Reflections on my involvement in orthodontic research

Abstract

Some years ago, Professor Takihashi, who was then the greatest living professor of orthodontics in Japan, called on us in Ann Arbor just before his retirement. I asked Dr. Takihashi who would replace him? and he replied, "There's a young man who will do better than I because he will be able to take Japanese orthodontics to the world and bring the world's orthodontics to Japan." That young man was Fujio Miura. Fujio Miura has, in the years since Takihashi spoke to me, written one of the most amazing records in the history of our specialty. His research is as far ranging as anyone's. For example, in biology he has written well on the ethnology of Japanese craniofacial morphology and that of the aborigines in Japan. He has written on developmental biology and on the tissue reaction of tooth movements. In metallurgy he has contrived alloys that have revolutionized our appliances, for he was a pioneer in the use of nickel-titanium wires. Fujio Miura invented direct bonding. Professor Miura has fulfilled Professor Takihashi's predictions well for he has become the most famous orthodontic professor in Japan's history. It is interesting to see that his students occupy most of the chairs of orthodontics in Japan and many elsewhere. Miura is an accomplished artist who has exhibited his work. This personable scholar probably attends more meetings of the American Association of Orthodontists Society than most American members, and he is equally at home in the European society, and many other orthodontic groups in the world.