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Howard:
|
It is a huge honor for me today. I'm in Singapore with my friend, Dr. Yeo Kok Beng?
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Dr. Beng:
|
That's right.
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|
Howard:
|
You're a graduate from dental school in 2000.
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|
Dr. Beng:
|
That's right.
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Howard:
|
You're sitting next to this bald, beautiful man here. It's Bernard Phua? P-h-u-a. Phua. What I'm so romantically involved with Bernard is you are the first graduating class in Singapore of ... In Singapore, they call it a oral health therapist. In United States, we call it a dental hygienist, but you started school in 2003 and you graduated in 2006 and a graduating class of 25?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Around there is about ...
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Howard:
|
Congratulations for being on the first graduating class of a great sovereign professional of dental hygiene, because it's sad when you go to a country and all the dentists are so busy drilling and filling and extracting teeth and placing implants, that nobody is there preventing disease. It used to be that way in the United States where everyone was a dentist and there was a man by the name of Bob Barker who, in the '50s, was going around to all these little country side towns in America saying, "You need to have hygienists." They would say, "I'm so busy pulling everyone's teeth, making dentures, I don't have time for this hygienist stuff."
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|
What is it like being in the first graduating class? What percent of Singaporans understand the importance of getting their teeth cleaned by you every couple times a year, so they don't end up having this man pulling their teeth? What's that like?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Okay, generally, Singaporans are very health conscious, so when you're talking about prophylaxis, maintaining their oral hygiene, they're pretty on time. Every six months, they will actually call us and make an appointment but, because this profession is still very new in Singapore, we have old patients who are actually reluctant to see us because they are so used to seeing dentists.
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|
Most of the time, I will say maybe 60% of the time, they might request to see the dentist instead, because they may have been seeing the doctor for maybe 10-20 years and suddenly this new, young guy comes along. Some people, they are reluctant. They are more used to seeing the doctor. This profession, like I said, is still very new in Singapore. It's maybe about 10 years old, so I guess in every profession, it takes time for it to actually run well.
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Howard:
|
It would also be hard to build up your profession because, in Singapore, you're not allowed to advertise.
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yes. We are not.
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Howard:
|
There's 5.5 million people in Singapore and you're not allowed to go advertise, "Hey, I'm an oral health therapist," so how do you educate Singapore people? Just one at a time?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yes, basically, one at a time and basically the dentist has to come forward to tell the patients that we as therapists are here to do the simple stuff, basically cleaning, checkups, x-rays, and then we will refer the relevant cases to the doctors, so the doctors play a very important part in this as well.
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Howard:
|
What's also hard for what you do is, in United States, Canada, Australia, England, the insurance would be paying for the cleaning 100%, but here in Singapore, you have to get the person to pay for it out of pocket. That's a much greater challenge. How is that challenge? How much do you charge for a cleaning?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Typically rates, we go between 60 to 80.
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Howard:
|
60 to 80 Singaporan dollars?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
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Howard:
|
Right now, a dollar US is about a buck fifty ...
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Dr. Beng:
|
1.4.
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|
Howard:
|
1.4?
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Dr. Beng:
|
Yeah.
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Howard:
|
You're charging 60 to 80. Yeah, so congratulations.
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Dr. Phua:
|
Thanks.
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Howard:
|
I didn't go to school to become a dentist to pull someone's teeth and give them denture, I wanted to prevent disease, not treat disease. You're at the forefront of prevention, whereas I feel as dentists are at the forefront of drilling, filling, extracting, so that's just amazing.
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|
You had the foresight ... You're a pioneer in your own right. You're a young dentist.
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Dr. Phua:
|
I'm not that young, but young enough.
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Howard:
|
I'm 53. How old are you?
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Dr. Phua:
|
I'm 40.
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Howard:
|
You're 40?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yep.
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Howard:
|
Asians don't age. I've already figured that out coming to this country.
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Dr. Phua:
|
Thank you.
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Howard:
|
You go to England and Ireland, people look their age.
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Dr. Phua:
|
Okay.
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Howard:
|
You come to Asia, nobody looks their age.
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Dr. Phua:
|
I guess so. I guess it's the food.
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|
Howard:
|
It's the food?
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yeah.
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Howard:
|
I need to switch to an Asian diet then. You're a real pioneer in so many ways.
