Dr. Jae Yoon Lee leads 2nd Daegu-Dongshin Dental Mission to Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental

Cagayan de Oro and Misamis Oriental are the lucky beneficiaries of a matching grant project of the Rotary Clubs West Cagayan de Oro and Daegu-Dongshin in South Korea.

These two clubs are currently in the second phase of implementing a long-term project which will ultimately benefit indigent patients through significant improvements in their personal health. The project not only directly benefits beneficiaries but also lays the foundation for long-term care thanks to training and seminars for local dentists.

"With 40 patients for our second mission and 60 last February, we have installed medical implants on some 100 patients overall," said Dr. Jae Yoon Lee, Director of the Duk Young Dental Hospital in Daegu City City in South Korea.

Dr. Jae Yoon Lee has earned a lofty prestige in the dental profession in South Korea and the world. With the highest per capita dental implant use rate in the world and the second largest market in the Asia-Pacific for dental implants and final abutments, Dr. Lee has installed over 60,000 implants over the course of his continuing career and still installs around 300 implants a month.

Dr. Lee was graduated from the Seoul National University College. Besides being the full-time director of Duk-Young Dental Hospital, he is also vice chairman of the Korean International Oral Implant Alumni Association and member of the Korea Dental Implant Academic Society, and Daehan Dental Prosthetics Academic Society.

Duk Young Dental Hospital has 16 dentists who conduct around 500 implants monthly. Together with Dr. Lee, they install around 800 implants a month, a rate that is one of the highest in South Korea and perhaps, even the world. Duk Young Dental Hospital has 150 dental hygienist and a 450-bed capacity mostly for post-operative patients who stay overnight for observation after receiving their implants.

Dental implants in the Philippines are a luxury only the rich can afford, costing upwards of PhP 70-80,000 each. In South Korea, Duk Young Dental Hospital charges about US$2,000 each which is even more expensive but Dr. Lee estimates that without the overhead and other expenses, he can bring the costs down to around 25% of the unit cost in Korea or 33% of what it currently costs in the Philippines.

Dental implants take around six to eight months to install. That´s because after the titanium screws which hold them the crown are put in place, it takes about that long a period for it to bond to the bone.

According to Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, the most widely accepted and successful implant today is the osseointegrated implant, based on the discovery by Swedish Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark that titanium can be successfully fused into bone when osteoblasts grow on and into the rough surface of the implanted titanium. This forms a structural and functional connection between the living bone and the implant.

The procedure to install implants is also quick and painless as patients Choi Sun Hee, Ronel Esgana and Adelia Maglasang of Aposkahoy, Claveria, Misamis Oriental can attest to.

"You don´t feel anything, there´s no pain at all, no swelling afterwards, no after effects," said Esgana, a sentiment echoed by his two colleagues. The entire procedure is rendered even more painless because the South Korean team provides not only the implants but also post-operative care through a full course of medicines and instructions in a pack each patient-beneficiary receives free after each implantation procedure.

Dr. Lee says that with proper care and periodic check-ups with your local dentist, an implant can last from 20-30 years. It´s also considered the most natural solution to missing teeth, since patients whose implants are successful will be able to eat like those with natural teeth, and much better than those with dentures.

And Korean dental implants are considered among the best in the world, thanks to continued research and development for which Duk-Young Dental Hospital has already spent $6-billion to date.

"With better nutrition comes better health," Dr. Lee stressed. "Thus patients with implants are much better off afterwards and can deal with stress and disease better, not to mention their improved sense of well-being which comes from improved nutrition and personal appearance."

However, what´s more worthy of note is the project´s sustainability which Dr. Lee has ensured with the training seminars for local dentists from the Philippine Dental Association Cagayan de Oro-Misamis Oriental Chapter who will take care of looking after the beneficiaries after the dental mission has flown back to South Korea.

Dr. Czarisse Emily Escalona-Tismo of the Dental Department of the Northern Mindanao Medical Center, is one of the local dentists who has undergone the training seminar and has been charged with the follow up care of the beneficiaries until the South Korean team returns in another six months.

The matching grant project was initiated by the Rotary Club of West Cagayan de Oro under the watch of immediate past president Mandy Tarayao and continued under the present administration of President Al Brito. The South Korean side was initiated by PDG Jae Yoon Lee and continued by Lee Jon Man and the Daegu-Dongshin Rotary Club.

A respected civic leader, Dr. Lee is also active in the unification movement of the two Koreas, being chairman of the National Unification Central Conference, counselor of the Presidential Advisory Unification Consultation Committee, president of the Dept. of Defense Correction Committee Central Conference and consultant, Democratic Peace Unification Advisory Committee.

A true renaissance man or polymath who excels in several fields, Dr. Lee is also known as an author, poet, publisher and sportsman. He is the author of a Dental Implant Guide Book (Dental Implantology), volumes of poetry (as a member of the Dentists Literary Men´s Association) and coffee table books on the arts, and encyclopedias on apartment management. He is the publisher of the monthly Women´s Life Magazine, National Apartment newspaper and the Rotary Club magazine in Korea.

Not the least, his heart remains with Rotary International, being a past district governor of RI District 3700 (2001-2002), committee chairman of Rotary Korea (2006-2008), president of the RI Amateur Paduk Club. He is the recipient of a Citizen´s Honorary recognition (Camellia Award) and World Rotary Superior District Award, and many more.