Seamless treatments in Sri Lanka
Dr. Indika Weerapperuma is originally from Sri Lanka, but spent close to fourteen years in the United Kingdom studying dentistry and working as a dentist. Now, he has returned home to the Teardrop Island to help his mother’s dental clinic enter the digital world.
Dr. Indika has been a dentist for nearly 12 years. He graduated from the University of Bristol in 2008 and continued on to the University of Manchester where he was ultimately awarded a master’s degree in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics.
He originally became interested in dentistry for one simple reason – his mother was a dentist.
“The influence definitely came from home. I was never forced into it at all, but I gained a lot of insight and knowledge about the field already at a very young age. When the time finally came to choose a profession, I chose dentistry,” he illuminates.
Back home to the Teardrop Island
After spending so many years abroad, Dr. Indika recently returned home to Sri Lanka where he joined his mother’s dental clinic, Kinross Dental Care, in the country’s capital city of Colombo. Founded in 1982, it is one of the city’s longest-serving clinics.
“I am a prosthodontist by background, my mother is an orthodontist and my very good friend working at the clinic, Dr. Nadeena, is a maxillofacial surgeon. So we have a full team in-house and can deal with everything,” Dr. Indika explains.
The ability to provide comprehensive treatments is one of the key strengths of Kinross Dental Care. The clinic lives by a patient-centric approach and is proud to provide high quality care in an efficient manner.
“Nowadays, time is a premium resource. Be it clinicians, technicians or patients, everyone is tight for time. At our clinic, we try to make sure that the patient journey is as seamless and efficient as possible,” Dr. Indika comments.
“When a patient enters our clinic, they don’t need to go anywhere else for a scan. They can have everything done here – from orthodontics and prosthodontics to implant treatments and dental surgery,” he continues.
Faster recovery times
Kinross Dental Care already has a long history of excellence and Dr. Indika has further improved the clinic by guiding it into the digital age.
Planmeca entered the picture when Dr. Indika met some of the brand’s representatives in Sri Lanka and discussed the possibility of adding some of its equipment to the Colombo clinic. This ultimately led to the clinic recently acquiring a Planmeca ProMax® 3D Classic imaging unit that is also equipped with a cephalostat.
“The CBCT unit has completely transformed how we do our cases. It has made a huge difference to clinical work. The precision of treatment planning has improved. We can see the nerve’s position and the structure of the sinuses. This helps us create a very precise plan, there is no guess work,” he illuminates.
The benefits have not been limited to the treatments themselves, but also affect how well patients recover. The clinic has seen recovery times shorten significantly.
“The outcome of surgeries has improved especially in terms of patient recovery. We have seen the difference – patients stop taking painkillers within 12–16 hours after their surgery, whereas it used to be over 48 hours,” Dr. Indika reveals.
Like Apple – and Android
Perhaps the central reason Dr. Indika was drawn to Planmeca in the first place was the company’s ability to provide a full range of digital dental products and solutions. Just like Kinross Dental Care, Planmeca can offer everything needed.
“The most important thing I have discovered is that Planmeca offers a complete workflow for everything – from radiology to restorative and orthodontic treatments, as well as smile design. The company can offer a complete set-up for any clinic,” he states.
Another benefit of Planmeca’s overall solution is that it is simultaneously fully integrated and open, providing flexibility that is hard to match. Dr. Indika has come up with a nice analogy that captures the essence of both aspects.
“I often tell people I speak to that Planmeca is like Apple – its hardware and software are integrated and work really well together. But it also has the flexibility of Android in the sense that you can easily import and export data,” he summarises.
Next, Dr. Indika is looking to add Planmeca CAD/CAM equipment to his clinic. He recently visited Finland to attend the Nordic Institute of Dental Education’s course on CAD/CAM dentistry. This gave him a head start on embracing the technology.
“Coming here to Helsinki gave me so many new ideas and more insight on how things work and how things can work. It was the best decision I ever made,” he comments.
Copy: Daniel Purssila
Images: Dino Azinur and Kinross Dental Care
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