At the turn of the 21st century, dentistry in Vietnam was generally limited to dental departments in hospitals and small, single-chair private offices operating after hours. In 1999, Dr. Võ Văn Tự Hiến changed the status quo when he opened the revolutionary Nha Khoa 2000 (Dental Clinic 2000) what continues to be a pioneering dental clinic that revolutionizes the standard of dental care in Vietnam.

Unique circumstances had allowed Dr. Hiến’s wife to travel to the USA for law school in the early 1990s and he soon followed to study dental implantology at the University of Texas in 1995. Upon returning to Saigon, he opened the Nha Khoa 2000 (NK 2000) clinic with a desire to advance the field of dentistry in Vietnam. Relying on the techniques and technologies he learned in America, he provided international-quality care while helping to train an entire generation of Vietnamese dentists. 

NK 2000’s second clinic opened several years later and Dr. Hiến took on influential positions such as the chair of the first dental implantology department at a national hospital in Vietnam while managing his private clinic and treating the most difficult cases personally. Dr. Hiến then opened a third location in 2004, initially named Nha Viet at 125 Lê Thị Riêng, Bến Thành Ward, in District 1, where it still stands today under the new name Premier Dental.  By 2004 many of his protegees had opened their own practices using the skills and philosophies Dr. Hiến shared. Even with the increased competition, Premier Dental continued to pioneer new standards thanks to the adoption of the latest global advancements in dentistry.

Premier Dental’s forward-thinking growth has continued during the last several years as the clinic transitioned to the leadership of Hiến’s daughter Võ Đoàn An Hạ and her husband, Australian-born dentist, Dr. Albert Viet Le. Playing to their advantages as fully bilingual and foreign-educated professionals, they can cater equally to local and foreign clients at their District 1 and Thảo Điền locations. Under their shared leadership, they’ve completed full clinic facility and equipment overhauls with the latest x-ray machines and CT scanners alongside the adoption of digital technologies to make procedures more accurate, efficient, and comfortable. 

As it celebrates its 20th anniversary, Premier Dental remains a pioneer and is an industry leader in dental implants as well as in periodontics and pediatric dentistry, two notable areas in Vietnam that remain in need of development. Their commitment to improving the standards of oral health in Vietnam hasn’t wavered either, as providing empathetic care is seen as a matter of family legacy.