大学案内｜ABOUT MDU

The 39th All Japan Dental University Student Summer Sports Tournament, organized this year by Matsumoto Dental University (MDU), took place from Wednesday, August 1st to Sunday, August 12th. Most of the venues were in Nagano Prefecture. About 7,400 students from 29 dental universities and departments all over Japan participated in the 22 events comprising the tournament. At the closing ceremony on Sunday 12th, MDU’s executive committee members enjoyed a feeling of success as they thought about their long efforts organizing the tournament and each of the events.

The 13th Student Clinician Research Program (SCRP) grand meeting to select a representative from Japan, sponsored by the Japan Dental Association and Dentsply, took place in the New Dental Practitioners Building in Tokyo on Wednesday, August 22nd. MDU representative, third-year student Mr. Takahiro Chihara, announced his research in English.

MDU’s Japanese Kempo Club, established in 1976, celebrated its 30th anniversary. The Japanese Kempo Club Alumni Association held a ceremony and a party to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the club in the MDU lecture hall and in the cafeteria on the first floor of the 30th Anniversary Building, on Saturday, August 4th. About two hundred people attended the ceremony and party, including many guests, MDU lecturers and staff, members of the club’s alumni association and current members.

The 45th meeting of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry was held in Tower Hall Funabori in Edogawa-ku, Tokyo, on Thursday, July 19th and Friday, July 20th. Including presentations by two working postgraduate students from MDU, MDU gave nine presentations.
During the meeting, an award presentation ceremony was held for excellent theses carried in FY 2006 in the Pediatric Dental Journal — an English language publication of the Japanese Society of Pediatric Dentistry. Dr. Hiroshi Nakamura, an assistant lecturer of MDU’s Pediatric Dentistry, received an award.

MDU freshmen experienced early exposure to clinical training. Students studying Introduction to Dentistry who wanted clinical training during the summer vacation were separated into groups and received training by attending places of dental treatment and examination in MDU hospital and at handicapped people’s homes in Nagano Prefecture between Thursday, July 26th and Saturday, August 11th.

The 26th Yasushi Yagasaki Baseball Cup and the 24th Yasushi Yagasaki Volleyball Cup were contested at the MDU baseball field, Shiojiri Baseball Field and in the MDU gym, on Friday, August 17th, and Saturday, August 18th. Twelve baseball teams and eight volleyball teams competed in the tournaments to enthusiastic support from the spectators.

MDU School of Dental Hygiene held a day experience program on Tuesday, July 31. The participants were people studying for entrance examinations aiming to become dental hygienists and their parents, 77 people in all, from Nagano Prefecture and nearby prefectures. The participants received tooth brushing instruction from second-year dental hygiene students in a classroom. In a basic training room, they also learned about the dental treatment chair and listened to an explanation on how the students of the dental hygiene school study. Then the participants received mock training in a training room.

The first Campus Today (MDU’s newspaper) was issued in November 1985 — 21 years ago. This, the September 1st edition, is the 285th edition. In February 1998, the first compendium of Campus Today covering the first ten years of issues of Campus Today (1st - 136th issues) was published, as part of MDU’s 25th anniversary events. The second compendium of Campus Today (137th - 279th issues) was published July 1, commemorating MDU’s 35th anniversary and distributed to the faculty and staff, parents of students, and to graduates.