Honest dental advice, from our team to you
Straight answers to the questions patients in Kota Kinabalu ask us most — what treatments cost, what to expect, and how to choose. No jargon, no pressure, just gentle honest guidance from FTS Chin Dental in Likas.
Klinik gigi kerajaan or swasta — which one should you go to?
For most routine problems, a government dental clinic in Sabah is very good value — a consultation, a filling or an extraction is RM1, scaling is RM2 a visit. What it does not offer is choice of appointment time, cosmetic work, braces outside the specialist route, or implants. That is the real difference, and it is not about quality of care.
Why does toothache get worse at night?
Toothache genuinely does get worse at night, for two physical reasons. Lying flat raises blood pressure in the head, which increases pressure inside an already inflamed tooth. And with nothing else competing for your attention, pain that was manageable at 3pm becomes the only thing you can think about at 3am. Pain that wakes you usually means the nerve inside the tooth is involved.
What does a swollen gum mean, and when is it serious?
A swollen gum is usually one of three things: general inflammation from plaque along the gumline, a localised abscess at one tooth, or a flap of gum over an erupting wisdom tooth. The one that matters most is swelling that spreads beyond the gum into the face or neck — that is a medical emergency, not a dental appointment.
Why are my teeth sensitive to cold — and is it serious?
Sensitivity happens when dentine — the layer under the enamel, full of microscopic tubes leading to the nerve — becomes exposed. Cold, sweet or acidic things then reach the nerve far more easily. The useful test is duration: a sharp twinge that stops within seconds is ordinary sensitivity, while an ache that lingers a minute or more after the cold has gone suggests something in that specific tooth.
What do you do about a dental problem when the clinics are closed?
Almost no private dental clinic in Kota Kinabalu keeps 24-hour or Sunday hours, and none should be relied on for it. The useful distinction is between a problem that needs a hospital tonight — spreading facial swelling, difficulty swallowing or breathing, a knocked-out permanent tooth — and one that is painful but can be managed until morning. Those are different situations with different answers.
Why do my gums bleed when I brush?
Bleeding gums are inflammation, almost always from plaque sitting undisturbed at the gumline. Healthy gums do not bleed when brushed properly. The instinct to brush more gently makes it worse, because the plaque causing the inflammation stays where it is. This stage is fully reversible, which is exactly why it is worth acting on.
How often do you actually need scaling — and what decides that?
Six months is a sensible default, not a rule. Some people genuinely need scaling every three to four months and some are fine annually. What sets your interval is how fast you build calculus, whether your gums already show inflammation, whether you smoke, and whether you have a condition like diabetes or are pregnant. It is a clinical judgement about your mouth, not a calendar habit.
What is Airflow, and how is it different from ordinary scaling?
They do different jobs and are normally used together, not instead of each other. Ultrasonic scaling breaks hardened calculus off the tooth. Airflow is a fine powder-and-water jet that removes soft plaque and surface staining — tea, coffee, tobacco — including from grooves and around brackets that instruments reach awkwardly. Airflow does not remove calculus, and scaling does not remove stain well.
What happens if you leave a cavity alone?
It gets bigger. Decay is bacteria dissolving tooth structure, and nothing reverses that once a hole has formed — there is no repair mechanism inside a tooth. What changes over time is the treatment: a small cavity is a filling, a deeper one reaches the nerve and becomes root canal treatment, and past that the tooth may not be savable.
What is root canal treatment, and is it as bad as people say?
Root canal treatment removes infected tissue from inside a tooth, cleans and seals the space, and keeps the tooth. Its reputation comes from the pain people had before treatment, not from the treatment — the tooth is numbed exactly as it is for a filling. The real decision is usually root canal versus extraction, and that comes down to how much sound tooth is left.
Wisdom tooth removal: does it hurt, and how long is recovery?
