Dr. Eric Muraoka is the owner of Kaizen Dental Center clinic and Downtown Dental Lab in Honolulu, HI. The term kaizen is the Japanese concept of “continuous improvement” within work, a theory that Dr. Muraoka found great inspiration in while traveling to Japan throughout his life. In awe of how dedicated and diligent everyone was to their respective crafts in Japan—since they lived their lives by this idea of kaizen—Dr. Muraoka knew he had to bring this level of passion and diligence to the dental field and his own practice. While kaizen is a perpetual devotion to improving one’s expertise, for Dr. Muraoka, this concept translates into a devotion for each and every one of his patients. It was around this time that he discovered Digital Dentistry and 3D printing.

Owning a lab and multiple 3D printers has allowed Dr. Muraoka to help the community during the start of the pandemic. With this technology he was able to print PPE, donating over 10,000 face shields printed on his equipment for the community.
3D printing would become the greatest tool in his toolbelt of digital dental technologies. In seeing how 3D printing changed his career in his own practice, he found great satisfaction in helping his dentist colleagues do the same for their own patients. Fast forward to today, all this energy culminated into him starting an education academy, Gateway Dental Education. His hope is that his classes help provide dentists a gateway into the greatest versions of their dental selves!

Digital dentures have become Dr. Muraoka’s niche. He has developed a design protocol to deliver suction dentures for his patients. He loves teaching these techniques to his fellow colleagues and he couldn’t have done it without Flexcera!