FDI WorlDental Daily 29 Aug

Science&Practice Thursday, 29 August 2013 D entistry is still largely a pro- fession focused on treat- ment rather than prevention of oral diseases like caries or peri- odontal disease. A preventive ap- proach in dentistry is needed more than ever, according to FDI Contin- uing Education programme direc- tor for the Asia-Pacific region and FDI AWDC presenter Dr William Cheung.WorldentalDailysatdown with him on Tuesday morning to discuss the philosophy briefly, and its benefits for both the patient and dentist. Worldental Daily: Dr Cheung, could you please summarise the key as- pects of the preventive philosophy for us and why it is important? I think in the mind of most dental practitioners, prevention means pri- marily brushing, flossing and regular cleaning. There is no question that these measures are important but there is a lot more to this, like all the developments in the area of fluoride, for example. Many dentists are not aware of that. There is also caries management by risk assessment, where we sit downwiththepatientandgothrough a certain process step by step. With the outcome of this, we can identify certain areas that need special atten- tion.Thenweformulateaprotocolfor this particular patient for managing his or her risk, or minimising it.This is notnecessaryforeverysinglepatient but if we expect the patient to be highly susceptible to caries then we would go through that exercise and perform a risk assessment. Suchamodelclearlybenefitsthepa- tient.What is in it for the dentist? Patientssensethatyouhaveapre- ventiveapproachatyourpracticeand actually notice that you are going through all these exercises for them. This creates a positive image for the practice. As dentists, we gain greater satis- faction because we can see the result ofintroducingthistypeofapproachto patients that will subsequently be of benefit to them. By having patients come in regularly, you can identify something and can offer choices rather than expecting patients to come in only once they have a prob- lem.When you start to build this kind of positive image and patients are happy,theyaregoingtoreferpatients to you. Referred patients are the best patients in my opinion. Considering all the prevention-fo- cused initiatives that organisations liketheFDIarerunning,wheredowe stand with the preventive model? Unfortunately, at a congress like the FDI AWDC here in Istanbul, most dentists want primarily to attend pre- sentationsinfieldslikecosmeticden- tistryandimplants.Thosearethema- jor topics that they are interested in, and I do not blame them because im- plants can generate a lot of revenue. As dental professionals, however, I think we owe it to our patients to adopt a preventive philosophy. If we do the right thing, it can be rewarding as well financially. So, if you ask me when we are going to reverse this trend, I do not have an answer for you butasadentalassociationitisourre- sponsibility to teach prevention and ensurethatdentistsunderstandwhat that means. Thank you very much for the inter- view. “Referredpatients arethebestpatients” AninterviewwithDrWilliamCheung,HongKong IDrWilliamCheung,HongKong AD 4 www.fdiworldental.org