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
Thank you.
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|
Howard:
|
Congratulations on hiring one of the first hygienists to graduate in your country. What is it like ... You have six offices?
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Dr. Phua:
|
I do. I do.
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Howard:
|
What's that like in Singapore?
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Dr. Phua:
|
It's a challenge, but at the same time it's very fulfilling, because I get to run my practices the way I want it to be. It's challenging because in Singapore, there's always, like you mentioned earlier, we can't advertise, so that's always ... We have to work really hard trying to do our own word of mouth branding and marketing and stuff like that and build our patient base. This challenge is ongoing and trying to educate the patients at the same time by asking our hygienist to help us do the prevention, so that we can reserve our time to help fix all the diseases, to restore the patients who have broken dentition and stuff like that. Yeah, it's ongoing.
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Howard:
|
When the Minister of Health says you can't advertise, what exactly can you not do? They always say there's ways around every law. What can you not do?
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Dr. Phua:
|
You can't advertise and say you provide this services and show before and after. You can't promise certain kind of results, the potential results. You can't show them that if you do whitening, you get white teeth. You can't show before and after. You can't guarantee them that you get certain kind of results by doing certain procedures. There are a lot of restrictions when it comes to advertising.
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|
You can't send out flyers to advertise. You can't display photos on your website. There are a lot of restrictions, so basically it's more to protect the patients. They don't want the professionals to over-promise and under-deliver, so it's more the Minister of Health protects the patients, protects the public.
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Howard:
|
But Coca-Cola, Pepsi, McDonald's and KFC, they can advertise all day long.
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Dr. Phua:
|
Yeah. Yes, that's right.
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Howard:
|
That McDonald's sells quality food.
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Dr. Phua:
|
That's the thing. It's also very interesting because, even for simple things like teeth whitening, we can't advertise, we can't educate the public through the normal social media channels, but you have those beauty salons doing teeth whitening in their salons, in their spas, and they're not bound by any regulations. There's no control. They do not have any dentist to check. It's always a little bit of conflict, so we are trying to work with the Ministry. It's a long road ahead.
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Howard:
|
If you can't do those types of advertisings, how do you compensate that? Do you have to have better locations or you have more visible locations? What are the workarounds?
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Dr. Phua:
|
It's always challenging because you can't always have the better locations because of cost. The better locations will cost a lot more and there's always a ... Singapore is a small country and size ... You can't get big offices like in the States because every square foot costs a lot. You compensate by trying to build up our practice by word of mouth and through every little forms of marketing we can do within the clinic, internal, and as much as possible just trying to make our website a little bit more attractive and trying to reach out to more people through the social medial channels within the regulations of the Ministry, of course.
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Howard:
|
Here, website, SEOs, search engine optimization, Google Adwords, Facebook ads, that would be ...
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
That's the normal right now. For most clinics, they are all jumping on the social media, Internet bandwagon and trying to utilize all these SEOs and stuff like that.
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|
Howard:
|
I find it amazing that the city is only 50 km by 25 km, so it only takes 45 minutes to drive across the whole country with 5.5 million people.
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
That's right.
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|
Howard:
|
It's just a beautiful country.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Thank you.
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|
Howard:
|
Why do you have six offices? What's all that about? Do you have a dentist working at each office?
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
I have a few dentists working at each office.
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|
Howard:
|
You have two dentists?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Two to four dentists.
|
|
Howard:
|
At each office?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes. That's right.
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|
Howard:
|
You're quite the dental magnate to be ... You're 40 years old, you said?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yeah, 40 years old. Yes.
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|
Howard:
|
40 years old, six offices. How many dentists work for you?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I have 12.
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|
Howard:
|
Are these partners or employees?
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
I have one more partner and the rest are associates, employees.
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|
Howard:
|
Employees. You were a partner with one?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
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|
Howard:
|
That must be your wife?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No. I try not to mix work and family, so my wife's an orthodontist.
|
|
Howard:
|
Really?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
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|
Howard:
|
She doesn't work for you?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No, no. She works for me, but she's not a partner. I don't want her to be a partner because I don't want to bring work back home.
|
|
Howard:
|
Wow, so your wife is your employee?
