Dental Asia March/April 2022

UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
Balancing practice
and academic
As Singapore’s first dental clinician to receive the
National Medical Research Council’s Clinician Scientist
Award – Investigator Category, Dr Yu Na is no stranger
to further research in dentistry. Dental Asia spoke with
the senior dental surgeon and clinician-scientist at
National Dental Centre Singapore on her experience
and expertise on the trends and advancements that
will lead the industry in the coming years.
EARLY EXPERIENCE AND
INSPIRATION
Can you share with us your
beginnings as a dental
professional, and what are your
early influences in pursuing a
career in this field?
Dr Yu Na: When I was young, I
remember going through braces
and being curious about the
mechanisms. I also remember
trying to adjust the wires myself
and being fascinated by the devices
and instruments every time I went
to the dentist. During high school, I
chose to major in biology, and this
eventually led me to dentistry.
What are the reasons behind
your decision to specialise in
prosthodontics, and what inspired
you to pursue your PhD studies
focusing on cell-based strategies
to regenerate periodontal tissues?
Dr Yu: Each dental specialty has
its attraction. Since my time as a
young dentist, I have always felt a
sense of satisfaction from seeing
the smiles on my patients after
their prosthodontic treatment. To
me, that was the deciding factor
for choosing prosthodontics. In
prosthodontics, I enjoy the precise
control in operative dentistry, the
process of creating a device, and the
delivery of an end product that we
pass to our patients.
I was looking for more fundamental
biology topics to deepen my dental
knowledge for my PhD studies. I
was able to build my foundation
in critical thinking and learnt the
mental framework in scientific
investigation. My research training
also taught me to assess a
clinical problem from scientific
perspectives and seek solutions
using an evidence-based approach.
Regenerative periodontology is one
of the most challenging domains in
dentistry while cell therapy, tissue
engineering and biomaterials are in
the fields of cutting-edge science
and help further shape my mindset
of scientific thinking.
How will you describe your typical
day in the workplace as you juggle
between clinical and academic
commitments?
Dr Yu: I take on various roles as a
scientist, clinician, and manager on
a typical day. I start my mornings
with academic work which includes
replying to emails, panel reviews,
reports and drafting of papers.
This is followed by project-related
meetings where I review our
projects, brainstorm, and gather
progress updates with engineers
and scientists. Over lunch, we are
on Zoom calls with the clinical
team. I start my clinics after lunch
and attend to about five patients till
evening. Thereafter, I will meet with
a clinical educator on structuring a
conference lecture.
My day is packed, but each role
is a conduit to the other. I see
myself as a bridge between clinical
24 DENTAL ASIA MARCH / APRIL 2022