Like many other young Vietnamese, De did not know which career to choose or where he should start. De was born and grown up in Luong Tai district in Bac Ninh province, where the land is not fertile for tilling. After two years of studying arts, De realized that this was not his aspiration. So, he wanted to open a dental office, succeeding his father.

However, this was not the best choice for him, because in order to become a dentist, he had to graduate from a university, while this was beyond the capability of the majority of Luong Tai’s people.

One day, he heard from a friend about setting up a workshop doing outsourcing for dental offices, and believed that this must be a way to earn his living and create a livelihood for locals.

Then he left his hometown for Hanoi where he worked as a hired worker for labs and accumulated experience. He also went to HCM City, Thailand and Singapore and other countries. To date, he has been to 46 countries to learn about dental prosthodontics.

In 1998, De and other nine co-workers established a lab, Vude Dental Lab, specializing in researching, developing and providing dental technology products. This is the predecessor of Detec Dental JSC.  This was the seventh lab in Hanoi, operating at the same time as about 10 similar labs in HCM City.

After two years, Detect obtained many clients from all over the country. Sometimes, the lab had up to 1,587 clients which were dental offices. 

At that time, dentists in Vietnam had little information about training courses in dental technology. As De realized the problem, he took a daring move when inviting a couple of German experts to Vietnam to give training. 

Recalling the first days, De said Detec faced difficulties because there were not enough modern machines. The company could not afford the necessary machines and equipment, or the machines it had bought quickly broke down.

In such conditions, De became an inventor when he tried to find solutions to the problem.

“At that time, it was not easy to create a tooth with different colors. After seven years of working, I found a method to make teeth and show it to co-workers. I also found the method to create plastic teeth as beautiful as porcelain teeth,” he recalled.

In 2015, De was granted a patent for his aesthetic tray. He ordered a factory in Germany to produce plastic pieces to make the product.

He and his co-workers have invented many dental prosthodontic solutions which meet international standards, such as Smartalign (smart orthodontia with Japanese technology) and E-wire (exclusive cooperation between Detec and South Korean E-Wireligner).

De understands that the key lies in the application of technology. Many labs in Vietnam are willing to spend big money on machines and equipment, but Detec still has a great advantage as it has many patents.

In 2020, with consultancy from Ivoclar Vivadent, Detec set up the first lab in Asia which can meet European standards, which was then a big surprise as no one believed that such a modern lab could be set up in Vietnam.

After a visit to the US in 2007, De realized that this is a vast and open market and decided to export Detec’s products.

In 2009, Detec obtained an FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) certificate, and began exporting dental technology products to the US market.

Later, the financial crisis seriously affected American enterprises. In late 2011, because of delayed payments from partners, De decided to temporarily stop exporting products to the US to avoid risks.

However, De successfully negotiated and bought a license for training in US-standard dental prosthodontics.

Most recently, De took a daring step when integrating two popular dental prosthodontics methods into one solution – SmartVeneer – which has not been used elsewhere.

With a series of good solutions, De hopes that Vietnam will have a strong dental prosthodontics industry, which will also help develop dental tourism.

Binh Minh