Dental Asia January/February 2023

UNDER THE SPOTLIGHT
no adequate number of teeth to use as
a reference in designing the denture.
I am also interested in virtualising
patient information for diagnosis
and treatment planning, as well as
programming a virtual articulator. That
said, I am one of the first few dentists
who published a dental technique
combining 3D teeth to the 3D face
using a radiation-free method.
Can you provide an outlook on the
future of digital technology, particularly
in prosthodontics?
Dr Lam: Computer-aided design/
manufacturing (CAD/CAM) will
become the norm in dentistry and
prosthodontics. This will allow us to
select various high-strength tooth
coloured dental materials for various
clinical scenarios, as well as shorten
the time needed for the fabrication of
dental prostheses. The accuracy of
intraoral scanners is improving and can
be used for full-arch cases. Dentists
can plan cases with reference to the
3D face.
On the other hand, the development of
digital dentistry is so rapid that dental
education does not follow its pace and
we need to exert a huge amount of
effort to keep our knowledge updated.
Although digital equipment is now
more affordable and user-friendly, many
dentists may still stick to the approach
that works well for them already.
Hence, their preference and perception
are critical to the clinical use of digital
equipment.
What advice would you give to fellow
practitioners who are hesitant to adopt
digital technology in their practice?
Dr Lam: Most of us have already
adopted digital technology in our
practice, such as digital radiography,
electronic dental record and conebeam
computed tomography. The new
generation of the intraoral scanner is
getting cheaper, more user-friendly
with a minimum learning curve and
provides add-on value such as caries
detection. The benefits of adopting
digital technology outweigh the steep
learning curve.
What other trends do you foresee
happening in the dental field in the
next 5-10 years?
Dr Lam: Dentistry may become
more and more tailored and made
for an individual person, so-called
personalised dentistry. Early and
close monitoring of cases may stop
or even prevent dental diseases. The
identification of more and more risk
factors and their prevention may be
feasible in the near future, which
renders the future of dentistry to be
truly preventive and personalised. DA
(from right) Dr Walter Lam, Dr Khaing Myat Thu, Dr Reinhard Chau, Prof Colman McGrath and Dr Richard Hsung
20 DENTAL ASIA JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2023