11 March 2025

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The ten innovative events in a century of the development of the Taiwan dental history

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The modern medical system was first introduced to Taiwan during the Japanese colonial period (1895–1945).

Taiwan's medical profession and medical education system have continued to improve and mature, and have become the important cornerstone in promoting the development of the Taiwan's medicine and public health. In 1899, the Taiwan Government Medical School was established, and then a school education system for cultivating the physicians began. However, until the end of colonial period in 1945, Taiwan had never established a dental school education system for cultivating the dentists. Even so, the Taiwan's dental system still flourished during the Japanese colonial period.

The Taiwan's regular dentists were mainly the Japanese dentists who came to Taiwan for their careers and the Taiwanese dentists who studied the dentistry in Japan and returned to Taiwan. With the increase in the dentist number, in addition to the improvement of dental technology, the Taiwan's dental management system had also become increasingly complete. The island-wide Taiwan Dental Association (TDA) and the Taiwan Dental Academic Association (TDAA) were established in 1916 and 1929, respectively.

Even after experiencing the system destruction in the post-war period, the Taiwan's dental community was able to thrive again and flourish during the process of rebuilding the dental system. In the past, few studies have explored how the Taiwan dentistry developed into what it is today and the key factors in its development. This article attempted to use document analysis to screen out the ten innovative events in a century of the development of the Taiwan dental history.

This study collected the interview articles from Dr. Shih-Chung Chen (the former deputy director of the Department of Health and the first minister with a dental background in the Ministry of Health and Welfare), and combined with the literature on the development of the Taiwan dental history accumulated through our previous studies. From the above information, ten innovative events in a century of the development of the Taiwan dental history were selected. 

Authors: Feng-Chou Cheng,  Chun-Hsuan Lo,  Chun-Pin Chiang

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/