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|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yeah, my wife's my employee. My partner is just my buddy, my classmate, whom I graduated with, so we started the first and we just build on from there.
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|
Howard:
|
Was your wife your classmate in dental school too?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No, she's not. She is one year junior. One year younger than me.
|
|
Howard:
|
You didn't meet her in dental school?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I met her in dental school. She was one year younger than me. Yeah, from then ...
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|
Howard:
|
In the States, they say 30% of the women married a dentist in the class and in Singapore, I had dinner with a couple of women dentists. They said it was 20% in Singapore. Is that about what you ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
That's about right.
|
|
Howard:
|
That's about right, 1 in 5?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
1 in 5.
|
|
Howard:
|
Well played. That's my only regret in dental school is that I didn't marry one of my classmates. That would have been such a wiser move. I can't say that out loud because my son, Ryan, is filming the podcast and I don't want him to hear those are my thoughts about his mother.
|
|
|
You also got into placing implants?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
That's right.
|
|
Howard:
|
Is that a fast-growing thing? What's the implant market like in Singapore?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I don't have exact figures, but it's growing. It's fast growing.
|
|
Howard:
|
Is it mostly elder people that lost their teeth from gum disease? Is it mostly 1, 2, 3 placement from younger people who just lost one tooth? What is the typical market?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
For the past 10 years or so, the majority of the cases are always the elderly patients who lost quite a number of teeth and we just try to replace them, do implants to support the dentures and trying to do some implants to support the bridges and stuff like that. Plenty of implants to sync, but now we are seeing more and more single-tooth implants coming in from the younger patients who lost their teeth through accidents, sports or even just from one isolated case of [crosstalk 00:12:37].
|
|
Howard:
|
Sports. I thought the number one sport in Singapore is badminton and table tennis. How do you lose a tooth from table tennis?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No, they lost it during sports when schooling days, when you're younger.
|
|
Howard:
|
It's Indonesia who's number one in badminton, right?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Indonesia is, yes. They're very strong in badminton. Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
Singapore is very strong in table tennis?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes, in southeast Asia, we are strong in table tennis.
|
|
Howard:
|
No one ever lost a tooth from table tennis?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No.
|
|
Howard:
|
Okay. Basically, what you're saying, the older people lost their teeth from gum disease?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
The younger people [crosstalk 00:13:15].
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
One single tooth.
|
|
Howard:
|
Single tooth. I know you're a big Megagen fan.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I am.
|
|
Howard:
|
What percent of the implants you place are Megagen?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
90.
|
|
Howard:
|
90? Why is that?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Easy to use, great support from the sales staff. I have great results with Megagen. After a while, when the system is easy to use, you have great results, you just stick to it. It's continued education and I always attend symposiums and conferences and workshops overseas, so I find that there's continuity in the support. It's good.
|
|
Howard:
|
When you say support, Ryan, the one thing I'm always seeing is that when people buy implants on price and they buy them at the lowest cost and they don't have a human friend element, those types of people never seem to place very many implants. Whenever I see someone placing 100 implants a year, it seems like the most valuable thing to them is the support. They know a human, a friend in the implant company and I think that's just the final straw that just gets it done, because all those people who have a friend seem to be placing 100 a year. Everybody that doesn't have that friend, for some reason, just never reaches critical mass and they just don't seem to be big placers of implants.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Good points. Yep. That's right. That's what I notice among my friends as well. Those who place a lot of implants, usually they have great support of someone in the dental implant company who provides that friendship and that kind of clinical and non-clinical support. You need someone to help you link up with other people to help you look at a case and to link up with other people around the world, other surgeons, other implant dentists around the world to help you improve. You want to improve.
|
|
Howard:
|
You're not old enough to remember the dot com bubble but, between '93 and 2000 ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I was old enough.
|
|
Howard:
|
Do you remember that?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes, yes I do.
|
|
Howard:
|
It was funny because about a dozen dental companies were going public that were all going to sell you supplies over the Internet and every single one of them went under. The reason it went under is, I called it, I went with Dental Town in '98. I went with the community where people could talk to each other in online [inaudible 00:15:42]. I didn't go for the selling supplies, because I had my own dental office. I thought, well that lady who comes in once a week, that's my only link to the outside world and I'm not going to trade her in for 10% off gauze.
