The Vision Asian Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry (AAAD)

I got the first issue of Dental Forward Magazine last month at the 17th AAAD biennial congress in Sri Lanka, and the Editor in Chief Dr. Nurul and The Dental Academy Malaysia’s CEO Mr. Kavin Sothirasan have generously sponsored the magazine for the regeistration pack for the attendees. Unlike traditional dental journals or newsletters, I found this magazine is very interesting, full of various updated dental information, viewpoints, clinical tips …, not boring at all! Therefore, it is a great honor for me being invited by Dr. Nurul to talk about my visions during the two years term (2024-25) as AAAD president.

Following the elevation of economics over the world, dental treatment is no longer limited to disease control and functional rehabilitation, but esthetic results are more
anticipated by the patients. Asian Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry was therefore founded in 1990 to respond to the trends, and the first scientific meeting was also held on the same year in Singapore.

One of the objectives was the promotion of education of aesthetic dentistry to local dentists in Asia, and to this end, there has been biennial meeting once every two years for scientific meeting at various locations in Asia. Renowned international speakers and promising speakers from member Academies were invited to share their knowledge and experiences to the attendees.

Currently, we have 11 countries 13 Academy members, and they are Bangladesh, Cambodia, India (2 academies), Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Philippine,Singapore, Sri Lanka (2 academies) and Taiwan.

The newly elected executive council member are :

It has been 33 years since AAAD was founded till now, and the spatiotemporal environment has been somewhat different from our past. At that time, there were no internet, no social media, no online meetings, only limited books or journals with the information or knowledge on aesthetic dentistry that took years to be published. The AAAD’s biennial meetings with various invited speakers bringing most updated contents were quite welcomed in each member Academies. In recent years, new academical and clinical information can be obtained very soon through internet or activities held by local academies, the role of an international academy seems to become weaker.

However, dentists are still eager for face-to-face communication and on-site workshop learning. As the new president, I think my major missions are not only to carry out our leading traditions forward, but also to create innovative steps to face the fast-changing dental industry and gain the recognition of AAAD’s value from either current or potential new members.

The traditional missions:

In addition to increase the friendships among members internationally, the president needs to hold a scientific conference with his/her country academy in the 2 years term. This time, Taiwan Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry (TAAD) will host the meeting with the main theme “Being Legendary” on November 29th to December 2nd, 2024, in Taipei. In the first day, TAAD invites 12 top-level member speakers to compose the “Taiwan Stars’ Showcase Day”. On Nov. 30th, AAAD member Academies will provide distinguished speakers respectively to share clinical experience as “Asian Stars’ Showcase Day”.

Professor Joseph Kan of United States, a very renowned speaker with outstanding research and clinical background, is invited to give a full day lecture on his most updated topics to the attendees as the “International Star Day” on Dec. 1st. He will also provide a hands-on workshop the next day. It would be a great chance to meet Asian friends as well as speakers, but also to explore Taiwan that you may not understand well before. Please visit our website (https://www.18aaad30taad.org/) for more information. We earnestly look forward to seeing you soon in Taipei.

The new attempts:

I hope to promote our member Academies to invite their domestic or international dental enterprises to joint AAAD as partnership. The AAAD can provide a platform for partner companies to invite their speakers to give esthetic dentistry related online lectures to AAAD members 2 to 3 times a year. If this model works, there are several benefits for each party in the virtuous cycle:

1. Dentist members of AAAD can get firsthand or updated information from the online lecture faster without going abroad,
2. The speakers can elevate his or her reputation in Asia, and have more chances to be invited,
3. The partner companies can increase the visibility of their products or services to Asian dentists with relatively low advertisement fees.
4. Current member Academies can do more frequent devotion to AAAD activities (not waiting every 10 to 20 years to host a meeting) and then attract more potential new Academies to join.
5. AAAD herself can both raise the function of the original mission as an educational platform to connect all related parties and have more economical support from the partner companies and new members.

There are various social media platforms in the market like Facebook, Instagram, etc., and AAAD has a Facebook group page too.

Facebook: Asian Academy of Aesthetic Dentistry ( AAAD)
Instagram: @aaad.dentistry

To attract some discussions with the clinicians and to increase awareness from other parties/individuals and among dentists who are interested in esthetic dentistry, case sharing will also be done by TAAD’s speakers in our 2024 Conference, which then would bring more interaction and visibility for AAAD.

Aesthetic dentistry is an ultimation of all fields in dentistry, from basic dental /periodontal health to comprehensive multidisciplinary treatment, and there are so many details that worth of lifetime learning. AAAD hopes to have improvement little by little as a platform or a bridge for Asian dentists because of our nearer anthropological, geographical, and historical background. I also look forward to hearing from you with any kind of suggestions (email: jrhu5168@gmail.com). Thanks a lot for all the supports from you.