Says CEO Kang of the MINISH Dental Hospital at an interview with The Korea Post media
By Vice-Chairperson Joy Cho with Reporter Paul Kim
In 2020 when COVID-19 hit the world, the medical community is facing a serious challenge that is terrifying. Nevertheless most experts agree that the average life ex¬pectancy is already 100years. It is be¬cause we are entering an era where we can restore human body part such as artificial heart and artificial joints to their original form through advanced technologies such as biomimetic tech¬nology, 3D printing and bio printing. A variety of studies are under way to restore body parts throughout the medical age group in the dental field. The Korea Post met a Korean company (MINISH) that is growing unrivaled with natural dental restoration solu¬tions.
“Health and beauty of teeth are the best when they are in harmony,” CEO Kang Jung-ho of the MINISH Dental Hospital in Seoul said at a recent in-terview with The Korea Post media, publisher of 3 English and 2 Korean news publications since 1985.
Speaking at the interview, CEO Kang said, “Being able to laugh is confidence. We can say that teeth are also a source of confidence. The most important thing to avoid is damage to your teeth for aesthetic reasons. Besides, if the treatment damages the aesthetic of the teeth, then it should be considered as well.”
Noting that MINISH dental hospital is working with VITA in Germany, the world's largest dental material compa¬ny, to jointly develop MINISH blocks tailored to individuals in a milling method, CEO Kang said, “To help you understand the milling method, it's a sculpture. It is the most stable meth¬od, away from the plastic method and casting method used to produce dental prosthetics. It is also a treatment that minimizes damage to teeth.”
CEO Kang said, “Our own dental labs, including state-of-the-art medical equipment such as 3D mouth scanners and CAD/CAM systems, help reduce the scope of medical errors, enable more systematic, precise and rapid treatment.”
At this juncture, one might won¬der what the name of the hospital, MINISH means. MINISH contains the philosophy of CEO Kang. MINISH is the name of a natural dental resto¬ration solution and is also a corporate brand of experts who are always con¬cerned about dental and oral health.
‘M’ stands for ‘Minimal’ which is reflected in many phases of work and operation where damage or harm is re¬duced to the minimal extent possible.
CEO Kang says: “Every possible ways and means are explored and used to insure the health and safety of the teeth and it is one of our key mot¬to!”
‘I’ represents ‘Invasion’ which CEO Kang tries to prevent through the use of maximum extent of effort possible.
‘N’ means ‘Natural’ and here CEO Kang emphasizes that treatment of the teeth should be done in a way to insure the maximum extent of promot¬ing and ensuring the natural look of the teeth in harmony with the facial features of the clientele.
The second ‘I’ is for ‘Image’ which, in the context of the Korean language favorably corresponds to the meaning of ‘Impression” which, CEO Kang con¬siders to be very important.
Then comes ‘S’ which here is used to represent ‘Success’ or ‘Successful’ intended to connote the determination on the part of the dentists at the Hos-pital as well as CEO Kang himself to succeed in providing the cliente with the maximum extent of satisfaction.
The last initial, ‘H,’ stands for ‘Health” which CEO Kang and the doctors at the Hospital try to insure for the patients and clientele visiting his hospital.
The following are excerpts from the interview with MINISH dental hospital CEO Kang Jung-ho:
Question: As the CEO of the MINISH Dental Hospital, please introduce yourself in detail:
Answer: I'm a dentist Kang Jung-ho. I've been a dentist for 15 years and I'm running the MINISH dental hos¬pital in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. As I am responsible for more than 100 employ¬ees, my shoulders are very heavy, but I think my pride and responsibility are increasing as well.
I was afraid of seeing blood, so I nev¬er dreamed of becoming a doctor in my school days, but now I feel rewarded as a dentist and work with a sense of mis¬sion.
Since I hate seeing blood and getting sick more than anyone else, I've been trying to give patients pain-free treat¬ment and treatment that doesn't harm their teeth since the very beginning of my hospital. So I thought about treat-ing MINISH treatment.
I am treating patients with employ¬ees under the principles and beliefs of "harmless, not excessive, and pain-free treatment."
Q: Please present a detailed in¬troduction concerning your den¬tal hospital.
A: The Minish Dental Hospital lo¬cated in Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu, Seoul is our hospital, which is a 14-story building.
Many people are surprised by the height of the building, and since we started many people are surprised at our fast growth.
Starting in Seongnam in 2005, five years later, a dental clinic was opened in Seonneung, the predecessor of MIN¬ISH Dental Hospital, and moved to Apgujeong-dong in 2012.
And in 2018, we expanded and moved to Nonhyeon-dong, which is not far away from Apgujeong-dong as the hospital was promoted to the official dental clinic designated by the Minis¬try of Health and Welfare.
I think we've spent 15 years without a break. I have experienced manner¬ism and burnout as we grew up fast.
However, despite the frustration, it was a chance for me to take a new look at what customers want.
When I first opened the clinic, it was a small one on the third floor of the ar-cade so I sometimes don't feel real.