Wisdom tooth removal (cabut gigi bongsu) shouldn't hurt during the procedure — the area is fully numbed, so you feel pressure but not pain. Most people feel much better within 3 to 4 days, with fuller healing over one to two weeks. A simple extraction recovers faster than a surgical one for an impacted tooth. Managing swelling and following aftercare keeps you comfortable.
What should I do after having a tooth taken out?
Everything depends on one thing: the blood clot that forms in the socket. It is the scaffold healing builds on. Do not rinse, spit, smoke or use a straw for the first 24 hours, because all four can dislodge it. If it comes out, you get dry socket — severe pain starting two to four days later, and it needs seeing.
What are the options for replacing a missing tooth?
Three routes: a denture that comes out, a bridge fixed to the teeth either side, or an implant placed into the bone. They differ in cost, in how much they involve the neighbouring teeth, and in how they handle the bone underneath. Which suits you depends on how many teeth are missing, where, and the condition of what remains.
When does a tooth need a crown instead of a filling?
When there is not enough sound tooth left for a filling to be safe. A filling sits inside the tooth and relies on the walls around it; a crown wraps over the whole tooth and holds it together. The switch usually comes after a large filling fails, after a fracture, or after root canal treatment on a back tooth.
What decides how long braces take — and why two people get different answers
Braces usually take 18 to 24 months, but the range across real patients runs from about 6 months to over 3 years. Five things set your number: how crowded the teeth are, whether the bite itself needs correcting, whether teeth need to move bodily or just tip, your age, and how reliably you wear elastics. Nobody can give you a real timeline without seeing your teeth.
Invisalign vs braces — which is right for you?
Braces are fixed to your teeth and can correct almost any case, including complex bite problems, while Invisalign uses clear removable aligners that are nearly invisible and easy to clean. Braces cost less and need no discipline to work; Invisalign looks better and is more comfortable but only suits mild to moderate cases and relies on you wearing them 20–22 hours a day. The right choice depends on your case, your budget, and your lifestyle.
Why are my teeth yellow, and can it be reversed?
Four different things cause it, and they need different answers. Surface stain from food and drink cleans off. Thinning enamel reveals the darker dentine underneath and cannot be reversed. Discolouration built into the tooth from within responds partly to whitening. A single dark tooth is usually a dead nerve and needs a different technique entirely.
Why does teeth whitening work better for some people than others?
Whitening lightens the natural tooth, so what you start with sets what you can reach. Yellow-toned teeth respond well; grey-toned teeth respond poorly. Thin enamel shows more of the darker dentine underneath and limits the result. And whitening does not change crowns, veneers or fillings at all — they stay exactly the shade they were made.
When should a child first see a dentist?
Earlier than most people think — around the first birthday, or within six months of the first tooth appearing. The first visit is not really about treatment. It is about the child learning that the place is unremarkable, and about catching problems while they are still small. A child whose first visit happens because something hurts starts from a much worse position.
What are fissure sealants, and does my child need them?
A fissure sealant is a thin coating flowed into the deep grooves on the biting surfaces of back teeth. Those grooves are narrower than a toothbrush bristle, so they trap food and cannot be cleaned properly — which is why most childhood decay starts there. Sealing them is quick, needs no drilling and no injection, and works best applied soon after the tooth comes through.
What actually happens at a dental check-up?
More than most people expect. A check-up examines the teeth, the existing fillings, the gums and pockets around each tooth, the soft tissues of the mouth, and the bite. X-rays are taken because decay between teeth and infection at a root tip are invisible from above the gum. The point is to find things while they are still small, cheap and symptom-free.
Are you brushing your teeth wrong?
Probably in at least one way. The three most common mistakes are brushing too hard, brushing straight after something acidic, and never cleaning between the teeth at all. That last one matters most — the surfaces where teeth touch are where decay and gum disease usually start, and no toothbrush has ever reached them.
Ask us directly — we’re happy to help
If you can’t find your answer here, message us on WhatsApp. We’ll give you honest advice and a clear estimate before anything begins.