Participants gained valuable insights into paediatric dentistry techniques at a workshop held at the NUS Faculty of Dentistry.
On 15 April 2023, close to 20 participants attended a workshop titled “Expanding Your Practice: Everyday Paediatric Dentistry Made Easy” organised by DentAlliance – a collaboration comprising four prestigious dental schools including The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Adams School of Dentistry; King’s College London’s Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences; The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne Dental School; and the National University of Singapore’s Faculty of Dentistry.
Dr Jovena Chan demonstrated to participants how they
could manage young children during their first dental visit.
At the one-day workshop, participants got to hear from four expert trainers: Dr Jovena Chan (Founder and Children Dentist, My Little Teeth Children’s Dental Clinic); Dr Hu Shijia (Assistant Professor, NUS Faculty of Dentistry and Consultant, NUCOHS); Dr Tong Huei Jinn (Adjunct Senior Lecturer, NUS Faculty of Dentistry and Dentist, Petite Smiles Children’s Dental Clinic); and Dr Yee Ruixiang (Consultant, KKH Dental Service & KKH Cleft and Craniofacial Centre).
Focusing on minimal intervention dentistry (MID) – a concept which has gained a great deal of interest in the field of paediatric dentistry in recent years, the workshop encourages the use of preventive measures and minimally invasive procedures to treat dental caries and other oral health conditions. Such an approach preserves as much of the natural tooth structure as possible and promotes identification and treatment of dental issues early to reverse initial stages of tooth decay.
Dr Hu Shijia shared how MID techniques such as silver diamine fluoride
could be applied in paediatric dentistry.
“Recently, there is a paradigm shift towards biological management of caries, of which, MID is a major component. The preservation of tooth structure and pulp vitality have been found to be very important in maintaining the longevity of the tooth. Being familiar with procedures such as silver diamine fluoride (SDF) application and Hall technique crowns, will give a clinician more tools to provide their patients with the best outcomes," said Dr Hu.
“The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry recommends that the child’s first dental visit should be no later than one year old. Early preventive dental visits offer an opportunity for dentists to educate parents about their child’s dental health. We hope that through this workshop, dentists will be armed with knowledge on how to conduct the first dental visit effortlessly, as well as be able to provide parents with anticipatory guidance on topics such as home-based fluoride use and oral hygiene practices,” added Dr Chan.
Participants learned to use various techniques such as placing
Hall technique crowns and applying computer-assisted local anaesthesia
through demonstrations and hands-on sessions.
Besides learning more about the MID techniques that could be used to manage young children’s oral health via trainers’ presentations, the programme also offered participants hands-on sessions to expand their knowledge on various procedures.
Participants indicated that the workshop expanded their understanding on managing oral issues in young children and helped them to facilitate better care for their patients.
“The course offered very useful hands-on opportunities for me to try various techniques to treat my younger patients! The lectures were also very informative and the instructors were proactive in guiding us along the way,” shared Dr Jonathan Chua.
“The session was practical, informative and fun and provided useful tips that could be used in my daily dental practice,” said Dr Ng Sze Hwee.
“The workshop has helped me to understand the shift in paediatric dentistry which has changed so much since I graduated over 20 years ago!” added Dr Justin Saga.
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