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The CAD/CAM & Digital Dentistry International Conference organised by CAPP Asia will again be held in collaboration with the Singapore Dental Association this year. Dental Tribune Asia Pacific spoke with the president of the organisation and Q & M Dental Group shareholder Dr Kuan Chee Keong about the association’s decision to support the event and what it will do to advance dentistry in the city-state.
DT Asia Pacific: This year CAPP Asia’s CAD/CAM and Digital Dentistry International Conference will be held in Singapore for the second time. What was the response to the first event in 2012 from the dental community here?
Dr Kuan Chee Keong: The inaugural symposium was well attended, which was a pleasant surprise for all of us. When CAPP Asia first approached us with its proposal to organise a CAD/CAM symposium in Singapore jointly, there was uncertainty among members of the council whether to proceed. A few of us however made a strong pitch for it and fortunately we made a commitment to collaborate.
Feedback from dentists so far has been mostly positive and encouraging. However, we shall also be looking out for areas that need improvement.
What made you decide to support this event in the first place, and what in your opinion are its prospects?
When we were debating whether to collaborate with CAPP Asia, one argument was that CAD/CAM is a new and relatively unproven technology compared with conventional prosthodontics and therefore the Singapore Dental Association should not be involved in a CAD/CAM event. Computerisation and advanced technologies however have become the future of dentistry. When I was in dental school, I never used a laptop but now it is an essential tool. A paperless dental office, digital imaging, online transactions and many other advances are just some examples of commonplace computerisation.
Shouldn’t we face up to CAD/CAM? In fact, dentistry is way behind in embracing new technologies. High-tech industries are using 3-D printing and we are still struggling with digital impressions. Dentistry needs to be evolving constantly too.
Singapore dentists are usually among the first adopters of new technologies in Asia. How common is the use of dental CAD/CAM, and for what clinical purposes is it used the most to your knowledge?
Perhaps this question is better answered by suppliers like Fondaco Dental and others. There are no official statistics about the use of CAD/CAM to my knowledge. At Q & M Dental Group, we make use of it with CEREC 3D for fabricating crowns and bridges primarily.
In your opinion, what are the benefits of using dental CAD/CAM in clinical practice?
Less time is needed for the production of fixed prostheses. In addition, we do not need to fabricate customised trays or use impression materials, so waste can be reduced. This is a step in the right direction to be more environmentally friendly.
Singapore is poised to become an important hub for dental tourism. Will the use of dental CAD/CAM help to support this development in the long run?
Providing excellent dental care in shorter treatment time holds significant appeal to dental tourists. With travelling costs going down constantly, more people from the region will be able to fly to Singapore in the morning, have some porcelain prostheses fabricated using CAD/CAM and fitted almost immediately, then do some shopping before taking the late flight back home.
Singapore is not alone however. Other countries in the region are catching up and it is a mistake to assume that Singapore will always be the leader in health care. We have to make an effort to stay abreast of the latest technologies. The CAPP Asia conference is a good example of that.
Thank you very much for the interview.
