Message from the Chair of the Department

Inauguration Greetings

As of June 1, 2007, I took up the Chair of the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Shimane University Faculty of Medicine, following the first chair of the department, Dr. Yasuro Yoshimura.

I would like to take this occasion of my inauguration to introduce myself.

I was born in February 1961 in Nagasaki, a city famous for its beautiful port and hills, and had been lived there until I graduated from high school. The oral surgery I had when I was in my first year of junior high school made me determined to help others in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery. After graduating from Fukuoka Dental College, I was first a member of the Department of Anatomy at the college, and then worked for 16 years for the Department of Oral Surgery, Nagasaki University Medical and Dental Hospital. From last September until the end of this May, I was engaged in clinical practice and research in oral and maxillofacial surgery including implant and plastic surgery at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Umeå University, Sweden.

At Nagasaki University, in cooperation with doctors from the dental association, I diagnosed and treated a great many kinds of oral lesions. The research themes to which I have been devoting my efforts are the excision of oral lesions and reconstruction, the oral rehabilitation using osseointegrated implants, and clinical cytology in the oral and maxillofacial lesions.

In Shimane, I will provide all of the patients with comprehensive treatment for oral lesions, which I am trying to promote. In addition, I will work to ensure that the maxillofacial surgeons we have trained are not only internationally competent maxillofacial surgeons, but also capable of expressing a fundamental kindness to their patients through attention to basic research applicable to clinical practice.

Also, I would like to be of assistance to medical doctors in related departments in general dental treatments, in oral care before and after surgery, and in the rehabilitation of oral functions after surgery. Furthermore, I will impart to the students of medicine and nursing the oral and maxillofacial surgical knowledge that will be useful in their future clinical practices.

Since becoming the chair of the department, three goals have been established, namely, "Comprehensive treatment of oral lesions," "Improvement of precision in the diagnosis and treatment of oral lesions using approaches from cellular and molecular biology," and "Education of capable researchers who understand the importance of kindness to patients." At present the department has 37 staff members including three associate professors and one assistant professor as well as residents, visiting researchers, graduate students, visiting lecturers, and doctors on loan to affiliated hospitals.

In Shimane Prefecture, because of its geographical conditions, it is difficult for a single university hospital to offer quality medical care to every resident of the prefecture. Therefore, our department sends advisors and specialists in oral and maxillofacial surgery as well as dentists to 11 affiliated hospitals. In close cooperation with the university, the director of dentistry and oral and maxillofacial surgery at each hospital works hard to give the local people medical care of the highest standards at a level equivalent to the care we provide at our university hospital. At present, we are establishing a system that will make implant and orthodontic treatments available even on isolated islands. The system is planned to start next spring.

Our clinical practice at the university hospital is in close association with doctors from the Shimane Dental Association who provide invaluable assistance. I intend to make every effort throughout my tenure to advance the development of oral medicine including oral care, and eating and swallowing rehabilitation. I am still new to my position, but I will work to meet the challenges one by one.

My hometown Nagasaki is the place where Siebold and Pompe built the foundations of modern medicine in Japan. Also, San-in is called the birthplace of Japanese medicine from the tale of the White Hare of Inaba in the myths of Izumo. I am proud that I was born in Nagasaki and I am now engaged in medicine in Izumo. I greatly appreciate your warm support.