“Planmeca stands out with the level of customer service”

Aesthetic dentistry can help you achieve teeth and smile that are not only beautiful to look at but also beneficial for the overall health. Dr Nobuya Kitahara, one of the most acclaimed specialists in the field of dental aesthetics in Japan, has been working over 30 years to improve the oral health of the Japanese. To ensure the best possible treatment results, he relies on Planmeca products.

Dr Nobuya Kitahara, DDS, is a specialist in aesthetic restorative dentistry and prosthodontics. He runs the TEAM TOKYO Nobu Restorative Dental Office in the heart of Tokyo, near the famous Tokyo Station. Established in 2012, Dr Kitahara’s clinic was the first one in Japan to offer interdisciplinary dental care under one roof.

The clinic provides both private dental care and treatments covered by the National Health Insurance. The public side of the clinic focuses on general dentistry and the private side on multi-speciality dental treatments, such as orthodontics, endodontics and prosthodontics.

Health insurance system in Japan enables easy access to basic health care

Everyone living in Japan – both citizens and anyone residing in the country for over three months – is required by law to enrol in a health care insurance. According to Dr Kitahara, the advantage of the national health insurance system is that it is rather inexpensive, and it also covers dental care to a certain extent – that way everyone has access to at least basic dental care.

However, specialist treatments, including aesthetic dentistry, are excluded from the insurance coverage. This means people often seek dental treatment only by necessity; for example, when they have tooth ache or an inflammation, but not because of something that would require specialist treatments, such as correcting the bite or the alignment of teeth.

The conception of oral health and general health being intertwined is still somewhat new in Japan. “Japanese people have only recently started to comprehend that dental care is an essential part of their overall health,” Dr Kitahara explains. “In the past, dental health was not considered very important, and people often preferred taking medicine to having their tooth extracted, even if it was damaged or infected.” Nevertheless, Dr Kitahara says that this has lately began to change and people have also increasingly started to show interest in dental aesthetics.

Aesthetic dentistry is a holistic approach

Dr Nobuya Kitahara grew up in Singapore, and for someone coming from abroad, Japanese teeth looked misaligned and not adequately taken care of. “At least that was the image I had in my mind, and that was what made me want to become a dentist in the first place – so that I could contribute to improving oral health and dental care in Japan.”

Dr Kitahara graduated from Nihon University School of Dentistry at Matsudo, Japan, in 1989, and opened his own practice, Kitahara Dental Clinic, a few years later. He first worked as a general dentist but continued to have the passion for the aesthetic side of dentistry. In the early 1990s, this was not a widely known field of dentistry in Japan, and Dr Kitahara soon realised he needed to go overseas for further education. He attended lectures by some of the leading experts on aesthetic dentistry in the United States, and the more he learned, the more fascinated he became.
Aesthetic dentistry is often mistaken for merely a matter of cosmetics or appearance when, in fact, it is very much about accomplishing complete overall health benefits. Aesthetic dentistry aims to create the best outcome for the patient from an aesthetic, functional and biological perspective. This multi-disciplinary approach was something Dr Kitahara himself wanted to embrace, and he feels it’s a never-ending learning path – and that is what makes it so intriguing.

 Dr Nobuya Kitahara’s clinic, TEAM TOKYO Nobu Restorative Dental Office, provides multi-speciality dental treatments.

Change is constant – also in dentistry

During his 30 years in the field, Dr Nobuya Kitahara has witnessed the change in dentistry – in the attitudes of the Japanese towards oral health, but also in the equipment and materials dentists work with, as well as in the improved digital workflows. He is especially impressed with the recent innovations that have simplified the procedures in aesthetic dentistry.

“For example, if I want to renew a crown, I can just take a digital impression with an intraoral scanner, send the data to a lab, where they design the crown in a design software and fabricate the new crown with only a couple of clicks,” Dr Kitahara says. In addition to generating time and cost savings for both the patient and the dentist, taking impressions digitally instead of using dental casts or models enhances patient comfort and improves the precision of procedures.

When it comes to keeping up with the rapidly evolving industry, Dr Kitahara believes in lifelong learning. He has been a member of the Society of Japan Clinical Dentistry (SJCD) study group for 25 years. Founded and led by Dr Masao Yamazaki, SJCD is Japan’s largest study group with approximately 3,000 members. Dr Kitahara feels that, for him, joining a study group has been the key to adopting modern technologies and ways of working as it may sometimes be hard for a clinician to find the time to follow the latest research and developments in the field.

Planmeca state of mind

Dr Kitahara has been using Planmeca products for nearly 20 years, and the first device he acquired was a panorama X-ray unit. It was only later on that he became familiar with Planmeca’s entire product range. He currently works with the state-of-the-art Planmeca Viso™ G7 CBCT unit and the Planmeca Romexis® software platform that form the backbone of his practice. “The Romexis software is simply amazing with all its features and functionalities,” he states. “I’m sure it will be even more popular among Japanese dentists in the near future.”

What differentiates Planmeca from other dental equipment manufacturers, according to Dr Kitahara, is the level of customer service. He is satisfied with the high-quality and innovative products and appreciates the sleek and elegant design of the devices, but what was truly a game changer for him was seeing how dedicated the Planmeca personnel is. “I had the chance to visit Planmeca headquarters in Helsinki a few years ago, and I can only say that the company has wonderful people! Everyone is so friendly and considerate, and I feel they really listen to the customers.” He also says he immediately felt at home in Finland. “Maybe it’s because of the similarities of Finnish and Japanese people – both are humble and a bit shy.”

Dr Kitahara speaks highly of Mr Heikki Kyöstilä, the CEO and founder of Planmeca, and the staff at the company headquarters in Finland but is equally content with the local Planmeca office in Japan. “The staff at Planmeca Japan, led by Mr Hideki Yamamoto, are working very hard to promote Planmeca products, and I think they are doing an excellent job as more and more Japanese dentists are beginning to know Planmeca.” With so much accomplished in only a couple of years after the establishment of Planmeca’s local distribution office, Dr Kitahara is convinced that it is only a matter of time before Planmeca will be the number one brand in the Japanese dental market.

Copy: Hanna Lipiäinen
Images: Bunsaku Nakagawa

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. Headquartered in Helsinki, Finland, Planmeca’s products are distributed in over 120 countries worldwide. With a strong commitment to pioneering innovations and design, it is among the largest privately held companies in the dental field. Planmeca Oy is part of the Finnish Planmeca Group, which operates in healthcare technology. The Group achieved a revenue of MEUR 744 in 2020 and employs over 2,900 people worldwide.
www.planmeca.com