20 Years of Serving this Community

Dr Lim, Dr Chng and I all graduated from the Faculty of Dentistry, National University of Singapore on this day 20 years ago. During this time, dentistry has undergone tremendous changes.

When we first graduated, we were trained in the placement of gold inlay. We saw that go out of fashion but now, inlays are back in the form of ceramic inlays. Previously, ceramic restorations required at least two visits to the dental office and now, it is done in one same visit. This is Cerec, which harnesses CAD/CAM technology to achieve the one visit ceramic restoration.

In root canal treatment (endodontics), we started of using x-rays to ensure that we get to the tip of the root. We then progressed to using what is called an apex locator and now, magnification afforded by a clinical microscope makes sure that our patients are treated to the best of our ability.

Orthodontics also has it's fair share of advancement. Metal braces was de rigueur when we became dentists and it remains so today. However, we now have new options like Invisalign, Damon self ligating brackets and temporary anchorage devices (TAD) or implants.

As we continue in the dental profession, we expect that all fields of dentistry would change even more with time and by the time we hang up our tools, dentistry as we knew it would not exist, being replaced with something that would have been unrecognisable to us when we graduated in 1989.

However, one thing is for sure: the change will be for the better, making the patient's visit to the dentist a pleasant one.