Handling Dental Emergencies during Holiday Season

Contributed by the Specialist Dental Group®

With the holiday season around the corner, a flurry of activities will start to pick up amongst adult and children. Not surprisingly, we have also seen more patients with injuries to their teeth or oral tissues during the festivities.

Some simple home remedies:

• Toothache
  Toothache is usually caused by tooth decay/cavity. Drugs such as Paracetamol or Ibuprofen are especially effective in providing relief to toothache. However, be careful not to exceed the dosage for these drugs.
• Lost fillings or broken teeth
  Dislodged fillings/ broken teeth may cause sensitivity to temperature; the rough edge of a broken tooth may result in abrasion of the tongue and lips.
  
  Purchase some temporary dental filling material from pharmacies, pinch off a small amount and roll into a ball. Try to dry the cavity with a tissue rolled into a point and then push the cement into the cavity and smooth off with your finger.
• Trauma to soft tissues i.e. lips and tongue
  This can occur due to external trauma or accidental biting. Bleeding can be stopped with a damp gauze/handkerchief and pressure. Dry gauze will stick to the wound and it will bleed again when removed.

Do note that the remedies mentioned above are only temporary fixes providing symptomatic relief until professional help is available. To schedule an appointment to visit the dentist, visit www.specialistdentalgroup.com

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Specialist Dental Group® is a corporate sponsor of the Canadian Association of Singapore (CAS). CAS members enjoy a special rate for dental services. For details, send an enquiry via www.specialistdentalgroup.com or call 6733 7883

Diane Lee: Q&A

1.   Which parts of Canada do/did you call home?

Toronto, Ontario

2.   How long have you carried your 'expat' title?

More than 8 years.

3.   Tell us your profession and what you do all day.

I am a certified Hot Yoga Instructor since 2004. I open the first Bikram Yoga studio in Singapore 2006, recently rebranded locally as BYCH Hot Yoga studio in Raffles City. I have been practicing the traditional hot yoga for 10 years, teaching for 9 years. And since I started the yoga studio, I literally spend hours sweating in hot rooms every day.  I teach about 6-8 classes a week, mix of 90-min classic classes and 55-min cardio classes and practice 6 times a week.  Before moving here, I was in marketing and advertising field, so I get to enjoy planning and creating marketing campaigns.  The most fun part of my work is meeting hundreds of people, like-minded people who enjoy disciplined, intense workout sessions for a better mind & body connection.

4.   Two things that you would beg Singapore Customs to import from the GWN (Great White North)?

I would love to have everything from president’s choice Organic Line, I missed the chunky peanut butter, moroccan mint tea…. And if they can also move the entire highland farm here, that will be great to enjoy all fresh dark green leafy veggies on daily base.

Uniting Nations

By James and Alexander Gunn (Grade 10, Canadian International School)

We just celebrated our annual Uniting Nations week at CIS, which is definitely a highlight of the school year. It’s a week long festival where we celebrate the different cultures represented at CIS.

This year there were many different cultural performances during the week, from Mexican dancing to African drumming. In the high school the week starts with a door decorating competition where each class decorates their classroom door to represent a different country. Judges pick the best-decorated door and the winning class gets a pizza party. This year there was a tie for first place, between a Grade 11 class and a Grade 9 class, who celebrated Poland and Slovakia.

The best part of the week is definitely the Food Festival. It is an amazing feast organised by the PTA. Parents from each country decorate a table and bring food from their home countries for students and staff to sample. There is enough food to feed an army! At the Canadian table there was smoked salmon, tarte au sucre and butter tarts, but the most popular food was probably the Nanaimo Bars.

Every year we try to sample food we have never had before. This year we tried satay from Singapore and Jamaican beef patties.

UN Week wraps up with the Parade of Nations. That’s when students from ECE to Grade 12 dress up in costumes or colours representing their home countries and parade through the gymnasium. Parents come to watch and the event was streamed live so that people could watch the parade all over the world. Our aunt and uncle in Vancouver got to watch it this year.

This year there were 81 countries represented in the Parade. Canadian students and teachers paraded in first and there was a sea of red and white. There were kids dressed as Mounties and hockey players. We wore our Canada t-shirts and funny hats and waved Canadian flags. One of our teachers from the United States even painted his bald head with the symbol of the shield of Captain America. The Parade finished off with a Japanese Taiko drum and dance performance.

It was a great week of celebrations. It reminded us that the student body at CIS is very diverse, and it gave all of us a chance to experience first hand and learn something about the cultures of other kids at CIS. 

By Mindy Wong

The headiness of sweet victory at the Singapore River Regatta on the 2nd of November has yet to wear off. We are pleased to share with you that the Canadian Dragons took gold in the 10-crew expatriate men's event. Despite the unfavourable position at the start, the men gave their all to gain ground on the other boats, and eventually came in first in the race! It was a well-deserved victory resulting from months of diligent water and land training.

In the upcoming weeks, we are having some off-season paddling seasons and will be thrilled to have new paddlers join us. 

Drop us a note at our website http://www.canadiandragons-sg.org/ or our “Canadian Dragons Singapore” Facebook page to get in touch with us.

Singapore River Regatta

By Mindy Wong

The headiness of sweet victory at the Singapore River Regatta on the 2nd of November has yet to wear off. We are pleased to share with you that the Canadian Dragons took gold in the 10-crew expatriate men's event. Despite the unfavourable position at the start, the men gave their all to gain ground on the other boats, and eventually came in first in the race! It was a well-deserved victory resulting from months of diligent water and land training.

In the upcoming weeks, we are having some off-season paddling seasons and will be thrilled to have new paddlers join us. 

Drop us a note at our website http://www.canadiandragons-sg.org/ or our “Canadian Dragons Singapore” Facebook page to get in touch with us.