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Public Dental Services
The Planmeca-CARE team visited the King Saud University
College of Dentistry in September.
Preparing for these record-breaking agree­
ments made the professionals on both
ends think and rethink their options and
possibilities. New innovations were taken into CEO at CARE.
consideration and the solution was tailored
so that it was optimal for both institutions.
The result is a teaching environment that is
modern and will carry dental education in
Saudi Arabia into the future.
Thinking and rethinking to reach the
optimal solution
Planmeca and its local distributor, CARE,
first needed to convince the management
and faculty of the university that the fully
integrated solution that Planmeca provides
for teaching institutions, especially large
ones, had many clinical advantages and
long-term cost savings in addition to being
unmatched by any other manufacturer. In
addition, direct and objective endorsements
by dental schools around the world had an
important effect on winning over the trust
of the King Saud University.
"Many stumbling blocks were faced along
the way, but the team worked in partnership
with the university project team and the
contractor to come up with a win-win
solution for everyone", says Mr Eli Chedid,
The Planmeca teaching environment
was designed for the climate and environ­
mental factors of Saudi Arabia. For example,
the centralised water treatment system
ensures a clean and safe water supply for
treatment independently of local water
conditions. Also, the dental unit infection
control cycles are automated and centralised
to guarantee the safety of the patients and
the dental team.
The dental unit concept, based on
Planmeca Compact™ i dental units,
supports a seamless transition from
pre-clinical simu­lation training to clinical
training and actual patient treatment.
In this way, the students learn the
efficient and safe use of real dental units and
X-ray equipment already at early stages of
their training, and will be able to easily adapt interests of the university, its faculty, and
to the workflows of their future employers,
whether private clinics or hospital annexes.
in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia:
Curative and preventive services in the field of oral
and dental health are provided through 1,982 dental
clinics annexed to hospitals and health centres
spread throughout the Kingdom as follows:
• 1,138 dental clinics annexed to health centres.
• 449 dental clinics annexed to hospitals.
• 395 dental clinics annexed to specialised
centres.
• 55 mobile dental clinics.
There are 12,234 dentists registered with the Saudi
Dental Society (by June 2012), but not everyone is
registered, so the approximate number could be
around 13,000 dentists.
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Advances in technology for
the good of the Kingdom
The King Saud University College of
Dentistry is investing heavily in the future.
The boys’ campus will get a brand new
dental hospital building, and the girls’ college
will move to a brand new building on a new
campus adjacent to the boys’ campus. The
equipment acquired for the two buildings
is similar in order to standardise the clinical
practice and its maintenance.
Professor Khalid Ali Al Wazzan, Dean
of the King Saud University College of
Dentistry, says: “We had a vision. We were
looking for innovative methods to provide
the highest quality education and research
– to provide the best dental health care for
the citizens of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
We chose the company that demonstrated
commitment to the university’s vision of
excellence in dental education and that
we believe is best positioned to serve the
most importantly, its students – the dentists
of the future in Saudi Arabia.”