Dental Asia May/June 2018

First Words
Education is essential and
necessary in any profession. But I
always believed Aristotle’s quote
saying ‘Educating the mind without
educating the heart is no education
at all.’ Being educated is not solely
based on awards and recognitions
a person receives but how you make
use of all the knowledge gained in
helping and giving back to others.
Shaping the Future
Through Education
I have so much respect
and appreciation to those who
are willing to go out of their way
just to help out those in need.
Dental Asia wants to recognise
these outstanding individuals,
organisations and foundations
contributing humanitarian efforts
such as Dr. “T. Bob” Davis, who not
only helps underserved people in
Latin America but is also moulding
the next generation of dentists by
giving them purpose through sharing
(page 6).
There are so many ways in
educating and spreading knowledge
– conventional lectures/workshops
and modern online platforms.
A very good example is how
Dr. Lawrence Lau maximises all these
approaches through his lectures and
the Cerec-files, a Facebook group
that eventually became a community
managed by clinicians for dentists
solely to help in everything about
CEREC (pages 18-22).
Nowadays, modern platforms and
innovations are
adapted in the
industry. Mobile
applications
now are used
in dentistry
specifically to
monitor patients
undergoing orthodontics known as
Dental Monitoring (DM). Thanks to
Dr. Grant Duncan, the pioneer DM
user for Invisalign, patients are more
compliant, see better results and are
guided by their dentists with fewer
dental visits (pages 24-27).
Another dental innovation in
dentistry that keeps on expanding
is 3D printing. We are so grateful for
the imagination and persistence of
Mr. Charles “Chuck” Hull, the
inventor of stereolithography
(commonly known as 3D printing)
for his remarkable breakthrough
that changed the design and
manufacturing world (pages 28-31).
Aside from being persistent, I
believe that loving one’s profession is
imperative in order to be successful
and of help to others. Through my
interview with Dr. Angelo Mariotti,
a periodontal specialist and an
IDEM speaker, he shared that he
loves his work and most especially
the interactions he has with his
patients. He continues promoting
awareness of periodontal disease
in hoping to help prevent its spread
(pages 32-34).
It was also a very educational
few months for me attending
IDEM 2018 and APEC 2018, two
of the biggest dental events held
in Asia. It was a privilege and an
honour to be present among the
international speakers, exhibitors,
manufacturers and colleagues in
the industry (pages 70-71). I am
excited and looking forward to
further expanding my knowledge in
the industry and in return pass it on
to all Dental Asia readers. DA
ADVISORY BOARD
Dr William Cheung
Dr Choo Teck Chuan
Dr Chung Kong Mun
Dr George Freedman
Dr Fay Goldstep
Prof Urban Hägg
Prof Nigel M. King
Dr Ramonito Rafols Lee
Dr Kevin Ng
Dr William O’Reilly
Dr Ryan Seto
Dr Adrian U J Yap
Dr Christopher Ho
Dr How Kim Chuan
Dr Derek Mahony
Prof Alex Mersel