Chan Ambrose

Chan Ambrose

Dr Ambrose Chan

Dr. Ambrose Chan is a general dental practitioner who has incorporated photonic and laser technologies in dentistry for over 35 years. His clinical competency has been recognized nationally by his conferral as a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Dental Surgeons. Not only have his expertise benefited his own patients, but he has made solid contributions towards the development of Dentistry itself, taking on an integral role as a Representative on Laser for the Australian Dental Association and Committee member of the “Standards Australia on Laser applications and regulations”.

In scientific front, he was conferred the highest university degree of PhD in Medicine, University of Sydney, expanding the boundaries of knowledge in PhotoBiomodulation therapy with its insight into effective photons delivery. Notably, he was awarded MScD from the University of Sydney, with a Master Thesis on “Laser Dentistry” resulting in a paper in one of the two top dental journals and an Editorial. He also reputably won the prestige prize of “The Best Scientific Research Award”-2010 at the World Federation for Laser Dentistry Congress. Currently, he serves as an Honorary Research Fellow at the Brain Mind Centre, University of Sydney. Eminently, he also serves as the member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Lasers in Medical Science.

In addition to operating an established dental practice and research, he also teaches and lectures at both national and international levels. As the Director for the Asian Pacific Division of the World Federation for Laser Dentistry, he has been essential in organizing dental Laser conferences and developing and teaching curriculum for university-based dental laser training in the Asian Pacific region. Through these involvements and in recognition of his significant contributions to Laser Dentistry in the Asian Pacific, he was conferred as a Fellow by the International College of Dentists and was appointed as the Honorary Assistant Professor, at the faculty of Dentistry, University of Hong Kong.

Title: Frontier in Femtosecond Laser Enamel Ablation: A Miniaturized Robotic System

Almost a century ago, rotary drill had been accepted as the benchmark for the hard tissue preparation and caries removal. Unfortunately, the potential adverse effects such as thermal pulpal injury and crack formation are inevitable. Mid-infared (Er:YAG,  Er,Cr:YSGG and 9.3; 9.6µ CO2) lasers, with pulse duration operate in the microseconds pulsed regime, can ablate dental tissues and remove caries with better patient comforts and minimal invasiveness without the noise and vibration, have gaining their publicities especially in treating anxious patients. However, due to their limitations: such as inefficient, relatively slow, uncontrollable, unprecise, absorption-dependent ablation with long shockwave thermal side effects, thus lead to the investigations of the femtosecond (fs)-laser regime. Fs-laser operates with pulse duration (<1 picosecond) shorter than the tissue thermal relaxation time and delivers a chain of high intensity photon pluses (> 1014 W/cm2), of millijoules energy, sufficient to induce localized non-linear absorption (chromophores independent) which can ionize and eject tissues and materials, in an electrostatic manner, without thermal side effects and induced pain. A benchmark Australian multi-centre study on fs-laser enamel ablation, published in Australian Dental Journal 2003, ran by 3 Australian Universities: The Australian National University, Swinburne University and the Macquarie University, had demonstrated its highly precise and effective ablation capabilities, with minimal thermal effects and many other potential benefits in dental tissues machining. Over the last decades, with the technological advancement in high power, ultra-fast and ultra-short pulsed fs-lasers and robotic assisted delivery systems, this technology has become more affordable and attractive for developing clinical applications in dentistry. In a 20 mins lecture, I will highlight the breakthrough in the First fs-laser research in Australia; technological advancement in the past decades; the advantages, limitations and potential of fs-laser robotic enamel ablation, and finish with a take home message.

On-line: An Adjunctive Use of Photonic Dentistry in Cariology: Early Detection and Therapy

Despite considerable advances in dentistry, dental caries remains one of the most common and unsolved human infectious disease. Around 90% of young population in the United States has dental caries, while out of all dentate adults almost 94% have evidence of coronal caries. It was forecasted that such occurrence of dental caries is one the driver that propels the growing demand for dental services. There is an urge in demand of adjunctive use of photonic (laser and light) dentistry in a multidisciplinary, minimally invasive and preventive approach that would encourage regular patient attendance to allow for patient education, early caries detection and intervention. Researchers in 1940s demonstrated that by exposure to photons from the sunlight provided a mean of dental caries prevention. A survey of 12-14 years old boys in rural and semirural areas of the United States reported that a 30% increase in the annual exposure to sunshine correlated with a 40% reduction in the incidence of dental caries. Today, Photons technology underpins a wide range of adjunctive applications in daily dental practice from digital-light-processing 3D scanning, to fluorescent-guided caries and oral cancer early detection, and to photo-ablation, photobiomodulation, caries prevention, photo-activated-disinfection and photo-acupuncture. The aim of this lecture is to present the “ABCD of light in Cariology”, an adjunctive use of photonic (laser and light) dentistry in a multidisciplinary, minimally-invasive and preventive approach that would encourage regular patient attendance to allow for patient education, early caries detection and intervention.