|
|
|
I was always like, "Well, what file is my endodontist buddy, Brad Gettleman using," or, "What is my buddy, Tim Taylor, what is he cementing his crown with," or, "What is Tom [Manard 00:16:08] using?" That link, that human, I called it, I said, "I can't go without mine," and it turned out no one else wanted to go without theirs, because nobody's buying their supplies online and everybody's still buying from a human.
|
|
|
That's the point I'm trying to make on this podcast is that, the dentists who buy from a local ... Like [Tirune Ageral 00:16:28], my friend, he buys high-cost, noble biocare and he says, "I don't care about the cost. It's my buddy." He says, "I place 1000 a year, I need my buddy," and he doesn't really care what his buddy sells. You're saying support's big?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yep.
|
|
Howard:
|
Your wife is an orthodontist. What's the ortho market like in Singapore? Is it more just kids only? Is it just for girls? Is it adults?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Right now, speaking on her behalf, there's still plenty of children, plenty of kids. Of course we are seeing adult patients but, right now, what we notice is the adult patients are shifting from ceramic braces to Invisalign. She's still seeing a lot of kids. In Singapore, I guess because they are less ... The size of the families are getting smaller as in every married couple is having fewer kids because it's just an Asian trend.
|
|
|
When you have fewer kids, you can devote more resources and provide and make sure that all the kids have braces. I think more parents are aware, in Singapore right now, so they are spending, willing to spend on their kids and willing to improve the small, correct the alignment, stuff like that. We see a lot of kids. Whereas adults, they also time, maybe 5 to 6 years ago, maybe 7 years ago, when there were a lot of adult patients, but slowly we see that they shift to Invisalign because Invisalign now is coming on very strong and they are having pretty good results and their marketing is really, really strong and branding is really strong.
|
|
|
A lot of adult patients are switching to Invisalign, so we are seeing less adult patients now.
|
|
Howard:
|
Does your wife do mostly fixed brackets and braces on children?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Fixed, on children.
|
|
Howard:
|
Then mostly removal clear liners like Invisalign on adults?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes, that's right.
|
|
Howard:
|
The kids seem to like the ortho because they still like the colorful rubber bands or ... I mean the fixed braces. They don't care about ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No, I would say that, it's just that Invisalign is a lot more expensive in Singapore. I don't know how much they charge in the US, but it's always easily double or close to double the price of fixed braces for kids, so most parents, while they're willing to spend, they're unwilling to splurge.
|
|
Howard:
|
Let's take a 12-year-old girl in Singapore. Would she rather have fixed braces with different color rubber bands or would she rather have removable Invisalign, if everything costs the same?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I think most 12-year-old girls would go for Invisalign.
|
|
Howard:
|
Most 12-year-old girls ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
If everything is the same, cost is the same, the speed or duration of treatment is the same, I'm sure they'd go for the Invisalign, the clear liners.
|
|
Howard:
|
Just so they could take it out?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
It's not as ... While the colorful rubber bands are attractive in a certain way, a lot of them do not like the metal [inaudible 00:19:35] have something that sticks on their teeth. We do see a lot of kids asking about Invisalign, but when the cost comes in, there's always a setback. There's always a deterring factor.
|
|
Howard:
|
What do you think's going on in your sauce to where ... The average dentist has probably 25% work somewhere else, the other 75% might have their own office. How did you get to six? What made you get to six offices? Do you think just born more ambitious or ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
No, it's not ...
|
|
Howard:
|
What do you think's going on in your sauce that made you ... What's that all about?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I think it's just a case of not being able to say no, because when I first started my first office with my partner and then we have people asking to join us because we seem to be pretty happy doing what we are doing and there was space available. There were patients to be seen, so we said, "Okay, come join us." After that, more people asked us, "Hey, can we join you?" But we have not enough chairs, not enough space. What I told them, we said, "Okay, but we have not enough chairs so we set up another practice, another office to accommodate you, because you like what we do, the way we do things," so started from then. I still can't say no, so I'm still expanding because people are coming on board and we just say, "Okay, you like what we do, join us. Welcome aboard."
|
|
Howard:
|
You have six offices now.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
Do you have hygienists, or oral health therapists, in all the offices?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
I try to recruit but, like I mentioned earlier, it's quite challenging. Bernard is the guy who's doing really well, maybe because he's from a pioneer batch, so he's really experienced and he's able to convince the patients and we try to educate the patients, but a lot of other hygienists that I employed, I recruited, they do not have the patient base that Bernard has.
