Brand new feeling =)

Finally, after our long break & "semi-break", we get to use the brand new renovated polyclinic B :)

I love my sophisticated purple dental unit :D

After 2.5 years of sitting at the back of the optech lab & polyclinic, we group E & F members get to sit in front! It's time to rest our feet from walking too much to and fro between the material counter & our cubicle.

Had my maxillary orthodontic wire changed to the final one, the thickest one. My upper teeth are very tender now :'(

Finally met our supervisor for elective research project for the very 1st time today. Hehehe we got our "gift" on 1st meeting too :P

Grey's Anatomy - Silent Night

For all avid fans of Grey's Anatomy especially those celebrating Christmas :)

The singer of this song is Sara Ramirez "Dr Calliope Torres"

Together we wait for the next episode of Season 6, which will be aired on Jan 14, 2010

Bangkok & Pattaya Trip

Sat Nov 21 Bangkok

Took bus from KL Sentral to LCCT to meet my family members and my mum's colleague's family.

The pre-booked lunch on flight was quite nice =)

Arrived at Suvarnabhumi Airport in the afternoon. Very nice & big airport. LCCT should build a multi-storey carpark like theirs.

The tour guide was quite arrogant. Being a smoker, he had heavily stained teeth and an intruded tooth 12, leaving a space for him to stick his cigarette in :P (Hehe, student dentist talking here :P)

Our group consisted of 3o+ people staying at 7 different hotels (pre-booked by customers themselves). Pity the tour guide.

We stayed at Prince Palace Hotel, Mahanak. 1st - 6th floor of the hotel building & outside the building was a wholesale market. Things were cheap there but one has to buy at least 3 items to get a really low price. Some shops would not sell unless you buy a dozen! Well, the quality of the things there wasn't as good as expected.

Not all Thai people are friendly. My sis Daphne chose 3 jackets at one stall, then we saw nicer ones at another stall. So we told the stall owner to hold onto those jackets first. She thought we didn't want to buy from her, then angrily threw the jackets on the floor 1 foot away from her! So rude! We got pissed off and went to all other stalls to search for nice jackets for Daphne, but in the end she realised she liked those at that lady's stall the most. Eventually my dad had to "thicken his face skin" to go buy from that lady :P

The tour guide brought us to a lousy Chinese restaurant in a shopping mall for a lousy dinner.

After dinner, we prayed at the 4-faced Buddha opposite Central World shopping complex for safety, career, relationship and wealth.

Sun Nov22 Bangkok & Pattaya

Took a boat ride on Chao Phraya River. People here lived on stilt-houses, experienced a 3-month flood with river water into their houses annualy. Years ago, they were still making a living by selling things on boats.

Prayed at a King level temple built by the only Thai King of Chinese descent after winning a war with the Burmese about a hundred years ago. The temple was built from the porcelain, food, etc donated by Thai people.

Visited Thailand's biggest leather goods shop. Learnt how to differentiate genuine & synthetic leathers. Cow, goat, elephant, ostrich, stingray, etc.

At Safari World, we watched stunning cowboy show & dolphin show. Again, had lousy buffet lunch there :(

After lunch, we headed to Pattaya.

On the way, we saw the magnificent almost 1km long Italianese mansion of Thailand's richest man, childless :-|

After another lousy dinner, we went for Thai massage :D 10+ people in a room, male & female together. We were clothed with similar "pyjamas" provided by the parlour. I still prefer the aroma oil therapeutic massage i had a month ago. Here, they just tap & pulled. Luckily it's not painful :P

We stayed at Golden Beach Hotel. There're pubs outside the building. I didn't sleep well due to the thundering music from downstairs :(

Mon Nov23 Pattaya

Took speedboat to one of the island. Daphne tried parasailing, i just watched :P

My whole family went seawalking 8metres under the sea, wearing a globe-shaped oxygen-filled helmet. RM140 per person. Fed thousands of fishes with bread, nice experience =) Corals there weren't as beautiful as those in Tioman Island. However, seawalking in Tioman Island will be RM450 per person.

Visited wax museum housing wax statutes of famous monks. This museum was part of the temple built for preparation of the current Thai King after his "retirement" from the throne and to become a monk here.

One of the mountain nearby had Gautama Buddha's shadow. They traced it using 18K gold.

