to cultivate good brushing habits. I hope to be stronger in standing up to well-meaning relatives who gives her a free-flow of carbonated or sweet drinks. It is courteous to always check with a child's parents on what is allowed or what is not as every family adopts different school of thoughts. In the words of the late Lee Kuan Yew, "If you want to be popular all the time, you will misgovern." I strive not to misgovern my children and work towards a healthy happy family. Insya'allah.

No More Cavities