Dr Chee Seong Kua
Dr Chee Seong Kua is a prosthodontic dentist, a former UN Peacekeeper, and an aquarium plant enthusiast driven by a curiosity about the world and its people.
His Bachelor of Dental Surgery (2003) at the University of Adelaide was not his “first option”. Before he travelled to South Australia to begin his successful career in dentistry, he had once wanted to be a Buddhist monk. “I’m serious!” he says, about this earlier aspiration. “But… as I continued to grow, and see how the real world works, coming to terms with more realistic expectations but still holding on to aspirations to help people and society in more practical ways."
These more practical expectations brought him to the University of Adelaide, where his creative nature and evidence-based approach combined perfectly within dentistry. He considers dentistry an artform, one in which he is able to express his creativity by helping shape teeth to perfectly match his clients’ personalities. “Everyone is different and when you get to know your patients... you know what they want, and you try to portray something of their personality onto the teeth.”
Once, a patient was brought to joyful tears over a new set of dentures – he just wanted to look good at his daughter’s wedding. Dr Kua shed a tear alongside him, seeing the impact his work could make. “I’m also human!” he says.
Despite not having followed his ambition to become a Buddhist monk, Dr Kua values a spirit of continual learning and human empathy, in part because of the paths his life has taken. “The things that really shape you as you grow [are] the experiences that you have,” he says.
As a young graduate, having returned to Malaysia from Adelaide, Dr Kua joined the Malaysian Military, became a paratrooper and joined a United Nations Peacekeeper unit assisting Australian troops with ‘unconventional warfare’ in Timor-Leste.
Dr Kua faced his service with a positive and open-minded attitude. “One of my tutors in Adelaide, Dr Simon Moore, said that sometimes in order to learn you have to throw yourself out of the comfort zone, and then that’s where you learn.”
Dr Kua in the field as a dental officer
"...sometimes in order to learn you have to throw yourself out of the comfort zone, and then that’s where you learn.”
The deployment was extremely difficult at first, but the Malaysian forces were immediately able to aid communication in the conflict. “There was a lot of confusion in the beginning. I’m very thankful that we could speak Bahasa Malaysia, because the majority of the inhabitants speak Bahasa Indonesia, so we were able to converse with them,” recalls Dr Kua.
Dr Kua describes the challenges of being in his team of several hundred people trying to quell the unrest in the area. “You were in a conflict zone, and you were doing what you can, out of necessity. Trying to help people there, save people, make sure they don’t kill each other, and at the same time don’t get yourself hurt also,” he says. It was a test of resilience and a lesson in humanity. “You can see real characters of people, how they become in times of desperation. You really have to make the best of what you have there.”
Dr Kua is proud that he was able to make a large impact in people's lives during his time in Timor-Leste. He recalls an orphanage that was at risk, filled with children who had lost their parents in the conflict.
“The area was being attacked, and we actually went down to grab them, from their place, to our temporary base… They were all young and crying. We just brought them over, and we took care of them until the conflict was over. We actually kept in touch with them.” For nearly two decades since his return home, Dr Kua has been able to stay in touch and watch these children grow up, go to university, get married and have families of their own.
Dr Kua as a UN peacekeeper, collaborating with an Australian Military counterpart
While his time in Timor-Leste was not easy, he says it taught him a lot. He developed a greater understanding of the nuance in many situations. “Sometimes right and wrong can get a little bit grey. When you get to understand a person, you will realise why people do things… It’s always good to hear both sides of the story. We hear it from, let’s say, the news. And then when you go on ground and when you hear it from the people, [the stories] are different.”
After returning to Malaysia, Dr Kua continues to try to do what he can to create impact for others by carrying the attitude of curiosity, understanding and continual learning into his current practice as a dentist. “I learn from my profs, I learn from my tutors, from my senior colleagues, friends, parents, my relatives… but every patient I meet, I feel that they are also my teacher… they make me learn, and understand them more.”
“I learn from my profs, I learn from my tutors, from my senior colleagues, friends, parents, my relatives… but every patient I meet, I feel that they are also my teacher… they make me learn, and understand them more.”
By listening to his patients, rather than only imparting his specialist knowledge, he is able to learn things about people, their lives, and their teeth that he wouldn’t have known otherwise – improving his own practice while improving outcomes for his patients. “The more you learn, there’s a lot more than you realise that you don’t know…”
The “everlasting curiosity” that Dr Kua describes flows through his career and also his hobbies. Fascinated by the way we can replicate the delicate balance of nature, Dr Kua has a huge and beautiful aquarium in his office waiting room, which he watches closely in quiet moments. “I like to sit down and see how it works – again, the power of curiosity and observation."