Drank 100% pure grape juice at a Holland-style grape vineyard. Nice =)

Visited Nong Nooch Garden built by Thailand's 2nd richest man. He owned 40+ sport cars parked in a 3-storey carpark building. He planted 10 000 over plants in this garden. Watched cultural show & elephant performances there.

Watched the famous Tiffany Show at Alcazar. The trans-sexuals were so much prettier than genuine females!

Walking Street in Pattaya is quite similar to Jonker Walk in Malacca, except that it has lotsa pubs and clubs there. Pity the prostitutes, i'm sure they won't take up this job should they be given a chance to choose. Making as much money as possible to improve the standard of living of their family is their goal.

Took a up-sized pick-up van tut-tut back to hotel =)

Tue Nov24 Pattaya & Bangkok

Visited world's largest jewellery factory -- Gems Gallery. Took a monorail ride (similar to the one at Petroscience, KLCC) to look at the formation of precious and semi-precious stones. Watched how an ordinary-looking stone was cleaned, cut, polished and glazed into an expensive stone. Had free drinks at the factory cafe with beautiful landscape & interior design.

One crazy Thai man bred tigers & pigs together to tame the tigers by feeding them with pig milk. We visited the farm housing thousands of tigers, pigs, crocodiles, etc. Watched tiger & crocodile performed.

Visited a honey factory. Tried honey drink, pollen & royal jelly for free here. Took pictures with the boss's yellow Lamborghini =D

Went to one of the world's biggest bazaar -- Suan Lum Night Bazaar near the embassies in Bangkok. It had 16rows of shop-like stalls, all departmentalised. Things here were very cheap as long as you know how to bargain =) Sigh we left the camera on the bus so no pictures were taken here :(

Wed Nov25

Left Asian' most polluted city and came back to Malaysia =)

Check my Facebook for pictures =)

Surgeon's Log 3

Lesson learnt from Grey's Anatomy Season 6 Episode 6

Trauma Surgery

To always check for inhalational burns in a burn victim no matter how well the patient appears to be.

Check for burnt signs in the throat and any soot coming out from the throat.

Inhalational burnts can involved the whole respiratory tract & lungs.

This leads to oedema of the respiratory lining due to inflammation.

The airway can be blocked any time when the swelling is big enough to occlude it.

Thus, the patient needs to be intubated STAT.

Inflammatory mediators released will get into the circulatory system and it can cause disseminated intravascular coagulation.

The patient can bleed from everywhere and the bleeding will be very difficult to stop.

p/s: This is a note i wrote for myself and to share with whoever interested.

My blog posts are automatically RSS feeded to my Facebook account as a "Note".

Paedodontist's Log 1 & Surgeon's Log 2

Morning: Children's Dentistry

My clinical partner's 5-year-old super duper cute boy patient came today for stainless steel crown placement. He has super duper long & curved eyelashes and big round eyes *^.^*

He looked like just been dragged out of his bed to the clinic, reluctant to talk, just responded our questions by either nodding or shaking his head. Fearing of making him cry, we let him played with the teeth model. He brushed diligently on the model using the correct technique that my partner taught him 2 weeks ago, we kept praising him =D

We used a mouth prop this time to keep his mouth open as he felt asleep on the dental chair during the previous visit and closed his mouth :P

He was very cooperative throughout the 2.5 hour session, good boy!

In the end, he went home as a "Superboy" with a shiny metal crown in his mouth =)

Lesson of the day: to not polish the crown with handpiece immediately after seating as the vibration will break the cement seal or disturb the setting process of the cement.

Afternoon: Oral Maxillofacial Surgery

Was supposed to have Minor Oral Surgery session but both patients didn't turn up.

The oral maxillofacial surgeon-in-charge brought our group for wardrounds at Orthopaedic Surgery ward & Otorhinolaryngology ward.

Orthopaedic Surgery ward

Saw a motor vehicle accident trauma patient with zygomatic complex fracture. Learnt how to approach trauma patients to perform examinations. Concentration was put on head and neck region - our region of interest =)

Otorhinolaryngology ward

Saw a very young patient (probably around 20 years of age) who has had 2 times of Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the maxilla due to recurrence. She just had maxillectomy & radical neck dissection. A very long tracheostomy tube was there on her neck. Poor girl. Learnt about the importance of placing incisions out of the lines of aesthetics to avoid leaving a bad scar =)