Ask the Dentist - Braces

Q: How do I know if my child needs to wear braces?

A: There are a few signs that indicate the need for braces, they include:

• Crowding:

  insufficient space for all the teeth in the mouth results in crooked teeth. This makes it difficult for toothbrushing and flossing to be done effectively, hence plaque accumulates and the risk of dental problems such as tooth decay and gum disease increases.

• Overbite:

  ue to hereditary reasons or misalignment in the jaw, the upper front teeth protrudes much further than the lower teeth. This increases the risk of trauma to the front teeth.

• Underbite:

  when the lower teeth or jaw protrudes in front of the upper teeth, it causes an imbalanced facial appearance and the child may experience difficulty in biting and chewing.

• Openbite:

  when the upper and lower front teeth do not touch, it may result in difficulty in biting and hinder speech. This can be caused by digit-sucking habits or imbalance of growth of the facial skeleton.

• Crossbite:

  when the upper tooth is behind the lower opposing tooth, it may damage both teeth and gums and can promote asymmetric jaw growth.

It is recommended that you bring your child to an orthodontist for a thorough examination in order to know if any orthodontic treatment is required.

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Dr May Ling Eide is a Dental Surgeon with Postgraduate Training in Orthodontics with Specialist Dental Group®. She received her specialist training in orthodontics from the University of London, United Kingdom and is registered as an Orthodontist on the Specialist List of the General Dental Council in the United Kingdom.

For more information, visit www.specialistdentalgroup.com or call (65) 6733 7883.

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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.

It’s All About Innovation These Days

Written by John Nnamchi,
Canadian student at McGill University, graduating class of 2017

The quest towards fostering innovation and implementing technological solutions has endeared an ever-growing number of institutions of higher education across the globe, including McGill University. The trend has led to efforts ranging from university start-up competitions, to awards supporting innovative projects, to collaborative think tanks. At McGill however, most of these efforts have been conceived and deployed by members of university faculty. The resulting generation gap hinders them in understanding the true needs of McGill’s student body. Furthermore due to administrative reasons and convenience, universities still adopt a top-down approach when it comes to identifying and integrating potentially innovative solutions for the student body. This leads to a slow implementation process, possible outdated solutions, and poor student adoption rates.

“The amount of useless and out of date applications for McGill students is substantial” a McGill student quotes. Thus, while this means the conception and development of innovative solutions should stem from the student body, such ad-hoc initiatives do not possess the administrative, financial, and technological resources that current top-down organizations possess. It is the reason why countless useful and innovative solutions attempted by student initiated project groups fail.

The Memory Project

CIS Secondary School Visual Arts students recently participated in a global initiative called the Memory Project to help make a small change in the lives of less fortunate children in Colombia.

The Memory Project invites art teachers and their students to create portraits of children that face neglect, abuse, loss of parents, violence, or extreme poverty. The aim is to help these children through the creation of their portraits, to feel valued and important, and to know that many people care about their well being. For the art students, the initiative offers them a great opportunity to creatively practice kindness and global awareness.

CIS visual arts students were connected with a school in a remote village in Colombia. We received 25 photos of their 4 year-old students and every Wednesday, over the course of 9 weeks, reproduced these photos through drawings and paintings. Once all the portraits were complete, we then mailed them to the Memory Project's head office in Chicago. From there, they were shipped to the
school where volunteers from a local university dressed up as superheroes and hand-delivered the portraits to each student.

Watching a video of the children's happiness when they received their portraits was very rewarding. Our students were thrilled that their simple gesture which they had lots of fun doing, was able to touch the children's lives and make them feel so special. The reaction also inspired them (and their peers!) to participate in several other service-led activities in Singapore and globally. We look forward to telling you about these in the next edition!

Penang – Malaysia

By Gemma Dean, teacher at CIS

Penang is a small island off the North coast of Malaysia. A hop, skip and jump away from Singapore and a perfect place to get away for the weekend. This was the first family vacation with our baby and we were excited to explore Penang. We were booked in for a one night stay at the beautiful Eastern and Oriental Hotel (E&O) situated in Georgetown, a UNSECO World Heritage Site. This hotel is a unique, historical building which is in keeping with the surrounding area and traditions. On arrival we were greeted by helpful, friendly staff, fresh cool lemon grass scented towels and a delicious cocktail. The hotel upgraded our room as it was our first family vacation. We explored the facilities of the hotel and found a relaxing pool area and quaint traditional English style pub bar, serving delicious drinks and yummy food to match. There is plenty to check out in the surrounding area, including street art, local markets and a variety of architecture. 
 
The remainder of our getaway was spent at the E&O sister resort Lone Pines situated at Batu Ferringhi beach. We received the same treatment as the E&O hotel on arrival with friendly staff and cocktails. The hotel was situated on the beach with magnificent views and many watersports to choose from. There is a night market right outside the hotel which stretches along the street starting around 7pm, which my husband explored one night, this was not a place to try and navigate the stroller through. Penang was quite easy to get around with a baby and the people were extremely friendly and helpful. We all felt very relaxed after our mini break away to Penang, well worth the visit.