BETTER ACCESS TO SPECIALIST DENTAL CARE AND EXPANSION OF DENTAL EDUCATION WITH NEW NUHS NATIONAL CENTRE

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1 PRESS RELEASE 21 September 2015 Embargoed till 11am. BETTER ACCESS TO SPECIALIST DENTAL CARE AND EXPANSION OF DENTAL EDUCATION WITH NEW NUHS NATIONAL CENTRE The National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS) will provide the public with greater access to a wide range of specialist dental services. Singapore s only dental school will be housed in the new Centre, enabling NUS Faculty of Dentistry to expand its undergraduate intake. The co-location of education, clinical service and research facilities in one centre within NUHS paves the way for increased collaborative multi-disciplinary research. Singapore, 21 September 2015 Minister for Health, Mr Gan Kim Yong, officiated at the ground-breaking ceremony for the National University Health System s (NUHS) national centre for oral health today. When it opens in 2019, the National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore 1

2 (NUCOHS) will be NUHS third national specialty centre, joining the National University Heart Centre, Singapore and National University Cancer Institute, Singapore on the Kent Ridge Campus. Said Professor Tan Chorh Chuan, Chairman NUHS and President NUS: It will position us well to contribute significantly to make a major upward inflection in oral health and dental care in Singapore and beyond. He added: Firstly, the establishment of NUCOHS will provide the scale, depth and intensity necessary to achieve its tripartite mission of excellence in clinical care, research and education in dentistry and oral health. Secondly, its strategic location at the intersection of NUHS and NUS enables it to seamlessly tap the synergies across both entities. And finally, as NUHS third national specialty centre, NUCOHS will play a number of important roles including addressing emerging oral needs. Addressing Singapore s emerging oral health needs NUCOHS will be an integral part of the NUHS as it expands healthcare infrastructure and services to meet the evolving oral health needs of Singapore, especially in light of the ageing population. The new Centre will be equipped with patient-centric facilities to manage the oral health needs of elderly patients, as well as those with special needs and coexisting medical conditions rendering routine dental treatment that are more complex. All the treatment rooms will be wheel-chair accessible. Some of them will be specially designed and equipped with hoisting aids to assist patients, who are not physically mobile and who are on wheelchairs or beds, in their transfer to the dental chairs. Increased accessibility and co-ordinated care When fully operational, NUCOHS will have the capacity to see up to 500 patients a day a 40% increase from the current patient load. The new centre will provide increased access and care co-ordination for the public through a comprehensive range of dental services from general dentistry to subsidised specialist dental care. The Centre for Oral Health will also be well-poised to work closely with the rest of the NUHS medical departments to co-ordinate the care and management of patients with medical conditions such as cancer and 2

3 dementia. This will help patients receive convenient, one-stop holistic care at NUHS. Beyond Kent Ridge, there will be expanded continuity of care through collaboration between NUCOHS and the intermediate and long-term care facilities and home caregivers. At present, NUHS Dentistry is working with five nursing homes within the NUHS Regional Health System network to enhance their oral hygiene regimes and oral health care for their residents. The new Centre will see continued and expanded engagement with such nursing homes. NUCOHS will play a pivotal role in supporting the NUHS broader efforts to promote oral health and advocate its importance for overall wellbeing in the community. Larger undergraduate intake to experience technology-enhanced and community-based dental education NUS Faculty of Dentistry, Singapore s only dental school, will also be housed in the same building by August NUCOHS will be able to support an increased annual undergraduate intake from 54 currently to 80 students by It will nurture the next generation of oral health care professionals by leveraging on a combination of face-to-face and online, on-demand e-learning instructional pedagogies, said Associate Professor Grace Ong, Dean of the NUS Faculty of Dentistry and Chair of the University Dental Cluster. Undergraduates can look forward to more extensive and exciting use of innovative educational technology to complement the conventional methods of training and education. Virtual reality and interactive haptic simulations will be exploited to train the undergraduates in the fundamentals of clinical procedures such as fillings. Community-based clinical training will also be an important feature of the undergraduate curriculum. Taking the training beyond the campus will enhance the undergraduates exposure to the needs of the community and enable them to become more future-ready when they graduate. Siting the Faculty under one roof with its clinical services, the NUCOHS will also offer excellent training opportunities for its undergraduates and broaden their experience in emerging areas such as geriatric dentistry. This will allow the curriculum to become more adept in responding to local public health needs associated with the increasingly ageing population. 3

