Digital dentistry in marvellous Mauritius
Dr Patrice Yan Luk and Dr Ashvin Toofanny, two orthodontists from the beautiful island of Mauritius, are both longtime users of Planmeca solutions and have been among the pioneers in their country in adopting the latest dental technologies.
Mauritian orthodontist Dr Patrice Yan Luk, like many of his compatriots, received his dental education in France through a scholarship program.
“We do not have a faculty of dentistry in Mauritius, so most of my colleagues have studied abroad: in France, England, India, Germany, Australia, or Ukraine, to name a few. So we all returned to Mauritius with different ideas and influences from all over the world, but at the same time, the global trend of digitalisation is very strong here, just like everywhere else, and the dental world is changing rapidly,” he says.
With a population of 1.2 million, there are only around 400 dentists in Mauritius, and just a handful of orthodontists.
Dr Yan Luk has been working as an orthodontist in Mauritius for the past 30 years and has a practice in the town of Rose Hill, where he works with three dental assistants.
In 30 years, patient expectations have changed dramatically, as patients have become more aware of their options.
“Patients are looking for performance and they want treatments to be efficient and fast. They also pay attention to the equipment used – as they enter, they do notice if the environment and the equipment used are modern or not. Having Planmeca equipment helps to make a good impression – it looks modern, and you can see that it’s easy to maintain and keep clean. And of course, my patients love the Planmeca chair: ‘I’m just going to stay here a little longer,’ is what they often tell me quite spontaneously,” Dr Yan Luk laughs.
One of the pioneers in dental imaging in Mauritius
When Dr Yan Luk opened his practice in the 1990s, there was only one medical clinic in Mauritius that could offer panoramic and cephalometric images (on film) commonly used in orthodontics. However, he was not satisfied with the quality of the images provided and began to learn about dental equipment himself.
“I was reading a dental magazine and happened to spot an ad by Planmeca. I sent a fax to their office in Helsinki to ask for brochures and prices. They sent me some brochures and I found their solutions very interesting, as they provided the possibility to go digital. I asked for an offer but was told that there was no one representing Planmeca in Mauritius – this was in 1998 – and therefore, they couldn’t offer technical support on the island. But after some negotiations, they finally agreed to send me my first 2D X-ray unit, which I ended up installing myself. It worked fine for many years, and in 2011, I replaced it with a cone-beam. Over the years, I have also acquired two dental units, an intraoral scanner and as my most recent purchase, the Planmeca Viso® imaging unit from the company,” he enumerates.
Even though Dr Yan Luk mostly relies on panoramic and cephalometric images, he uses CBCT for surgery and for identifying and treating impacted teeth, for example. He uses the Romexis® software for several purposes: as an imaging software, an archiving system for intraoral scans and scanned dental models, and as an analysis tool. The Romexis® Cloud image transfer service is used for consultations with dental colleagues. He is also interested in exploring the possibilities of the X-ray unit integrated Planmeca ProFace® face photo option to support treatment planning.
Patient care above all else
With Mauritius being geographically quite isolated, Dr Yan Luk wanted for a long time to keep all his devices separate from each other, so that in case of technical issues, he could always find a solution.
“However, after my visit to Planmeca’s headquarters in Helsinki in 2014, and with the help of the company’s Area Export Manager Mr Kare Hanttu, I started to adopt a different way of working, moving towards more complete solutions. And indeed, I have always received the necessary support from Planmeca when it comes to updates and repairs, which is crucial when using high-tech equipment on an island situated in the middle of the Indian Ocean,” he says.
Dr Yan Luk points out that with the healthcare services offered in Mauritius still being quite limited, he aims to do the maximum for each patient himself.
“I really can’t say to my patients, ‘I’ll just refer you to someone else.’ We can’t send our patients to medical centres, for example, it doesn’t work like that here. We need to be able to work it out by ourselves, no matter how difficult the case.”
Finding the right partner
All in all, Dr Yan Luk is happy to have found the right partner in Planmeca and feels that all the sales advice and technical support he has received from his longtime contact person Kare Hanttu have been beneficial.
“My relationship with Planmeca has been a special one, spanning nearly a quarter of a century. I have been a first-hand witness of Planmeca’s dedication to continuous innovation and improvement in the dental field. Just as the practice of orthodontics has gone beyond ‘wires and pliers’, dental equipment has become so much more than just the dental chair. I feel lucky to have found a company that can supply a complete line of equipment and digital solutions with which my practice can grow,” Dr Yan Luk concludes.
Dr Patrice Yan Luk
“When it comes to imaging, Planmeca is by far the best”
Like Dr Yan Luk, Mauritian orthodontist Dr Ashvin Toofanny moved to France to be able to study dentistry.
“I wanted to become a specialist. Back then, the only dental specialty that existed was orthodontics, so that’s what I ended up studying. And I started to love the field by practicing it and by learning more and more about it,” Dr Toofanny says.
After spending over a dozen years in France, he returned to Mauritius where he has been working for 20 years now. He has two practices – one in the island’s capital Port Louis and another one in the town of Quatre Bornes. He works in both locations as the only dentist and has six dental assistants.
When he returned to Mauritius from France, Dr Toofanny bought second-hand Planmeca equipment to set up his own practice. The equipment ended up being used for a total of 25 years, which convinced Dr Toofanny of its quality and durability.
In the late 2010s, when he wanted to digitise his practice, he was trying to determine which company could offer him the best service.
“Planmeca is one of the few companies in the world that can offer the whole range from hardware to software, from dental chairs to 2D and 3D units, CAD/CAM solutions and 3D printers. I wanted to work with a company that could master the whole chain. Also, when it comes to imaging, Planmeca is by far the best,” Dr Toofanny says.
You can only treat what you can see – so you need a good imaging unit
Dr Toofanny travelled to Helsinki in 2019 to visit Planmeca and just “fell in love with all the products,” he says. His clinic is now a true Planmeca dream clinic, with everything from a 3D printer and intraoral scanner to a CBCT and panoramic unit being used for treatments.
The brains behind all the equipment is, of course, the Romexis software. “It is a platform that allows you to manage the whole chain. It is an excellent tool for storing all information. I use it for intraoral scans, X-ray images and pictures of my patients – it’s a platform,” he says.
To support orthodontic treatment planning, and especially for the imaging of impacted teeth, Dr Toofanny acquired the Planmeca ProMax® 3D imaging unit. “It is an indispensable tool for me, and its simplicity is just extraordinary,” he says.
Dr Toofanny also offers imaging services to his ENT colleagues, who are always happy to get the complete picture in a single view.
The patients, he says, are impressed when they see a 3D image. “When I show them in 3D what can be done, what needs to be removed, what can be seen, they are always fascinated. In medicine, you can only treat what you see. If you can’t see what needs to be treated, you can’t treat it,” he concludes.
Dr Ashvin Toofanny
Copy: Hanna Korlin
Images: Courtesy of Dr Patrice Yan Luk and Dr Ashvin Toofanny
Planmeca Oy and Planmeca Group
Planmeca Oy is one of the world's leading dental equipment manufacturers, with a product range covering digital dental units, CAD/CAM solutions, world-class 2D and 3D imaging devices and comprehensive software solutions. Privately owned and headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, the company offers a portfolio of products distributed in over 120 countries worldwide. Planmeca Oy is part of the Finnish Planmeca Group, which consists of several healthcare technology brands, each committed to innovation and design. With 4,500 employees worldwide, Planmeca Group companies achieved a combined pro forma turnover of EUR 1.2 billion in 2021.
www.planmeca.com
Tags:
