Dialogue with Wang Xing: The Unforgettable Year 2006 in Chinese Dentistry

It is spring.

The high-speed train bound for Shanghai winds its way through light green fields, where rice seedlings are just sprouting slender tips. President Wang Xing leans back in his chair, casually flipping through a file folder. In a few months, Shanghai will host the FDI 2025 World Congress of Dentistry, and this four-hour journey feels like a prelude to that event.

We chatted for a long time. Occasionally, someone would whisper on their phone, while most others stared blankly out the window. But when he started telling his story of traveling from Shenzhen to Foshan, and then to where he is today, you suddenly felt—This is not only his experience and that of several generations of dental professionals, but also the path that anyone still working in this industry might suddenly recall on a certain afternoon.

Some topics are blown away by the wind, while others quietly take root in our hearts.

The weight of a ticket

The high-speed train passes through fields that have just turned green.Chairman Wang Xing casually placed the train ticket on the small table. The ticket had only a few ordinary lines printed on it: train number, seat, and ticket price. He said, "Back then, there was no high-speed rail like this from Beijing to Shenzhen."

In 2006, there were no high-speed trains. He made numerous flights back and forth for the FDI 2006 World Congress of Dentistry. It was the first time China had hosted the World Dental Federation's academic congress, and the first time in the history of Chinese stomatology that such an unprecedented academic event had been held, attracting dentists from over a hundred countries worldwide. The opportunity was hard-won, but we lacked experience in many areas. President Wang Xing smiled and said, "Actually, no one really knew what to do. The Shenzhen government was also dealing with so many foreign guests for the first time."Just grit your teeth and keep going.

The competition to host such a conference was fierce, with stringent requirements. Choosing a venue was a major challenge; neither Beijing nor Shanghai met the FDI requirements, and both venues had facilities for a 5,000-person conference and a large-scale dental equipment exhibition. Perhaps it was a stroke of luck, but a venue was being built in Shenzhen, the forefront of my country's reform and opening up, perfectly matching the FDI requirements. Thus, the Chinese Stomatological Association, led by President Zhang Zhenkang, overcame numerous setbacks and successfully secured the opportunity to host the conference on September 27, 2006, fulfilling a long-held wish of generations of Chinese dentists.

On the opening day of the conference, then Vice Premier Wu Yi attended and delivered a brilliant speech. The opening gala also featured performances by renowned Chinese artists, such as the China Disabled Persons' Performing Arts Troupe, including "Thousand-Hand Guanyin" and "Shoulder Ballet." As those golden hands unfolded one after another on the stage, their movements as delicate as embroidery on silk, the spotlight shone down, and many foreign guests in the audience instinctively straightened their backs, their eyes filled with astonishment—This was the first time they had witnessed such a meticulously crafted opening ceremony at a major dental event. It was also the first time the Chinese dental industry had received such serious attention on such a occasion.

Such a grand opening ceremony deeply moved the Chinese and foreign attendees. Ms. Aden, the then-President of FDI, remarked that such an opening ceremony had never been seen in the history of FDI before and would be hard to come by in the future!

Recalling the 2006 FDI conference, President Wang Xing is always filled with emotion. The conference had over 4,700 international delegates and more than 10,000 Chinese doctors in attendance. It also featured a special lecture by Yang Liwei, my country's first astronaut. Dozens of academic activities were held, making it a truly unprecedented event.

"Things have been tough, but it's good to get started."He turned to look out the window.Perhaps that conference, like the high-speed rail of today, changed the pace of development of oral medicine in China.

President Wang Xing said he remembers more about the many people in the audience that day who were holding small digital cameras, some even still winding film. He also recalls colleagues from various regions pulling him aside after the meeting, repeatedly asking how this event was brought about.

During the conference, many developed countries in Europe and America also hosted their own celebratory banquets. Wang Xing, the newly appointed president of the Chinese Stomatological Association, was invited to attend their banquet. President Wang said he couldn't say too much, only informing his foreign colleagues present that…The city we live in today was just a poor fishing village 26 years ago, but now it has become an international metropolis. It represents China's reform and opening up, and embodies the development of China over the past thirty years. Perhaps in the near future, the development of China's oral medicine will be as astonishing as this city.

