2008 Volume 5 Issue 1 Pages 9-18
In order to achieve not merely a temporary or fragmented application of oriental (traditional) medicine to western modern dental treatment but also to ensure its position as a complementary, continuing therapeutic technology, a mutually beneficial co-existence is required.
Oriental medicine is considered a “tailored” medicine and a key factor is defining the target patient’s Syo (sho). Even if treatment as currently offered in clinical practice is western-derived, it is still possible to grasp the patient’s condition more solidly by introducing this concept of Syo (sho).
Based on the above, a logically consistent and relatively systematized Chinese medicine may play a convenient and effective role in conventional medical practice. When the cultural and topographic roles of Japan are re-examined in light of Chinese medicine’s historical background however, a harmonious symbiosis between a systematized traditional oriental medicine and an efficient, technologically oriented western medicine seems difficult to establish. Nevertheless, it is the author’s hope that a new wave of medical (dental) treatment successfully combining the two may emerge from Japan in the 21st century.