|
|
|
It's always challenging and as we spend a lot of time trying to educate our patients. At the same time, we try to encourage our hygienists, but some of them do get a little bit disappointed or dejected or demoralized if they don't see a lot of cases. There has to be a balance struck somewhere. We're still trying to recruit and boost up our hygienist count. It's a challenge. We do have hygienists join us, but usually after a year or two, they find that they don't keep their target number of patients a day, they feel they are not really being utilized properly, so they say, "Okay, let's try something else." They move on. Some do quit the profession totally.
|
|
Howard:
|
Are they oral therapists or are they in the dental schools?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
Are those ... You're a dentist, your wife is an orthodontist, you're an oral health therapist, you're a man, are the schools 50/50 boys/girls or ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
They're all 50/50, yeah, 50/50 for the local [crosstalk 00:22:46].
|
|
Howard:
|
For dental school and the oral health therapists?
|
|
Dr. Beng:
|
We started with more females but nowadays, it's about 50/50.
|
|
Howard:
|
It's about 50/50, men/women?
|
|
Dr. Beng:
|
Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
What is the state of ... I know Singapore has community water fluoridation. What is the state of composite versus amalgam? In Singapore, if 100 MOD fillings were placed, what percent would be composite? What percent would be silver fillings?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
If you're looking at the current trend, most of them would be I would say over 90% would be composite. In fact, the amalgams that were all placed in the past two decades, right now, all the new cases that most clinics, not just my clinics, but most clinics they would replace with composites. In fact, we are shifting to CAD/CAM Cerec stuff. A lot of clinics are moving towards CAD/CAM Cerec and they are moving away from composites.
|
|
|
They're trying to move away from composite, trying to move to Cerec and the amalgams are totally outdated. If you go and visit 100 clinics, 99 clinics would not even offer amalgam as an option. That's a trend.
|
|
Howard:
|
Is that a Singapore trend or go through the countries of southeast Asia, would that be the same ...
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Just a Singapore trend. I can't speak for southeast Asia like Malaysia and Indonesia, but in Singapore, all my peers ...
|
|
Howard:
|
Are amalgam free?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
They don't put in any more amalgams. No more amalgams for [crosstalk 00:24:17].
|
|
Howard:
|
You have six clinics. What percent of them have a Cerec machine?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Two of my clinics, so that's two out of six have Cerec. We have Planmeca. We [inaudible 00:24:28] [crosstalk 00:24:31].
|
|
Howard:
|
Oh, okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean Cerec. I meant CAD/CAM.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
CAD/CAM, yes. Two out of six have the CAD/CAM.
|
|
Howard:
|
It's Planmeca?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
Planmeca.
|
|
Howard:
|
Talk about that decision. There's Planmeca, which owns the Planmeca out of Helsinki, Finland which owns the E4D CAD/CAM out of Dallas, Texas.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
That's right. Yes.
|
|
Howard:
|
Then there's the German Sirona Systems. What made you go with Planmeca E4D?
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
The friend. The human friend. The friend.
|
|
Howard:
|
The friend. There you go.
|
|
Dr. Phua:
|
There you go. Provide great support, helps me solve all my problems, comes down to my office when I don't know what to do, I don't know how to do it better. Single phone call, he comes quickly, really quick, so it helps. You go for the one who comes out quick and who cares about you and your practice and your work. That's important.
|
|
Howard:
|
It's funny because it doesn't matter what business you're in, the people who build relationships always win and the people who build houses or teeth or construction ... My boys, they're mom's brothers had a construction company and they built one of the biggest construction companies in the world. Key Construction in Kansas, there's no new technology. It's just that they're absolutely build relationships. They stand behind all their work. If there's any problems, they came back and they did customer service better than anybody in Kansas and they built the largest construction company.
|
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You went with E4D because you have a relationship, because the computer two milling components isn't the issue. It's probably the block's not the issue. What's to do with the issue is the relationship.
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Dr. Phua:
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That's right.
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Howard:
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Then I think what's neat is, since you don't have the drug of new patient advertising, direct mail to get addicted to getting all these tons of new patients, since you don't have that drug, you'll have to focus on keeping customers for life.
