Oral Science (Dentistry and Oral-Maxillofacial Surgery)

Overview

　Our department, which was established in 1918, is a leading oral surgery department in Japan. Dr. Kenji Nittono, who is regarded as the founder of oral surgery in Japan, Dr. Heizo Nakamura, Dr. Torakichi Kanamori, Prof. Ikichi Sato and other pioneers of the early stages of oral surgery in Japan, have acted as leaders in this field. As a result, departments of oral surgery were established at Nihon University, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, and the Health Sciences University of Hokkaido. In 1962, it was established as a course and Dr. Ikichi Sato became the first professor Chiba University under the new system. Prof. Tatsurou Horikoshi, Prof. Ken-ichi Sato, Prof. Hideki Tanzawa, and Prof. Katsuhiro Uzawa became chief professor in 1966, 1979, 1997, and 2020, respectively. We generally handle oral diseases both in clinical and research settings, but we have been studying oral cancer intensely from before, and our department has been continuing development involving many big-budget projects, like the center of excellence (COE) of research, education, and treatment of the 21st Century COE Program (2003-2008), the leaders’ class of the Educational Program for the Specialist of Cancer Treatment (2007-2012), and as a representative researcher of Japan Science and Technology (JST) seeds contracted development work.