In a joint initiative with the National University Health System (NUHS), the Faculty of Dentistry at the National University of Singapore (NUS) officially opened its new treatment center on the Kent Ridge Campus in July.
The National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS) was designed to answer the population’s growing need for access to general and specialty dental treatments. It also offers more students the opportunity for community-based education with access to high-end dental equipment, NUS reports.
For example, NUS says, the NUCOHS is home to 265 Dentsply Sirona Sinius treatment centers. Following extensive planning and consultation carried out by its International Special Clinic Solutions business division (ISCS), Dentsply Sirona was awarded the contract to install the Sinius treatment centers in 2017.
This partnership was implemented together with Fondaco, Singapore and included extensive training in how to use the Sinius centers for the teaching staff and students, according to Dentsply Sirona.
“In January this year, the final treatment centers for the NUCOHS left the warehouse,” said Jörg Vogel, ISCS vice president. “We are very pleased and proud that we have successfully implemented a project of unmatched size for us for one of the most renowned dental faculties in the Asia-Pacific region.”
Now, up to 500 patients a day can be treated at the NUCOHS. The center also offers advanced technologies from general dental treatments to subsidized, highly specialized procedures, the school reports.
The facility was designed to accommodate older patients and those with special needs as well. All treatment rooms are wheelchair-accessible, with some designed so even patients with severely limited mobility can access them easily.
In addition to clinical care, the NUCOHS says it is committed to research and education as well. The NUCOHS also is home to Singapore’s only Chair of Dentistry at the NUS. By integrating the chair in the center, students can be trained on a larger scale than before, the NUCOHS says.
Furthermore, the faculty focuses on the advantages of education within the community, the NUCOHS says. Thanks to direct contact with the patients, it explains, students should become familiar with their needs and treatments early in their career.
“We would like to offer our students first-class education in the field of dentistry and thus prepare them as well as possible for their practice routine,” said Patrick F. Allen, dean of faculty. “In addition to community-based training, we focused on innovative teaching methods and the use of high-quality technologies.”
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