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Dr. Phua:
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That's right.
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Howard:
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You'll have to focus on listening to your patients and making each one of them happy, because you just can't go do another mailing and replace and get 100 new patients for all the 100 that left your business because you didn't listen to them. I think in the long run, not being able to advertise will probably be much better for you because you'll have to get all your basics. You'll have to get a A in ... It's like a football game, you've got to get an A in blocking and tackling and a catch and a pass and there's no easy fixes.
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Dr. Phua:
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There are not.
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Howard:
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Without advertising and you have to pay attention to each customer, each patient and treat each one like they want to be treated, that'll be what keeps you building a huge monster.
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Dr. Phua:
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Yes. You said it. That's right. It's always a challenge, so every customer is [crosstalk 00:27:23].
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Howard:
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Why do you like CAD/CAM though? Why do you like CAD/CAM? What does it offer you that ...
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Dr. Phua:
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No, basically it's why every dentist is going to CAD/CAM is we have a lot more control and, of course, it's supposed to be a lot better than composite. We are seeing the results.
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Howard:
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If you make the restoration in the mouth directly, you don't like the direct resin material?
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Dr. Phua:
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Yes.
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Howard:
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You would rather have it made indirectly out of the mouth because those materials you like better?
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Dr. Phua:
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Yes.
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Howard:
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You feel they're stronger?
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Dr. Phua:
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Stronger, that's right.
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Howard:
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What material are you ... Are you using E-Max? Are you using zirconium blocks? What are you using?
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Dr. Phua:
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Usually we use zirconium.
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Howard:
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Zirconium?
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Dr. Phua:
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Zirconium ... We are still trying to improve aesthetics. There's still a little bit of an issue.
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Howard:
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Yeah, and I never really thought it was an issue because when I'm sitting here talking to you two, you're not seeing my back teeth, I'm not seeing your back teeth. When I was your age, all those fillings were silver metal.
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Dr. Phua:
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That's right.
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Howard:
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Now that it's tooth colored and slightly different, I just don't see it.
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Dr. Phua:
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You're right, but us dentists, a lot of us have a little bit of OCD, so ...
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Howard:
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A little? A little?
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Dr. Phua:
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A little. Just a little.
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Howard:
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How about a little lot?
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Dr. Phua:
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Yeah, so when you put it in and you try to ... It's about you. The patient is not like, "Oh, it's look big. It's nice. It's solid. It's strong." For you, it's like, "Okay, I think it can be a bit better."
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Howard:
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What other things are popular in Singapore? Is teeth whitening popular?
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Dr. Phua:
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They are pretty popular but, I think because now we have so many other sources, like I said, a lot of beauty salons offering teeth whitening, it's not as [crosstalk 00:29:12].
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Howard:
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Walking around Singapore for the last three or four days ... Greg, sit up and show them your teeth.
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Dr. Phua:
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Nice.
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Howard:
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I haven't seen ... Your teeth are pretty white and you bleach yours a lot?
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Dr. Beng:
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No.
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Howard:
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You haven't bleached yours?
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Dr. Beng:
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No.
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Howard:
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Yours aren't that white, but I haven't seen very many bleached teeth in all of Singapore. I think you have the whitest teeth next to Greg. Let me see ... Yeah, you, yeah. You're saying it's still ... It's kind of popular?
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Dr. Phua:
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It's kind of popular because they are always attracted by a white smile. They tune into the media, all the celebrities have a white smile, so [inaudible 00:30:00] how do I put it, they do it, but they don't maintain. A lot of our patients have done whitening, bleaching, but they don't follow up. They don't do the maintenance.
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Howard:
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Is there any other technologies that you like, that you use in your offices, besides CAD/CAM, E4D from Planmeca?
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Dr. Phua:
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That's about it right now.
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Howard:
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That's about it? Megagen implants, E4D CAD/CAM. One last question, can you think of any differences in dentistry in Singapore versus, say your neighbor, Australia?
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Dr. Phua:
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They work less hours.
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Howard:
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The Australians?
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Dr. Phua:
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Yeah.
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Howard:
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What are your hours?
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Dr. Phua:
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Office open six days a week.