4 Fostering stronger research collaborations in dentistry, medicine, and public health The new Centre will expand its current research network in the field of oral-systemic health. Given the close relationship between the mouth and the rest of the body, the NUCOHS will champion research collaborations between oral health care professionals, medical and allied health colleagues from fields such as - nutrition, geriatrics, paediatrics and scientists. Such research synergies will have the potential impact of unlocking new paradigms for the management of health and wellness in the population especially among the young and the elderly. -Ends- For more information, please contact: Ms Dawn SIM Assistant Director, Communications Tel: dawn_sim@nuhs.edu.sg Ms Binny TAY Manager, Communications Tel: binny_tay@nuhs.edu.sg About the National University Health System (NUHS) The National University Health System (NUHS) groups the National University Hospital (NUH), the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, the NUS Faculty of Dentistry and the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health under a common governance structure to create synergies to advance health by integrating clinical care, research and education. The enhanced capabilities and capacity will enable the NUHS to deliver better patient care, train future generations of doctors more effectively and bring innovative treatments to patients through groundbreaking research. For more information about the NUHS, please visit 4

5 About National University of Singapore (NUS) A leading global university centred in Asia, the National University of Singapore (NUS) is Singapore s flagship university, which offers a global approach to education and research, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. NUS has 16 faculties and schools across three campuses. Its transformative education includes a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment. Over 38,000 students from 100 countries enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives. NUS has three Research Centres of Excellence (RCE) and 26 universitylevel research institutes and centres. It is also a partner in Singapore s fifth RCE. NUS shares a close affiliation with 16 national-level research institutes and centres. Research activities are strategic and robust, and NUS is well-known for its research strengths in engineering, life sciences and biomedicine, social sciences and natural sciences. It also strives to create a supportive and innovative environment to promote creative enterprise within its community. This year, NUS celebrates its 110th year of founding together with Singapore s 50th year of independence. As the island s first higher education institution established by the local community, NUS prides itself in nurturing generations of leaders and luminaries in Singapore and Asia. For more information on NUS, please visit Details on NUS 110th Anniversary celebrations are available at nus110.sg. About the NUS Faculty of Dentistry The NUS Faculty of Dentistry began as a Department of Dentistry within the King Edward VII College of Medicine in It was the first dental school to be established in a British colony in the East. The Faculty of Dentistry comprises 5 Disciplines Discipline of Prosthodontics, Operative Dentistry and Endodontics; Discipline of Periodontics; Discipline of Orthodontics and Paediatric Dentistry; Discipline of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery and Discipline of Oral Sciences and the Division of Graduate Dental Studies. Together, they strive to fulfill the Faculty s mission of 5

6 excelling in clinical care, research and education. Currently, the Faculty has an intake of 54 undergraduate students annually. The Faculty works closely with departments in the NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and other teaching hospitals and institutions across Singapore in healthcare delivery and education. It also partners departments in other faculties of the University, public institutions and private enterprises in multi-disciplinary research activities. For more information, please visit 6

7 ANNEX 1 - FACT SHEET National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore Located at the Kent Ridge Campus, the National University Centre for Oral Health, Singapore (NUCOHS) will be a one-stop centre that consolidates clinical services, education and research facilities under one roof. The new NUCOHS building will provide a broad range of services spanning the clinical areas of operative dentistry, prosthodontics, periodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, oral and maxillofacial surgery, paediatric dentistry and preventive dentistry for the general population. It will also feature patient-centric facilities for elderly patients as well as patients with special needs or medically complex conditions. In addition, the new building will cater to an increased annual undergraduate intake to train more dental professionals with an expanded teaching space and advanced simulation laboratories to promote leadingedge and experiential training and dental education. Building Gross Floor Area: Number of Floors: Clinical Facilities: Education/Research Facilities: About 34,000 sq metres of floor space 11-storeys with basement The infrastructure will support up to 500 patients per day. Facilities include: 86 Clinical Service Operatories (including 4 Special Needs and 2 Surgical Operatories) 150 Undergraduate/Graduate Training Operatories 26 Oral Health Therapist Training Operatories The infrastructure will support the training and education of up to 400 undergraduates and postgraduates. Facilities include: Breakout Rooms located within the clinical service floors Tutorial/Seminar Rooms Lecture Theatre Prosthetic Laboratory Dental/Haptic Simulation Laboratory Research Laboratory General Amenities: 217 public car park lots 7