Itanagar: Lala Wage, a leading prosthodontist and implantologist from Arunachal Pradesh was recently awarded the prestigious fellowship in implant dentistry at the ICOI ASEAN Congress.
The event was held at Kochi in Kerala from September 1 to 3.
The International Congress of Oral Implantologists (ICOI) is the world’s largest dental implant organization and also the largest provider of continuing dental implant education.
Having already treated more than 1,000 patients and conducted 100 plus implant surgeries, Dr Wage was awarded the fellowship in recognition of his performance of dental implants and his services to both his patients and the state.
This makes him the first implantologist from Arunachal to ever receive the award.
The eligibility criteria to receive the fellowship were to submit 20 cases on implant treatment and to have worked with at least three implant system companies.
Speaking to NewsFy, Dr Wage said that his dream was to provide the “urgently-needed dental care and oral disease treatment to the underprivileged urban and rural population.”
He offers his patients implant systems from companies such as Cortex Implants, I-fix Implants, the latest indigenous implant industry and Nobel Biocare Implants System.
Dr Wage expressed his happiness to be the first dental surgeon to have received the coveted fellowship and hoped that his juniors will follow in his path and provide better treatment to the needy patients.
He also wants his fellow dentists to be on par with the doctors from other states as “Arunachal Pradesh is still lacking in this field”.
“My family members had the notion that a dentist is someone who only extracted loose teeth. But now, they know how much difference it can make in a person’s life. Implants can help them feel beautiful and overcome their handicap. Today the implants are fully medically supported,” he said.
Dr Wage is also the first to have practiced dental implant treatment in the state.
He got his bachelor’s degree from the Regional Dental College in Guwahati. Right after graduation, he was posted at Dirang in West Kameng district and thereon, he worked in Seppa, Khonsa, the Itafort Government Dispensary and other places.
At present, he is a senior dental surgeon at the Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences.
Dr Wage also holds the post of the state’s nodal officer of the National Oral Health Programme and is the chief dental officer at IDDM Dental Hospital, Vivek Vihar.
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