About Me

Hello! My name is Rei Chiel and this is my virtual lair where I share my growth as a dentist. I completed my BDS degree from Manipal University (Melaka-Manipal Medical College) in July 2015. The initial thought of starting this blog was to document my journey and experiences through dental school as well as to give an overall picture to pre-university students who are interested to continue their tertiary education in dentistry at Melaka Manipal Medical College. If you are interested in my stories as a dental student, I still retained all my previous posts in this space.

After graduation, I wanted to continue using this space to share my journey transiting into the workforce. I was part of the cohort of dental graduates who I believed were the first batch ever in Malaysia that waited for a year to be appointed into the compulsory public service. I had the privilege of serving the community at Sarikei, Sarawak for a year before being transferred to Dalat, Sarawak. Later I decided to join the private sector and worked under a large dental group in the Klang Valley area for about 2 years. I completed my primary fellowship with RCS Eng in Aug 2018 and am currently pursuing my postgraduate training in restorative dentistry (Endodontics) at the University of Sheffield, UK.

If you wondered why the name of this blog is as such, well, as a little girl, my parents used to call me a “Ham Bao” (which means crybaby in Cantonese) as I was relatively shy and easily bawled over little things.

Honestly, my horizons in dentistry have expanded ever since I left dental school. Every job has its unique challenges and I think as a dental practitioner, I find handling various human behaviors and characters on top of providing optimum treatment for patients most interesting in dentistry. Personally, I did not grow up with good oral hygiene habits and have experienced all kinds of dental problems; ranging from grossly decayed deciduous teeth with chronic abscess draining through the canal orifices (I still remember the taste of the draining pus) to cellulitis, having a rotated mandible and malocclussion due to chronic thumb sucking habit, receiving multiple root canal treatment in my permanent teeth and experiencing buccal space infection of my impacted wisdom tooth. I don’t take pride in my past oral health state but what I have been through is definitely an invaluable experience for my profession as I can resonate with patients, their anxieties and thoughts as I treat them. That has mold me in my approach with patients and to provide them the appropriate advice and reassurance needed.

I hope you find my blog useful and enjoyable. Do leave me a comment or advice if you have any. Thank you for your time and Jumpa Lagi (See you again!)

Yes, I'm a Lefty!
(Back when I was a dental student)