Specialist Dental Group has launched an on-going series of blog posts by our individual dental specialists. All views provided are the dentist’s own opinions and are posted on this blog as part of our on-going efforts to educate the public about dental issues and other matters of interest relating to dentistry and healthcare.

Recently I had a few patients who came to see me and mentioned something very interesting – they had all browsed our website, read our dentists’ profiles and were impressed with the background of the clinical team. Interestingly, the patients also mentioned that they felt confident that this would guarantee that their dental treatment would be flawless and complication-free.

It is true that our clinicians all have a very impressive career history including working at meaningful dental institutions for a long period of time, teaching at the post-graduate level, serving as examiners, interviewing prospective dental students, working on the editorial board of some of the best respected professional journals, performing cutting edge interesting procedures, etc..

 It is also true that our team embraces our work and it is part of our pride and joy in life. We carry out all our work extremely carefully and seeing our patients respond well to treatment is the most gratifying experience for us. It constitutes 99.99% of our job satisfaction.

However, this does not qualify any clinician to be 100% complication-free. We know that complications can arise anytime, even with top training, extensive experience, extremely careful personality, best equipment, and excellent procedure execution. In short, all patients are unique and there may be some patients whose particular biological response to treatment may be in the minority of situations where an unfavorable outcome may result. Other external factors may also play a role.  

The key point to note is that when things are not going smoothly, a capable and experienced clinician would know exactly how to handle these undesirable conditions smoothly and steer the condition back on course flawlessly. That is the true expert! 

Dr. Ansgar C. Cheng is a Dental Specialist in Prosthodontics (Teeth Replacement) with Specialist Dental Group™. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor with the National University of Singapore.  He has a special interest in dental implants, cosmetic dentistry and treatment of  medically compromised patients, including cancer patients. For more information about Dr. Cheng, click here