Greeting from the President
Greetings. I am Tetsuro Ikebe of Fukuoka Dental College, and I have been appointed president of the Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. In the past, as a managing executive member of the Society’s Board of Governors, I have worked directly with past presidents Kanchu Tei and Tadaaki Kirita, my immediate predecessor, and I have learned a lot from their hard work. I have also received a great deal of advice from past president Mikihiko Kogo. I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude. I have developed a keen sense of the weight of the tradition cultivated by our predecessors, dating back to 1933. I am deeply honored to shoulder this weight as their successor, and I will do my best to live up to this role.
Several goals were identified for the Japanese Society of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons by former president Kirita, as follows: 1) further enhancing the Congress and reexamining its approach in the with-COVID-19 era; 2) strengthening international alliances with IAOMS, Asian AOMS, and the oral and maxillofacial surgery societies of other countries; 3) developing the next generation of oral and maxillofacial surgeons; 4) strengthening alliances with other academic associations; 5) providing the general public with information and education; 6) responding appropriately to the new official dental specialist program, and producing and developing more reliable specialist oral surgeons who will command public confidence; 7) obtaining the impact factor (IF) for the Journal of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, Medicine, and Pathology (JOMSMP), which is the official English-language journal of our Society; and 8) creating an environment and opportunities for female oral and maxillofacial surgeons to advance further in the field. We must, of course, continue to pursue these goals with improvements and solutions. The second goal above would include increasing the number of Fellow of the International Board for the Certification of Specialists in Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery (FIBCSOMS), as well as protecting the status of single-licensed oral and maxillofacial surgeons. In addition, I would like to propose the following goals: 9) education in oral and maxillofacial surgery in dental schools; and 10) enhancing cooperation among local oral and maxillofacial surgeons. The ninth goal would be in conjunction with the third goal. The tenth goal could potentially include the improvement of disparities in oral and maxillofacial surgical care between rural and urban areas.
In addition, as a Public Interest Incorporated Association, it is our duty to operate programs that promote the interests of the general public through scholarship and science. A variety of problems have arisen in the world beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. We cannot expect easy times ahead. At times like these, we need to revisit the purpose of the Society, which appears in our Articles of Incorporation, as a guiding principle. According to Article 4 of the Articles of Incorporation, “The purpose of this Incorporated Association is to advance research and spread knowledge concerning oral and maxillofacial surgical studies, thereby furthering the development of scholarship and contributing to the promotion of public health in Japan.”
In other words, the purpose is twofold: first, to advance scientific study in the field of oral and maxillofacial surgery; and second, to make use of that knowledge to promote public health. I believe that we must continue to pursue and sustain these two simple but profound goals that were implemented by our predecessors. The question is how to prevent or eliminate obstacles to these two goals. I believe that we must earnestly address the issues raised by former president Kirita in order to do this.