SINGAPORE : Patients who visit the National Dental Centre of Singapore at the Singapore General Hospital can expect faster and better assessment from their dentists soon.
A new S$3.7 million system will replace physical records with an electronic system.
The electronic dental record system is the latest IT addition to the National Dental Centre of Singapore.
At its launch on Friday, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said he was pleased to see the Centre reach this major milestone.
He said: "I have been encouraging our hospitals and clinics to make better use of IT digitalised records, so that patients can benefit. I am just pleasantly surprised that the budget was not as big as I had feared...a few million dollars properly used can bring a lot of benefits."
With the electronic system, the dentist can assess critical information about patient.
This includes the patients' medical history, test results and drug allergies.
Dr Koh Chu Guan, senior consultant at the Periodontics Unit at the National Dental Centre of Singapore, said: "Patients often give us a very sketchy medical history. They say, 'I do not take this drug. I am not sure I went for this kind or that kind of surgery', and very often, these medical conditions that the patients have do affect our treatment.
"I can now get easier access into the shared medical records, to actually look back at the patients' records and see what the patients have gone through."
Dr Koh added that with the digital records, care can be better co-ordinated for patients who require multiple dental specialists.
He said: "The heartlands' medical side is thinking of an electronic dentals record exchange where perhaps information can be shared amongst dental clinics, amongst maybe polyclinics and GPs, certain critical information about patients."
The Centre, which sees over 150,000 patients a year, said the physical records also occupy a room measuring 440 square metres.
By going electronic, that space can make way for up to 15 consultation rooms.