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Howard:
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What are your hours, from what to what?
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Dr. Phua:
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We have 9 to 9, 9 a.m. in the morning to 9 p.m. at night.
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Howard:
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Six days a week?
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Dr. Phua:
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Five days a week, then on Saturday, it's 9 to 6. Of course, we have all our doctors rotate, they are on a shift system, so everybody works about 4-1/2 days.
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Howard:
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What would the hours be in Australia?
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Dr. Phua:
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I think they only work three days.
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Howard:
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Three days?
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Dr. Phua:
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Three short days. Three 10 to 5.
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Howard:
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Yeah?
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Dr. Phua:
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Yeah. Something like that. That's not offensive.
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Howard:
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Yeah, so what do you think, do you think that's just a ...
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Dr. Phua:
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Education and basically the whole profession has to educate and then try to get more ... It's the whole industry and the Ministry as well. You're just trying to get people on board, go to insurance perhaps, so the people pay accordingly. Right now, a lot of patients in Singapore, they want to do better work, they want to do better restorations, but they can't afford because they pay out of pocket.
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When you have insurance and you can actually pay for better restorations, better prostheses, I think this is good. At the same time, when you educate and you can do a lot more, it's because more preventive, there's less need for a lot of [inaudible 00:32:12] do emergencies. The reason why we do such long hours is a lot of patients, they don't take leave to visit the dental office. They come after work and, a lot of time, we are still doing emergencies, like toothache, infections, stuff like that.
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I think if greater awareness, greater education, you bring that down. You make people more committed to dental health. They will take leave. They'll visit an office regularly. You have less emergencies, you don't need such long hours. Hygienists on board, you have hygienists who do all the preventive work, then a dentist do less restorative work. I think it's a win-win for all, hopefully.
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Howard:
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What do you think is better for the dental industry in Australia, where there's a lot of dental insurance paying for the dental procedures or Singapore where there's no dental insurance and it's all out of pocket?
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Dr. Phua:
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My personal opinion is that I think the dental industry in Australia is a lot better, because ...
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Howard:
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Because of dental insurance?
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Dr. Phua:
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Not so much. Dental awareness, because of dental insurance, it's everything encompassed together. With dental insurance, people realize the importance of good dental health. They are more committed in their preventive dental care on a daily basis and they are aware of, "Okay, we need to take care of our teeth. If not, there are lots of repercussions. It's going to be very costly." If you do that, I think it's a lot better.
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All my dental peers in Australia, they are saying when they see the dental patients that come in, it's more for big cases, big work. It's not always dealing with dental infections. I think that's good.
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Howard:
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My last question, sitting between these two handsome bald heads, are you going to go home and shave your head tonight to match the hygienist and dentist [crosstalk 00:34:09]? Don't you think he'd look better with his head shaved?
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Dr. Phua:
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I think I would look better, but I think my wife would kill me. No.
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Howard:
|
My last question to you is, I noticed you have decorative gold on your teeth. What are those ... Here, come forward. Are those all decorative?
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Dr. Beng:
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Yes. [crosstalk 00:34:32] teeth.
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Howard:
|
What are those called?
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Dr. Beng:
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Sorry?
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Howard:
|
What are they called?
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Dr. Beng:
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I guess they're called tooth gems.
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Howard:
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Tooth gems?
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Dr. Beng:
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Yeah.
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Howard:
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I think they look nice.
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Dr. Beng:
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Yeah, I think so too.
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Howard:
|
Do many people in Singapore [inaudible 00:34:45] have those?
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Dr. Beng:
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I think it was a trend but nowadays we seldom see it.
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Dr. Phua:
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It was a hit, again, about six or seven years ago, it was a hit, so a lot of people were coming in with crystals or even diamonds, real diamonds, and [inaudible 00:34:59] were bonded on. It was a trend and I'm not sure where it originated from. Maybe it was from Japan or Taiwan. There were a lot of folks, a lot of young ladies here and a lot of our young men here will pick up on such trends and they will appear trendy and they will do all this bonding stuff. Yeah, just bonded on.
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Howard:
|
The trend in America that's really hot is to get a big belly and that's why I'm just doing that as a trend. Okay, well thank you so much for your time.
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Dr. Phua:
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It's been my pleasure.
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Howard:
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Thank you very much.
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