President Wang Xing said that without the attention and support of national leaders and the full cooperation of the Shenzhen Municipal Party Committee and Government, there would have been no such grand event that made Chinese dentists feel proud. He also expressed his deep gratitude to his old friends who worked at the Ministry of Health's Exchange and Cooperation Center, who worked tirelessly and collaboratively to ensure that this first-ever conference held in China, dubbed the "International Dental Olympics," was truly a resounding success and a place in the annals of the industry's history.

Foreign direct investmentWorld Congress of Oral MedicineBreathing at the scene

Many people may think that President Wang Xing was in charge at that time. "Actually, it wasn't me. President Zhang Zhenkang was the one in charge of this conference. He and a group of senior professors in the field of stomatology, including the second council, were also on the front line keeping an eye on things," said President Wang Xing.Even the most renowned presidents, professors, and experts still have to be physically present at the event.

Sometimes it involves confirming venue dimensions with the event management company, and sometimes it's coordinating shuttle bus routes. President Wang Xing spoke of it casually, but from then on, it seemed to become an unwritten rule in the industry:At each stage of the cycle, those who truly want to get things done must first step forward.

Since that conference, the annual academic conference of the Chinese Stomatological Association has followed the example of the FDI conference, combining academic meetings with dental equipment exhibitions, gradually creating a more complete event. From the overall framework of the conference to the poster presentations and demonstrations, everything has been incorporated into the process, gradually becoming a place for doctors and manufacturers to learn from each other. In the conference hall, experts are on stage discussing evidence-based medicine, while grassroots doctors are queuing up to see the equipment. The release of standards and the launch of new products are all integrated into the same rhythm.

Meanwhile, the diagnostic and treatment guidelines, materials, and infection control standards spearheaded by the association are gradually being implemented in more departments and processes.This forces smaller hospitals to keep up, and also forces equipment and material manufacturers and suppliers to repeatedly debug their own versions.For many young doctors, such exhibitions and annual meetings have become the first place where they are taken out to broaden their horizons.They made their mark in the case study competition, and were also pulled aside to say a few words at the teaching platform. The Western Tour and Rising Star Show pushed more people onto the stage for others to see.

Further afield, these conferences and exhibitions also serve as opportunities to connect with international counterparts. Some people come to give lectures, some set up booths, and some even make connections here and are then invited to give lectures in other countries.Rather than the often-mentioned "internationalization," it's more like a series of fine threads, accumulated one by one, that have allowed more Chinese doctors to leave their mark on the international stage.

This year, Reed Sinopharm Exhibitions, as one of the main organizers of the FDI 2025 World Congress of Oral Medicine, has made the details of the exhibition more professional and professional. Not only are the venue zoning, traffic flow, and exhibitor recruitment well coordinated, but even the poster displays, lectures, and international sessions are all seamlessly scheduled into the same schedule.

And it is precisely because of this,The annual meeting always maintains a unique tension that lies between "academic" and "business".On stage, some people talk about evidence-based practices and guidelines, while off stage, people line up to look at equipment and compare new standards. Everyone can find their own lesson, their own piece of equipment, and their own follow-up cooperation in this rhythm.

So when people ask why the industry has seen so many things that seem to have "suddenly come together" in recent years—digital imaging in clinics, case follow-ups in regions, or more and more young faces taking to the podium—it probably comes down to these unseen back-and-forth trips, the standards that have been honed one by one, and the young people who have been pushed to the forefront.

Nothing is accomplished overnight; and no single name can truly claim all the credit alone.More often than not, they meet on the front lines, laying out the process repeatedly, trying to push it a little further, and then a little more. Over time...It is through those seemingly trivial back-and-forths that the foundation is laid.

