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This is Professor Katsumi Uoshima, a chief of the Division of Bio-Prosthodontics. In July 2008, our division was completely re-structured and named "Bio-Prosthodontics." The field of Prosthetics specializes in the fabrication of crowns, bridges, and dentures in general, and our division mainly provides lectures and practical training on fixed prosthodontic restorations at our dental school. We are deeply involved in the clinical aspect of prosthodontics rehabilitation, for which we provide comprehensive ambulatory dental treatment at Niigata University General Hospital. On the other hand, the concept of "Bio-Prosthodontics" is relatively new and is not a common title among the dental schools. To grasp the concept of "Bio-Prosthodontics," we need to understand that even a simple treatment on the teeth will induce a complex "biological reaction" that will involve different systems and tissues; therefore, in order to effectively repair and maintain a normal masticatory function in the long term, it is fundamental and essential to understand these biological processes. For more details, I encourage you to check the contents of our research web page, which showcase the research topics currently being conducted by our staffs. Please notice that we do not do "research just for the sake of research." As dental clinicians, we always keep in mind to carry out our research to solve real clinical problems.
As health providers, dentists should always consider the patient's needs and seriously seek the best treatments for each case. Indeed, a prosthodontic specialist should be a dental clinician who has a complete overview of the patient's oral function and must provide a comprehensive treatment plan for each patient. I constantly ask myself: "Am I satisfied with this treatment if I would be the patient? Would I perform the same treatment on my children, siblings, parents, and grandparents?"
Nonetheless, clinics and research are closely related to the educational aspect of our division. I also have ample experience in clinical dental education to date. Ultimately, the main goal of our clinical expertise and research knowledge is to share those with a new generation of dentists, thus, moving forward into the future. Besides the conventional lectures and practical training curriculum, we have developed a novel "comprehensive training model" practice. This model includes all the dental diseases and treatments commonly present in real patients. I am also in charge of the “dental clinical inference course,” which is an exercise where students design a comprehensive treatment plan using actual cases. Lectures and practical training of fixed partial denture have also changed significantly from the conventional programs. Our study workflow includes: Pre-learning the contents of the day's training via web⇒ Lecture ⇒ Quiz ⇒ Group discussion ⇒ Practice ⇒ Student presentation and feedback ⇒ Electronic portfolio description. This workflow is repeated every class and is the basis for lifelong learning.
In addition, I held the position of "Vice Dean of International Relations" for a long time and thus, I always thrive for the internationalization of our faculty by organizing international cooperation and activities. Graduate students, for example, make presentations at international conferences at least once while they are enrolled in the university, we hold a "journal club" in English once a week, and we also actively accept graduate students from overseas. Currently, we have one student from Thailand, one Chinese, and one Vietnamese, and we are planning to accept a new graduate student from Myanmar. Also, I actively promoted several international student exchange programs, where our students travel for two weeks to dental schools in other countries, while we accept international students from dental faculties overseas. These programs also actively encourage the exchange of young staff members. In fact, most of our faculty members have studied abroad for several years; even more, one of our staff members is from Bolivia. As you can see, we have ample experience with international students and faculties and have no problems communicating in English in our department.
Finally, I would like to encourage those considering to enroll the post-graduate program at Niigata University. We are eagerly waiting and looking forward to having you in our division. Would you like to get into the future of dentistry with us?
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Division of Bio-Prosthodontics
Faculty of Dentistry & Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences
Niigata University
Professor Katsumi Uoshima
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