Editorial: Changing My Professional Life

Abstract

Yoshihiro Ono, DDS: After graduating cum laude from Kyushu Dental University in 1972, I started my practice. In Japan, most periodontal care was nonsurgical in design. I completed numerous partial- and full-mouth reconstructions but soon noticed some major concerns, such as margin exposure, deepening pocket depths, recession, and loss of teeth. I even began to believe my patients were losing their confidence in me. I made the decision to expand my knowledge. I left my father’s practice and moved to Oregon in the United States. My wife and three young children accompanied me while I spent a year learning the English language. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to attend the Institute for Advanced Dental Studies founded by Dr Gerald Kramer and Dr Myron Nevins. I saw cases of patients with severe osseous disease who had been maintained for 15 or 20 years. The cases were treated with surgical procedures that I had never seen. As I continued my training under their concepts and read the literature, I realized what they were doing was a science-based treatment. I needed to learn these procedures before my return to Japan in order to pass it on to many other dentists. I found a partner, Dr Kimio Nakamura, a prosthetic teacher, who was treating patients in need of oral rehabilitation and felt the need for periodontal treatment. We decided to share a practice and included dental hygienists at our location. Dr Nakamura and I founded a study group with the goal of sharing with Japanese dentists the concepts and techniques for long-term results that I had learned. That study group started with 4 dentists and now has more than 120 in Osaka and 140 in Tokyo. In 1987, we established the Japan Institute for Advanced Dental Studies in Osaka and another institute in Tokyo in 1998. We offer courses in periodontics, prosthodontics, endodontics, orthodontics, and implantology. The number of participants has exceeded 12,000 to date. In addition, more than 4,000 dental hygienists and 500 dental technicians have attended courses. Many of the students have become teachers in our two institutes, and a number of others have opened programs that are similar to ours. I cannot thank Dr Kramer and Dr Nevins enough for their guidance and encouragement, as well as giving me the opportunity to study with them at their Institute for Advanced Dental Studies. It has been 35 years since the Japan Institute was created, and many dentists have long-lasting cases. Thanks to the unchanged support and a great deal of knowledge gifted by Dr Nevins, I have been able to help others, and I now see dentists with great enthusiasm for their practices who share their thoughts with their friends. Yoshihiro Ono, DDS Tokyo, Japan