I want to continue to study and de¬velop as much we have grown.
Q: I'd like to hear your opinion on the prospects for dental care.
A: Our hospital's philosophy is, in the past and now, how to restore it as close as possible to natural teeth. Therefore, it is also my task to develop materials that are most similar to liv¬ing things through constant research and to develop techniques and equip¬ment that can minimize tooth damage accordingly.
The goal is to take a step further and build a MINISH academy system and take the lead in education to help more dentists and medical staff do MINISH care.
Q: Please give us a detailed in¬troduction to your main medical field.
A: MINISH treatment, which is available only at MINISH Dental Hospital and officially-designated hos¬pitals, is a full range of conservation treatments to minimize tooth damage. Based on biomimetic, the goal of treat¬ment is to maximize the unique shape and properties of the teeth.
From the front teeth to the molars, we can repair damaged parts of the teeth with the material most similar to the teeth. We're working with VITA in Germany, the world's largest dental material company, to jointly develop MINISH blocks tailored to individu¬als in a milling method. To help you understand the milling method, it's a sculpture. It is the most stable meth¬od, away from the plastic method and casting method used to produce dental prosthetics. It is also a treatment that minimizes damage to teeth.
Our own dental labs, including state-of-the-art medical equipment such as 3D mouth scanners and CAD/ CAM systems, help reduce the scope of medical errors, enable more system¬atic, precise, and rapid treatment. The skills of dental designers, including senior researchers with more than 15 years of experience, are also the key to MINISH treatment.
Even if you're not sick right now, it's also possible with preventive treat¬ment to protect your teeth for a life¬time. When you are healthy, beautiful things naturally follow you. MINISH is a treatment that can catch two rab¬bits, healthy and beautiful teeth, just like our hospital slogan, “Healthy and Beautiful.”
Q: Please let me know if you have any good ideas about medi¬cal and health care.
A: The best treatment is preven¬tion. So far, if dental clinics have been focusing primarily on treatment in response to the needs of your dental patients, they should now actively fo¬cus on preventive care for oral health. In line with the trend, our hospital opened a comprehensive oral exam-ination center at its headquarters in September and will soon open a cen¬ter for detailed preventive programs and consulting.
Also, we're soon launching our own brand of oral products developed by our own technology. We are devel¬oping a variety of toothbrushes and toothpaste suitable for individuals so that each person can use the right toothbrush according to their differ¬ent oral environment.
Q: Do you have any other com¬ments?
A: Laminated surgical procedure by celebrities has become an issue recently. I saw a man on a TV show receiving dental treatment for a lam¬inate dropout. I was sorry to see be¬cause many people may think that all dental procedures could be wrong.
Laminate is an aesthetic treatment and maybe a satisfactory treatment for anyone, but the procedure itself can be deleted more than necessary and may be eliminated or other side effects could occur due to deformation or error during the production pro¬cess.
Many dentists these days do lami¬nate veneer without tooth preparation at a low cost, but not all patients can do it either. It's because the extent and shape of the teeth that are dam¬aged, like human fingerprints, are different for each individual.
Being able to laugh is confidence. We can say that teeth are also a source of confidence. The most im¬portant thing to avoid is damage to your teeth for aesthetic reasons. Be¬sides, if the treatment damages the aesthetic of the teeth, then it should be considered as well. I think health and beauty are the best when they are in harmony.
Excerpts from the personal his¬tory of CEO Kang:
Graduated from Chosun Universi¬ty’s Dental College
Regular member of the Korean Academy of Oral & Maxillofacial Im-plantology
Regular member of the Korean Soci¬ety of Esthetic Dentistry
Completed the German SIRONA Oral Society
Regular member of the U.S. Im¬plant Society
U.S. clear aligner invisual line certi¬fication
Former CEO of Oneulan Dental Clinic
Former CEO of Lina Dental Clinic
His book:
Solo author of 2020 Sodam Publish¬er, "Laughs are blooming"
Theses/conference presentation:
Presentation in Digital Dentistry at the 2018 GAMEX Gyeonggi Compre-hensive Academic Conference
Therapeutic approach of Super Thin Film Veneer (MINISH) using CAD/ CAM
Award:
2019: Won the World's Best Master Grand Prize of 2019.
2018: Weekly Current Affairs Mag¬azine--Selected as a Top Hundred Noted Doctor.
Korea's top 100 medical consultants in 2018
2018: Korea’s top 100 noted doctors’ medical advisors
2018: advisory committee chairman of Challenging Korean Youth Future Forum
2017: Dentsfly Sirona appreciation plaque presentation
2016: Global Proud Cosmopolitan Korean Grand Prize
2016: Asia Best Medical Beauty Grand Prize
2014: Good Hospital Fair Grand Prize
2012: Establishment of a hospital specializing in front teeth treatment
2009: One Day Treatment System Introduced
Introduction of CAD-CAM CEREC Equipment for the first time in 2009
2005 Introduction of the painless medical treatment system