Dentistry is mostly listening. The rest is patience.
Alexia Kwan spends the first five minutes of every appointment not touching anyone’s mouth. She sits. She watches how the person settles into the chair. She asks what brought them in. It is the part of dentistry she cares about most, and the part she believes earns everything that follows.
The habit has a source. Before she opened her own practice, she spent nearly a decade in one-on-one mentorship under an experienced implant and cosmetic clinician. What she took from it was not technique, or not only technique. It was a specific way of paying attention.
The principle that underwrites everything is simple: early intervention is the dentistry she chooses. A cavity filled on time is a crown she does not need to design. A child who learns to brush at six is a patient who will not return at forty with a problem that could have been caught. It is unglamorous dentistry, but it is the dentistry she practises.
A cavity filled on time is a crown she does not need to design.
She graduated from NUS in 2009, spent three years in hospital rotations and military dental services, and then spent nearly a decade under that single mentor. By the time she became Director at Align Dental Surgery in 2022, the shape of her approach was already set. The practice she now runs is an extension of that long view.
NUS Faculty of Dentistry
Bachelor of Dental Surgery
NHG & SAF Dental Services
Broad clinical exposure and wisdom tooth surgery
Implant & Cosmetic Mentorship
Nearly a decade of intensive training under an experienced clinician
Invisalign Certification
Certified provider for clear aligner treatment
Aligner Intensive Fellowship
A 45-hour fellowship over one year with Dr. Moshiri and Nicozisis; subsequent coaching with Willy Dayan and Sarah Lawrence
Director, Align Dental Surgery
Practising at an Orchard Road dental clinic
Advanced Principles of Implant Dentistry
Six-month implant programme with Dr. Jeanette Chua and Dr. Stephanie Yeung in Kuala Lumpur, with access to the ITI intermediate curriculum
Periodontal, Oral Plastic & Implant Surgery
Modules 1 and 2 of Prof. Hom-Lay Wang's surgical course at Ancora Imparo, Kuala Lumpur
Advanced Periodontal & Implant Surgery
Five-day practical training course under Prof. Hom-Lay Wang at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry
International Comprehensive Dental Sleep Course
Multi-module programme with DentSleep International, Kuala Lumpur, covering adult and paediatric sleep-disordered breathing, oral appliance therapy, and myofunctional therapy
