Kids, Dentists and Other Exciting Adventures

ST 30 Dec 2009
Pulling child's tooth ends in bite
and slaps

I WOULD like to express my dissatisfaction with Eastern Dental Surgery at Jurong West branch. I visited the dentist on Monday at 8.40am because my five-year-old son had a toothache. My son cried aloud when he went in. The dentist managed to give him two injections but with the third one, he was unable to bear the pain and tried to close his mouth, thus biting the dentist's finger which was inside his mouth.

The dentist shouted loudly: 'You dare to bite my finger, I beat you.' Then she gave my son three slaps on his arm. I was shocked and the next moment, she shouted: 'I don't want to pull his teeth any more, since he bit my finger. Ask them to pay up.'

The next minute I was chased out of the door and asked to pay $18. My son was so frightened he shivered non-stop and tears kept rolling down his cheeks.

I do not think this is the right way to deal with a five-year-old patient. If the dental clinic accepts children as patients, the dentist should not beat them if they are not cooperative. My son told me he does not want to visit a dentist ever again.

Chua Ying Jie (Ms)

I found the above quite funny. If I were Ms Chua herself, or the kid, or the bitten dentist, I would not have found it funny. But since I'm none of these persons, I must say I do find it quite funny.

It reminds me of an incident in my own childhood. I must have been around five or six then. I had a toothache and my father brought me to a dentist. But I was so scared that I would not open my mouth at all. I didn't bite the dentist, but I resolutely kept my mouth closed. After an hour or so, the dentist gave up and my scowling father had to bring me home.

Alternative extraction method.

My wife and I have been more expert, in handling our own children. The trick is to bring your little kids for a routine dental check-up, long before they ever have any toothache. Under non-painful, non-traumatic conditions, the kid will be easily persuaded to open his mouth. Thereafter he will get used to the idea of having dental check-ups.

Also, if you are going for your own routine dental cleaning/scaling, you can bring your kid along to watch. Then the kid will see that dentists are nice people and there's nothing particularly scary about visiting a dentist.

(But don't bring your kid, if you are getting your wisdom tooth extracted. Because that is scary).

The dental clinic I go to is GPA Dental, at United Square. They have got the coolest technological gadgets I have ever seen in any dental clinic. There's a small touch of James Bond, in their toys.

One of them is a wireless intra oral camera, with a macro lens, a built-in light etc. With this little device, the dentist can take close-up, high-pixel, full-color photos of your teeth, from right inside your mouth. These photos are transmitted to a computer and you can immediately view them on a mounted TV screen. The dentist will store these photos in his computer, as part of your dental records.

Writers, Photographers, NS and Saving The Trees

Did I ever mention that I really enjoyed my NS? A big part of it, anyway. My military vocation was a rare one. It was "writer". Yes, believe it or not, there is such a vocation, and my job was to write for Pioneer, the SAF magazine.

Half the week I would be touring different military bases (not just the army, but also the air force and the navy). The other half of the week I would be in my Mindef office, writing articles about the people I had interviewed and the events that I had witnessed.

I also had an NSF driver to drive me around, and an NSF photographer to take photos for my articles. It was fun.

Getting that job was like striking the lottery. Out of maybe 18,000 or 20,000 NSFs in my entire cohort, only two became "writers" (me and another guy). I can honestly say that neither of us was a "white horse". We didn't have dads or uncles who were brigadier-generals or perm secs.

Instead we were hand-picked for our writing ability. We were also selected for our confidence levels. (When you are 18 years old and just a chao private, you really do need confidence, to interview a senior guy like a brigade commander, or the Chief of Navy, or the Minister of Defence).

There was another NSF guy - his vocation was "translator". His job was to translate our articles, for the Chinese edition of Pioneer (not such a fun job, since he didn't get to go out of the office). His command of English and Chinese was formidable. At that age, he was already writing serious plays in English, and serious poetry in Chinese.

(As a matter of fact, I just tried to google his name. If I've found the right guy, then this year he just directed a bilingual theatrical production, and also won an award for Chinese poetry).

Oh yeah, and my NSF photographer friend. He later became a professional photographer and one year he even won Singapore's Young Artist of the Year award (for photography). You can see some of his stunningly evocative and beautiful pictures here, here and here. Heck, I'll post one photo on my blog - I don't think he would mind.



Photo by Ken Seet

Ken even knows how to make SAF soldiers look cool. Check out the 56 military photographs available here.

You have to be a little impressed about how Pioneer has consistently managed to identify 18-year-olds with talent in writing or photography. Pioneer's alumni NSFs include people like Russel Wong, Adrian Tan, Colin Cheong, Simon Tay and Warren Fernandez. If my memory serves me correctly, once upon a time the ever-incisive Cherian George was also an NSF Pioneer writer.

