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.
Our third clinic recently opened on the 8th floor of Mount Elizabeth Medical Center in the third week of June 2011. We are now working shoulder to shoulder with a very special team. Our new experience of working with a medical pioneer in Singapore and his team has been an eye-opening one.
Before June, I had thought to myself that with the opening of our new clinic, our three locations would have a meaningful square footage in combination with a good mix of experienced clinicians. Little did I know that I had a limited understanding of the term ‘experience’.
There is no doubt that collectively we will be a fraction of who we are today if luck were not on our side. Life could be a lot more of an upstream battle if we had to live through a world war, were born at a less prosperous era in mankind, had a lousy mentor and when communication was not so instantaneous.
Dr. Tay Chong-Hai and his team of excellent nurses have been working at the Mount Elizabeth Medical Centre since the late 70s. Through a quick google search, one would find that this bright man was born in Malaysia, lived through World War II, became a poet, an author, a scientist, a teacher and a pioneer medical practitioner with a disease named after him.
For those who are not in the medical/dental field, throughout the history of mankind, only very few diseases are named after an individual. It is a honor that happens to one in millions! Dr. Tay had discovered the ‘Tay Syndrome’ in the early 70s when he was a young doctor.
There is no doubt that he was known as a knowledgeable Professor to many of his younger medical colleagues. A casual chat with him would reveal his earlier real life detective stories about how he exposed a silly medicine shop owner who mixed some toxin into his medicine in the false hopes of get a quick fix for his clients. The artifacts from that case are still on display in a museum in Singapore.
We have only one conclusion – we are indeed honored to be in Dr. Tay’s company.
Dr. Ansgar C. Cheng is a Dental Specialist in Prosthodontics 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
