I watched the movie, Top Gun, when I was a late teen. That was a cool movie way ahead of me: the Harley Davidson, the babes, the planes, the singing, etc.. It was ahead of me because… well, don’t laugh, that was the point I was still wondering if that cool American bike was “Harley Davidson” or “David Harrison”…

The F15 dogfighting in the movie was way cool and the actresses were attractive but the real focus was of course, Tom Cruise, the hunk!!

After a few decades, I am a married man with kids, so don’t get me wrong. I mentioned Tom Cruise as being the ‘hunk’ not because I found Tom Cruise attractive, I was just being fair. What a good looking man he was (and still is). He has a universally agreeable handsome face, has a relatively small frame (my height), and is just a bit older than me. For that I am forever grateful because I am forever younger (than him).

In Top Gun, he had some very well-sculpted biceps, shoulders and chest muscles (pectoralis majors and deltoids). I am sure many female audiences were thinking: “yum yum” 🙂 ….. BUT Tom Cruise had bad teeth!! I was one up on him as I had perfectly straight top teeth.

Top Gun is still a legendary movie and Tom Cruise is now starring in major blockbusters like the Mission Impossible series of movies. He has straight teeth now. I bet it was because, in the process of becoming a major Hollywood star, Tom Cruise went for braces and other significant dental procedures. I am sure his straightened teeth removed one of the obstacles for him to star in major movie roles, as understandably movie producers probably would not consider him for crooked teeth characters now.

The truth was I had crooked teeth too but it was limited to my lower front teeth only. As I travelled along time, my lower teeth became more crowded and it was harder to brush and floss. I used to get my colleagues to give me a good check-up and dental cleaning once every 6 months but that had to be changed to 3 or 4 monthly cleanings as my pearlies were becoming more and more of a pain to be kept clean by my personal home care alone.

I have the unfair advantage of working shoulder to shoulder with 2 brilliant colleagues who provide invisible braces (Invisalign) treatment Drs. Eugene Chan and May-Ling Eide. Eugene, still a competitive swimmer, is a true guru in that department as numerous clinicians have been trained by him since this Invisalign technology arrived in Asia (from USA). Dr. Eide has a sweet personality and she always wears a big smile. I run – runners don’t mix with swimmers, so please don’t guess who I chose in between a guru and a nice lady to treat my crowded teeth. 🙂

I did not get braces earlier in life because back when I was in my 20s, my University of Hong Kong orthodontic teacher said he would take out a few teeth from me in order to straighten my teeth. I did not fully agree with this approach based on my understanding of the treatment nature. Now, as I am entering the 5th decade of my life, I decided to finally get my teeth STRAIGHT without extracting any teeth.

Most importantly, no one knew that I was having braces (except family and close friends), thanks to the latest teeth alignment technology. Thank you!

Tom Cruise went for his braces and he had to bear with visible BRACES for many many months!! He probably wished he had the 21^st century technology option that I had. He would probably want to move over and work with us now 🙂

Our hospital board only approves clinicians with substantial resumes to work here. Tom Cruise is an excellent actor, but he is yet to be trained in our specialty field.  I should wait for him to complete his training first. Mission Impossible?