Seeking a Grand Design for Oral Health and Implantology
That Meets the People’s Expectations

　New apprehension was generated, without people having time to feel relieved with the end of the Iraq emergency this spring. Unfortunately, it became known worldwide that occurrence and epidemics of emerging infectious diseases, represented by SARS, have great influence that could shake not only the economic situation but also the foundation of a nation and society.

　In April 2003, I was inaugurated as President of this Society, succeeding the former President, Mr. Kazuo Suzuki, and I have presided over business of the Society. I am grateful for the great efforts and contribution former President Suzuki has made thus far, and I also strongly feel the significance of the standpoint and responsibility of this organization in society. Fortunately, we could gain participation by many gifted and enthusiastic executives from branches throughout the nation, and I would like to do my best while seeking help from them. Support and cooperation from all of you members will also be greatly appreciated.

　Before we discuss oral implantology and medicine -- our Society’s specialty and area of study -- we must carefully consider the change in and direction of the environment surrounding health and medicine/health care in the world in the 21st century; the role of dentistry in the health and medical field; the differences between globalization and advancement of health and medicine/health care, and reform of domestic medicine; the gap between the domestic general medical world and the dentistry world; and the stand of oral implantology and treatment in the domestic dentistry world. Considering these, we must admit that, at least, the recent dentistry world has been exposed to an adverse wind in the large reform movement in the health and medical field, and it is losing its original identity. There is no doubt, however, that under such circumstances, much is expected from progress in the oral implantology field.

　To adequately respond to this expectation, it is necessary to promote development, application, etc., of innovative technology in implant treatment, by combining various scientific fields, and to assuredly enhance patients’ QOL. To achieve such goals, the Japanese Society of Oral Implantology and its activities present a stage and opportunity for academic research, study, and information exchange.

　And the new executive office is prepared to make full efforts in managing this Society, considering the earlier-mentioned background and present situation, aiming to make this Society into one that will be trusted by and meet the expectations of people as an academic society that studies oral health and implantology.
　As project plans and activity policies to achieve this goal, we are considering the following.

1．Establishment and strengthening of the foundation of the Society　-

　It is generally said that the presence of an academic society in the fields of dentistry and medicine cannot be ignored if its membership reaches 5,000 persons. The membership of this Society was just over 4,700 in August 2002, and it exceeded 5,000 only six months later, in February 2003, and it is still only increasing.
　In terms of the number of members, it is a fast-growing large organization, but publicly, it is still not a member organization of the Japanese Association for Dental Science; it is simply a voluntary organization without corporate status, and I must admit that this Society does not have much voice with government agencies, public organizations, other societies, and the medical world.
　As such, first, we must realize becoming a member organization of the Japanese Association for Dental Science. We applied in August this year, and discussion and voting are planned for December. We will do our best to realize gaining membership without missing this application opportunity, which occurs only once every three years.
　Another measure to strengthen the foundation of the Society is to obtain corporate status. This will be essential for becoming able to qualify medical specialists, and for getting approval to advertise, related to deregulation of medical advertising. Therefore, we must definitely realize incorporation by forming a working group (WP) to study the matter.
　Also, we consider it important to conduct publicity activities to widely disclose and convey this Society’s activities and information from various scientific meetings actively to members of the Society, domestic and foreign dental and medical spheres, and the general public. As such, we aim to realize and put effort into regularly issuing newsletters, and upgrading and expanding the homepage, as soon as possible.

2．Academic progress and promotion of
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　oral implantology and implant treatment　-

　Promotion and upgrading of academic activities, which are the most important pillar of the Society, require multifaceted activation and promotion measures.
　As part of activation of academic conventions, we will establish consistent and sequential main themes for respective academic conventions, and according to the themes, we will plan special lectures, educational lectures, symposiums, forums, workshops, table clinics, luncheon seminars, etc.; and, for general lectures and poster presentations, participated in by the members, we will give “Excellent Presentation Awards.” We will also work to enrich the content of the Journal of the Japanese Society of Oral Implantology, and aim to expand and promote awarding of “Excellent Thesis Awards” and “Excellent Academia Awards (tentative)” to the theses presented in our Journal. Further, it is also important to aggressively promote international academic exchange with overseas societies of implantology, and toward this end, we will promote digitalization and translation, into English, of academic information.
　As to management of an academic convention, we will conduct academic planning, establishment of a main theme, selection of lecturers, etc., through collaboration and discussion with the academic committee and the chairman of the convention, and we will also work to improve the level of general research presentation, by establishing a program committee.

3．Introduction and establishment of oral implant treatment
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　into the dentistry system　-

　To establish reliability that oral implant treatment is a therapy that will improve patients’ QOL and enable long-term lasting of mastication oral function, it is urgently required to introduce and spread an evidence-based medicine (EBM), and prepare and apply medical care guidelines and clinical paths, as well as to establish and prepare an ethical code regarding oral implant treatment. We aim to realize these within this term. Further, it is necessary to prepare respective education and training curricula in pre-graduate, postgraduate, and lifelong education, and we also consider it highly necessary to become ready to handle electronic medical charts using implant-related scientific terminology, to prepare for the introduction of electronic medical charts that will occur in the near future, in accordance with informationization and digitalization of the health and medical field.

4．Smooth management of the new doctor certification system
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 and start of the medical specialist system　-

　As members’ interest in certified doctors is increasing, the new doctor certification system is finally in the stage of becoming effective, after many improvements and revisions in the last year’s activities. This term’s goal is to smoothly and steadily manage this new doctor certification system. The next target after achieving this goal is “becoming able to qualify medical specialists, and getting approval to advertise,” which became realistic accompanying the official announcement, in April 2002, on deregulation of medical advertising. This very qualification will give our doctors valuable identity as “medical specialists in oral implant treatment”, who have even higher expertise.

5．Fulfillment of responsibility toward,
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　and contribution to, people and society　-

　In a highly technical organization like our Society, members’ dedication to research and study on advanced implant medical technology will eventually contribute to people and society; however, since we are engaged in medical service, we must fulfill our responsibility and contribute as medical care providers, centered on caring for patients, in the health and medical field, the general medical care world, and the oral health medicine (dentistry) field.
　By accumulating such efforts, our Society and member dentists will become highly regarded and trusted by people and society.

　Taking a bird’s-eye view of our situation, so many issues and goals are piled up, and they seem to be very hard to solve and achieve. However, all of these issues and goals must inevitably be pursued, and we must tackle them with all our strength. I firmly believe we can realize our goals, without fail, if the executives and members of this Society gather together their wisdom and enthusiasm. Your cooperation will be greatly appreciated.

　　May XX, 2003