What is the foundation? It is the standards, the exhibitions, the process of sitting down to compare and contrast, and the equipment and materials honed little by little in our own factory.

Those polished Chinese dental instruments

"Think about it, it's really only a matter of twenty years."President Wang Xing said, "The small instruments and materials that are now readily available in clinics used to all have to be imported. Back then, a dental handpiece was so expensive that clinics had to think twice before using it."

He casually mentioned the exhibition from years ago; it was crowded and chaotic, but he actually remembered a few small factories that had come from Foshan. Back then, Foshan was just a collection of workshops making the cheapest equipment, with no hope of going very far.Who could have predicted that Nanhai District would later gather more than 200 licensed enterprises with an annual output value of 7 billion yuan; and that some domestic brands would start to take R&D into their own hands, gradually lower prices, and even select products to test the waters abroad.

A few years later, he went to Shenzhen again and met a small company at an exhibition. They were just trying to use nickel-titanium wire in dentistry, but they quietly attracted the attention of several international manufacturers and he later became their OEM partner. Later still, he went to Japan to observe how clinics managed cases, took imaging scans, and conducted follow-ups. Microscopic procedures were commonplace at that time.Stepping through the door is like entering another world.

“Back then, we seldom even had magnifying glasses, let alone microscopes,” Chairman Wang Xing chuckled, then added.Microscopes, CBCT scanners, intraoral scanners… Chinese dental clinics no longer lack high-quality domestically produced products.

At this point, his voice slowed down: "But even with the equipment, can we really collect the cases, follow them to the end, and achieve a conclusion that spans ten or twenty years? To truly convince people, we still need this."

In recent years, domestic dental companies have also gone global. Some companies have half of their sales overseas; a 3D printing company in Hangzhou ranks first in clinical market share in the United States; and some domestic brands have also made a name for themselves internationally.

Speaking of implants, he said, "Our country has gone from having nothing to now having forty or fifty domestic brands, but..."Experts and manufacturers are often geographically distant, resulting in a lack of cooperation.There are relatively few with innovative highlights.We hope that our friends in the field of oral medicine and industry will strengthen cooperation and produce more high-quality products that can be recognized by international peers.

He didn't say anything more. The carriage swayed gently, and outside the window, fields rolled by one after another.The paths I'd painstakingly built up during those years of hardship are now unfolding before me, but as I look closer, I realize where they're strong and where they're weak.

I watched him carefully put the ticket away, his gaze still fixed on the view outside the window. The high-speed train passed through another small town, where sunlight shimmered in the rice paddies.

Interviewer's Notes

In two months, Shanghai will host the FDI 2025 World Congress of Dentistry.

Chairman Wang Xing put away the document bag and gently tucked the high-speed rail ticket into his pocket. Vast rice paddies receded beside him outside the train window, and occasionally the rooftops of a few factory buildings gleamed in the sunlight. He gazed for a while before slowly saying, "Before, it took an entire night to travel from Beijing to Shenzhen. Now, the high-speed rail can get you there in just a few hours."

He paused, then casually added, "And our high-speed rail has long surpassed that of other countries."

He spoke softly, as if casually mentioning a passing news item, offering no further explanation, and simply looked out the window again. Those fields and towns that flashed by so quickly—once all dental materials and equipment were imported—now saw digital equipment, new materials, mobile phones, and invisible orthodontics shipped far away on cargo ships.

But he hopes that one day, at the FDI World Congress of Dentistry, he can hear more Chinese doctors speaking with evidence and data. That would be another way for the world to hear him.

The FDI 2025 World Congress of Dentistry will welcome many international guests who will see this place for themselves.

On the high-speed train, the announcement repeatedly said: "Please organize your belongings."Suddenly, I feel that this is also a reminder to the dental industry: get yourself in order first before you can go further.

This is probably the most memorable part of the entire high-speed rail conversation.

Special thanks to:
Relevant materials were provided by Chairman Wang Xing, the "Today's Dentistry" team, the Sinopharm Reed Exhibitions team, and industry colleagues.

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