Anyway, why am I writing all this today? Because I just read someone's blog post, and it reminded me of my NS days. The post is entitled How to Cancel Your Pioneer Subscription, and it goes like this:

Just go to this URL, fill in your particulars; type in some reasons, such as: you prefer reading the cyber version to save the Earth or your family is receiving duplicate copies; request to unsubscribe; then click SUBMIT. That’s it.

Here’s a template:


Dear Sir/Mdm,

I would like to unsubscribe and stop receiving Pioneer magazine in my mailbox as I prefer reading the online version for environmental reasons.

Thank you and hope to hear from you soon.

Best Regards,
XXXXXXXX

I cancelled mine once I ORDed years ago.

Frankly, the magazine is a waste of paper and money. Help spread the word along to save the Earth as I believe most people will just chuck their Pioneer magazine straight into the waste paper bin without even tearing open the plastic wrapper.

Subscription is forced for all NSF at 40 cents per issue (if not I would have cancelled it immediately after getting my first issue). It’s cheap, but it’s still money. Not cancelling it will be wasteful as I am not interested in reading news about SAF. Moreover, there’s the online version (slightly different) which is better for the environment if you really want to read.

The Singapore government is moving towards an advanced e-government model, encouraging Singaporeans to do more government transactions and queries online. Why is the SAF always a few steps behind?

At the very least, the cost of the magazine should be absorbed by SAF, given that NS and reservist are national obligations for Singapore males who are rendering a
service for the nation.

Well, I won't pretend to be too sad.

I truly enjoyed my NS at Pioneer. I got to know some very talented young folks. I also had the chance to meet and write about all kinds of people in the SAF - from defence scientists and BMT recruits, to the elite Naval divers and the Commandos.

And while I was at Pioneer, I always did my best to write good, solid articles that gave due respect and credit to the people featured in them.

However, shortly after I ORD'd, I too cancelled my own Pioneer subscription.

The simple truth is that the SAF is a conscript army, and most of the conscripts aren't that interested in the SAF. The average NSman does want to know about things that directly affect him, such as new IPPT rules, or increases in SAF allowances. But not much more than that.

Most of us wouldn't want to read about yet another OCS commissioning parade. Or yet another upgrade of an old piece of military hardware. Or yet another overseas training exercise - unless it involved our own unit. Maybe not even then.

Also, you can't argue with the "let's save paper" environmental point. Well, I don't know how to argue with it anyway. Years ago, I cancelled my subscription to the print edition of the Straits Times .... for the same reason.

The Supplementary Retirement Scheme

Oops, it's that time of year again. Need to rush down to the bank and deposit the usual $11,475, before the 31 December deadline. This will reduce my income tax by exactly $2,295 next year.

Yes, I am referring to the Supplementary Retirement Scheme. For full details, click this link - you'll get the Finance Ministry's official explanation of the SRS.

The SRS is nothing new - it was introduced about a decade ago - yet many Singaporeans do not seem to know about it. Briefly, it's a voluntary government scheme which provides tax benefits to encourage people to save and invest for their own retirement years.

I think that the SRS is a good idea. Not necessarily for all people (because everyone has his or her own unique financial circumstances). But the SRS could definitely be a good idea for many people.

However, I realise that the SRS might not be that easy to understand. Take for example the blogger at Salary.Sg. In general, his articles are very informative and well-written, and I've enjoyed reading many of them. However, his recent post about the SRS - entitled What's Not Good about the SRS - struck me as a little disastrous.

The blogger discussed the SRS and concluded that it was basically a terrible thing and you would be foolish to use it. However, his explanation was not convincing and he clearly didn't know (or didn't appreciate) the finer points of what you can do with your SRS monies. (On the plus side, several of his readers did respond with good comments, to correct the shortcomings of the article).

In general, the SRS works best for (1) the higher earners, and (2) people who are interested and committed to a long-term plan of building up their retirement funds. It may also make sense for working people who are, say, already in their 50s and do not foresee having to meet any major financial expenses between now and their retirement age.

Also, the SRS has some uses for income earners who foresee that in the future, there will be a year, or two, or three, when their taxable income will dwindle sharply (for example, the person might be planning to temporarily stop work to pursue higher studies, or to look after the kids at home).

My advice to you is to at least find out how the SRS works. Then you can make an informed decision as to whether it is for you or not.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

'Tis the season when I grow jolly and quiet and busy, all at the same time. As I reflect on the big picture of life, I see the hits, the misses, the hugs and kisses, and all the new adventures that lie ahead in 2010. Life is a rich and colourful place, and I am glad to be here.

