Cheaper implants


Rural people will soon pay five times less for dental implants thanks to government research.

Deputy permanent secretary at the Public Health Ministry, Somyos Charoensak, on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with Saksit Tridech, permanent secretary at the Science and Technology Ministry, to develop advance dental technology for safe and cheaper implants.


This achievement, based on research at the Advanced Dental Technology Centre and the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre, will reduce the import of dental implants and save the country up to Bt2.4 billion a year, Somyos said.

Saksit said the National Science and Technology Development Agency had given the research to the private sector to produce a complete cycle of dental-implant technology, resulting in good-quality sets five times cheaper than imports. The pilot, honouring His Majesty's 80th birthday, will provide 20,000 implants for 10,000 underprivileged elderly people.


Duangkamon Sajirawatthanakul,
The Nation