personality

personality DR SYLVIA OF PHI DENTAL: FOR A BRIGHTER & SHINIER FUTURE

Don’t you get slightly jealous seeing the “piano-key” smiles from influencers or celebrities alike? Ever see ads that show instant solutions on social media to get that perfect shiny smile? Will it last? In this issue we paid a visit to Phi Dental, a professional dental team that provides general dental care in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to patients locally and regionally.

Founded back in 2018, we are very fortunate to meet the face behind Phi Dental; Dr Sylvia, and have her share with us her vision being in the dental industry. Even though she was not born nor raised in Sabah, she is very much a Sabahan at heart. She received her Bachelor of Dental Surgery from Aimst University, Kedah and she obtained her Fellowship from the Royal College

by Iffah Hazirah Images | Srap

of Surgeons of Edinburgh in 2016. Her 1st offer letter placed her in Sabah back in 2013 and she joined MERCY Malaysia as a volunteer which is an experience that opened her eyes to many wonders in Sabah and she did not look back ever since.

Phi Dental is located in Suria Sabah and Dr Sylvia wanted to make Phi Dental not only a place for treatment, but also prevention and as an education center. She has dealt majorly with braces and uneven teeth in young adults and this made her wonder if the problem could be avoided if it was tackled at an early age instead. Dr Sylvia joined IAOM (International Association of Orofacial Myology) and got trained on how to use the oral muscle correctly as early as the breastfeeding stage and she believed that malocclusion or crooked teeth could be prevented.

After getting pregnant with her 1st child, she decided to go for a breastfeeding consultant training under the National Lactation Center (NLC). According to her, to breastfeed a baby is the 1st step to a healthy facial and dental development. Hence, if you do it correctly from the beginning, it will lead to a series of right developments. Dr Sylvia is currently working with NLC to certify Phi Dental as the 1st breastfeeding friendly dental clinic in Sabah. Other than that, Phi Dental also offers a non-drill solution for kids who suffers from dental phobia and an early check up is important in treating the problem.

Married to a Sabahan, she recently had her very 1st child and being a mom opened her eyes to seeing things in a different perspective. She strongly believes that breastfeeding brings so many benefits not only on the nutritional side but the action of feeding itself brings miracles. Apart from that, Phi Dental is also working closely with the Ear, Nose & Throat (ENT) team where

they diagnose problems such as sleep apnea in adults, snoring and teeth grinding while sleeping. Dr Sylvia also stresses the importance of breathing correctly through your nose instead of your mouth which could result in preventing problems such as snoring, and improving your posture. For example, during mealtime, a child should be encouraged to sit at a table properly as this could result in good posture, preventing a bloated stomach and indigestion. Phi Dental also wanted to incorporate values into people’s daily lives and encourage a healthy lifestyle through the things you do with your eyes, nose and throat and to be the frontline in detecting the initial problem and changing your habit to bring you a better lifestyle.

When asked whether she will still be here in Sabah 5 years later, she answered yes without hesitation. She agreed that Sabah is a great place to raise her kid and she planned for Phi Dental to bring their services and explore smaller towns and rural areas in the future. Despite having a lot of patients further away and having difficulties to drop by her clinic, she made use of social media to educate and answer questions on dental care from home. Phi Dental is also looking into having their own CSR

(Corporate Social Responsibility) program and bring not only their dental services to rural areas, but also to educate parents on the importance of breastfeeding and breathing correctly. Helping the community is a priority in Phi Dental. Due to her never ending effort to help the people in need in Sabah, she is the first non-sabahan to be elected by the Malaysian Dental Council to represent Sabah dentists until 2022.

Dr Sylvia enjoys dancing especially tango, joined beach cleaning and she admits that being in Sabah really fulfilled the ideal life that she dreamed of having. She practiced her career here with passion and she is constantly doing what she loves. She also adores the freedom of practicing arts in Sabah and believes in supporting local artists and their works which could clearly be seen through the decor in Phi Dental. Many things are irreplaceable to her in Sabah; the people, the art and last but not least, a healthy place to raise a family.

FUN FACTS: The name ‘Phi’ Dental came from the divine proportion or golden ratio in the art of Da Vinci.

automotive

COOL NATIONAL CARS

Ever since Proton introduced the Saga, Malaysia’s first national car in 1985, Malaysians had something to be proud of when driving on the road. Not all countries are fortunate enough to produce their own car brand. Although it hasn’t always been sunshine and butterflies, we have seen some really cool cars make their way out of the factory floor and onto the national stage.

The Proton Arena, or Jumbuck in countries like Australia and the United Kingdom, was a unique choice of body style introduced by Proton. The 2-door utility small pickup truck, or the “ute” as the Aussies call them, wasn’t particularly popular in Malaysia. However, over the years, the Arena has become a cult classic and has become quite desirable in Malaysia. Unsurprisingly, they were really popular in Australia for their practicality. Also, because it shares the same front end as the Wira, which is based on the Mitsubishi Lancer, you can put a body kit on it to make it look like a Lancer Evolution pickup. Pretty neat.

The next car in this list is the Proton Putra, a 2-door coupe version of the Wira. Basically, it’s almost a direct rebadge of the fourth generation Lancer. Proton commissioned a British racing outfit, Prodrive, to develop a rally version of the Putra to compete in the World Rally Championship (WRC) in 1997. Prodrive beefed up the suspension, converted it to a four-wheel by Noel Jinguli drive, and actually increased the horsepower to around 300bhp (brake horsepower). Unfortunately, the project came to a stop, so the car wasn’t homologated and wasn’t made available for the public.

Let’s talk about a car you can currently buy new off the showroom floor, the Proton Iriz. Do you know there’s also a rally version developed by British rally team, Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM). They call it the Iriz R5 and people didn’t expect this small compact to rip through dirt patches like the rally beast it is. If you’re willing to spend your money, you can have your own Iriz R5 too. I personally think it’ll be well worth the money as MEM has a good track record with Malaysian cars on the rally stage since the time of Karamjit Singh, Malaysia’s champion rally driver.

We have a lot to be proud of with our national cars. They have very high potential to capture the hearts of international drivers and conquer the world of motorsports. So whenever you see our national cars on the road, don’t just ignore them, be proud of

what it has achieved and what it can achieve. Images | Proton & Mellors Elliot Motorsport