Right now, my left brain and the right brain are getting together to talk and sing and plan and imagine a few possibilities. I've made a list of things I want to do in 2010, and a list of things I need to do, and a list of "maybe" things.

Some details are sketchy - but is that not how life behaves? There's only so much that we can foresee and predict. Life itself will fill in the blanks as we go with its flow.

Oh yeah. I spent some time thinking about what to do with this blog in 2010. One possibility was to delete it and quit blogging. Nahhh, I told myself, that is a little too drastic. On the other hand, it is true that the original raison d'etre of this blog (and its predecessor, Mr Wang Bakes Good Karma) has already been fulfilled.

When Mr Wang first started blogging in 2005, the Singapore blogosphere was pretty much a ghost town, as far as discussion of social, political and economic issues were concerned. My goal was to help plant the seeds for a more active, socially aware blogosphere - to encourage debate, to encourage participation, to get more people to come forward and express their views too.

Back then - I know that many of you would have forgotten by now - some readers were hesitant even to leave anonymous comments on a blog. They feared that somehow, the evil PAP government would find a technological way to identify and track them down. And who knows what the PAP might do then? Blacklist their HDB application; their scholarship application; their job application; or worse, get the ISD to arrest them.

That was our kind of Internet culture, back then. That was the climate in Singapore, generally. We've come a long way since then. Not saying that everything is all flowers and beauty right now - it's not. But today the local blogosphere is certainly much bigger, much more active, less fearful, than it used to be. Many, many more Singaporeans (ok, PRs and foreigners too) are blogging to express their views about what's good, what's bad and what can be improved about Singapore. Furthermore things have reached a point when the government can no longer not acknowledge the existence of views, opinions and concerns expressed on the Internet.

And with that - Mr Wang will ... well, not exactly retire from writing about social issues etc. But Mr Wang will definitely feel much more at liberty, to venture into new sorts of topics, different sorts of themes, all in the great new year of 2010.

See you then. Happy New Year!

More About Financial Goals

J Singh wrote to me again and said that he would try out the "goal identification" approach mentioned in my previous post. So I will say a few more things about this approach.

Emergency Funds

For the average young Singaporean stepping out into the working world, one important early goal would be to save up some emergency cash. The main emergency I'm referring to here is the possibility of becoming unemployed.

The rough guideline is that you should have cash roughly equal to six months worth of your usual expenses. This will allow you to survive, while you look for another job. Six months is just a guideline. You might need more, or less - depending on how likely you are to lose your job, and how long the period of time you're likely to need, before you find another job.

This emergency money is to be tucked away in some very low-risk instrument (such as a savings account, a fixed deposit or an SGD money market fund). It is meant to protect you against emergencies and is not for investment purposes.

Medical Insurance

After you've established your emergency fund, you might want to consider medical insurance. Young, healthy persons might consider medical insurance less important, and there is some rationale in this. However, the longer you delay buying health insurance, the greater the risk that as the years pass, you may find yourself getting some medical condition (for example, high blood pressure; high cholesterol levels; ovarian cysts or whatever).

By then, you will have to pay a higher premium for your health insurance. Alternatively, the insurance company may refuse to cover you for the risks of particular types of diseases.

If you do have some pre-existing medical condition, make the effort to shop around a bit before you commit yourself to taking up any particular medical insurance policy. This is because different insurance companies do take a different view towards the same kind of medical condition. Some insurers would be stricter, others more liberal.

Depending on where you work, your employer may also provide health insurance. This is a nice benefit, but not terribly reliable. You don't know when you will change jobs, and when you change jobs, the insurance usually lapses.

Life Insurance

Life insurance is important only if you have dependents (such as aged parents or young children). After you die, you don't need any money for yourself.

There are several types of life insurance available in the market. For most people, the first kind of life insurance policy they should buy is term life insurance. You pay a small sum every month and are assured of a large payout, in the event of your death. The policy is purely for protection purposes, and if you don't die, you get nothing back.

If your key intention is to secure financial protection for your dependents, term life insurance generally works better than other types of life insurance, which try to add in some element of investment. The reason is that these other types of insurance pay out much less, if you die.

Financial Investments

If you've got spare cash left over, it's time to think about investing it. In my opinion, the average man in the street should avoid structured products. I would recommend ETFs and/or unit trusts for most people.

Don't buy unit trusts through a brick-&-mortar bank, because you can buy the same unit trusts more cheaply, through an online distributor such as Finatiq, Dollardex or Fundsupermart. If you feel that you need some financial advice on what to buy, there is a somewhat sneaky thing you could do. Visit a bank, talk to the financial consultant, ask your questions, get all the advice and answers you want and then say, "Well, I'm going away now to think about this matter." Then go and buy the unit trusts through an online distributor.