大学案内｜ABOUT MDU

Matsumoto Dental University (MDU) held a Graduation and Certificate Presentation Ceremony for academic year 2006 on Thursday, March 8th. The ceremony was for graduates from the Dental Department, MDU Graduate School and the School of Dental Hygiene. The lecture hall was filled with graduates, their parents and other invitees. The ceremony was worthy of a celebration wishing for good luck to graduates.

Campus Inn was constructed in 2006, so freshmen spent one year together in the dormitory. MDU makes particular efforts in the first year of education and provides wide ranging academic support to freshmen so that they acquire basic academic ability, including strengthening of understanding, boosting motivation to study and a habit of independent study.

MDU constructed Campus Inn for freshmen to live together for the first year for them to become dentists with rich humanity — one of the planks of MDU’s education policy, and develop a self-disciplined lifestyle appropriate for medical practitioners and a habit of study.

At the 2006 Graduation and Certificate Presentation Ceremony, awards were presented to the 30th academic year Dental Department graduates who achieved excellent academic results: the Yasushi Yagasaki Special Award (one), the Yasushi Yagasaki Award (three)and, the Encouragement Award (eight). The Sports Award (one) and the Activity Award (two) were presented to graduates who excelled in sport or cultural activity and who contributed to society. Two graduates who attended all of their classes and one graduate who attended almost all of the required classes were also given awards.

The Clinical Training Completion Certificate Presentation Ceremony
for academic year 2006 was held in the student hall of the library building on Monday, March 26th. A total of 58 students attended, comprising 29 students who completed Dentist Clinical Training Program I (single type clinical training) at MDU hospital and 7 students who completed Training Program IIA (comprehensive type clinical training) and 22 students who completed Training Program IIB (comprehensive clinical training) at dental practitioners, etc. Professor Mitsuharu Amari, the Director of MDU Hospital, presented certificates to a representative of each of the three programs.

The Japanese Kempo Club Alumni Association presented two sets of mats for matches and two sets of protectors to the Kempo club in celebration of the club’s thirtieth anniversary. Mr. Hidenobu Takada and Mr. Seiichiro Sugimoto, graduates of the fifth academic year, visited MDU on Wednesday, February 28th, and presented the mats and protectors to Professor Toru Shibutani, who is in charge of the Japanese Kempo club. The mats and protectors purchased by donations from members of the association were presented in time for the Kempo matches at this year’s All Japan Dental University Student Summer Sports Tournament, that will be organized by the MDU Kempo club.

A capping ceremony for the 31st academic year students of the Dental Hygiene Department of the MDU School of Dental Hygiene was held in the lecture hall on the 7th floor of the main building on Tuesday, March 6th. The capping ceremony was for students who completed the basic curriculum in the previous year to motivate them to become dental hygienists, prior to clinical training at MDU Hospital starting in April.

The ceremony was attended by 31 freshmen of the Dental Hygiene Department as well as the directors, lecturers and second-year students of the department. Each of the students was summoned up onto the stage, where Professor Etsuo Kasahara, the Dean of the school, presented them with a pale pink cap.

The fifth meeting of the Japan Dental Aspects of Osteoporosis Society took place at Senri Life Science Center in Osaka on Sunday, March 4th, chaired by Professor Toshiyuki Yoneda of the Dental Science Course of Osaka University Graduate School. The theme of the meeting was “Dental science and osteoporosis -- a merger of osteology and dental science”

Many studies linking dental problems and generalized diseases have been reported in recent years. This society was established to determine whether osteoporosis, a metabolic bone disease, occurs in the mandibles: this remains unsolved.

Cookies developed based on the research “The effect of dolomite on osteoporosis” of Dr. Toshihide Mizoguchi, a lecturer in the MDU Institute for Oral Science, were reported in the March edition of Campus Today (page 1 of issue no. 279). The cookies were reported by various media. These cookies, which contain collagen to strengthen bones and improve bone mass, are sold as food products with a nutrient function claiming to prevent osteoporosis. One pack of 3 cookies (about 20g) provides about 80% of the daily adult requirement of calcium and magnesium.

Many people in Nagano Prefecture who read reports of the cookies on newspapers or heard the news on TV requested MDU to sell the cookies. Responding to such requests, MDU shops started selling the cookies on Monday, March 19th. The price of one box of the cookies containing 12 packs is ¥1,300.