Not for pain, but for routine care
Where I go to make my teeth last
Not some dental pipe dream.
As I was preparing to leave the military and enter the workforce, I asked myself the same question for quite some time.
“Something about the nature of dentistry.”
In fact, we knew the answer. Prevent, preserve, and minimize intervention. Save the teeth that can be saved. It wasn’t that I didn’t know, it was that I wavered.
There have been hospitals that have opened with prevention as their mantra, and hospitals that have created prevention systems within hospitals. After a while, they would eventually disappear or change their direction. I wondered if it was really difficult to run a dental practice in Korea with only preventive and conservative care. Without implants, there would be no sales. The ‘reality’ I heard around me seemed colder than I thought.
He met like-minded seniors and colleagues and opened Isali Dental Clinic in August 2025 in Sinnon County. No implants, no tooth extractions, just a clinic that focuses on dental care.
When we opened, we tried a lot of things. We tried to reduce the hassle of patients coming and going multiple times, we stayed open late every day so that they could come anytime, and we had a director who took care of everything from consultations to storage.
I wouldn’t say it’s the result of a long period of thought, but rather a lot of experimentation. If it worked, I kept it, if not, I threw it away. The things I’m doing now are the ones that survived.
I created video content while preparing for the opening. I also wrote a book with a senior colleague. Dental diseases often have no symptoms in the early stages. I thought that the more people know about dental diseases, the more they will come to the dentist and come before the problem gets bigger. I also wanted to eliminate patients’ anxiety about the dentist.
It’s been over a year since we opened, and the hospital is settling in. But we are still trying different things and taking on challenges. The world keeps changing, every region is different, every patient is different, and most importantly, every drinker is different. There are no guarantees that what works for me will work for another director, and there are no guarantees that what works for me now will work in five years. It’s more honest to say that I’m still searching than to say I’ve found the right answer.
I’ve been thinking about dermatology a lot lately. How many of us go to the dermatologist because we’re really sick. It’s become natural to go regularly for healthier skin and to manage aging. I believe the same can be said for dentists. Not a place you only go when you’re in pain, but a place you’re willing to go to make your teeth last longer. That’s the dentist I envision.
Someday, when that day comes, I’ll be able to look back fondly on these attempts, and by then I’ll be trying something else.
