Dental practice administration consists of practice administration and business administration. We examined current research in Japan about practice and business administration using original articles from the Japanese journals of dental practice administration through the Japan Medical Abstracts Society website. We found 648 articles. There were many original articles about survey research, practice administration and education from dental universities and faculties of dentistry, and many original articles about business administration from non-university sources. We analyzed keywords concerned with business administration from the 648 articles, and found that there were academic keywords from universities and keywords concerned with the management of dental clinics from non- university sources. Many studies related to business administration were published in the 2000s, but few studies in this area have been published since 2010. Health insurance claims in Japan are indicators used in business administration. Few investigators have studied health insurance claims in the dental field, although there are many studies of health insurance claims in the medical ield. There is great potential for development of research in the dental field using big data such as health insurance claims in the future. Academic staff in the dentistry faculty need to keep promoting the development of research and education in dental practice administration with dental practitioners. We believe that this will increase the safety of dental treatment for patients and support stable management of dental clinics, which is important for regional dental healthcare.

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Due to lifestyle-related diseases and a continuously increasing elderly patient subgroup who are undergoing prosthodontic treatment, nutrition is becoming more of a post-operative concern. In this paper, we will describe the importance of proper nutrition following dental treatment in elderly patients and the association between prosthetic treatment and nutrition.

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“Perioperative oral function management” was introduced in the public medical insurance system in 2012, and an attempt was made to prevent adverse events during medical treatment by maintaining a good oral environment. However, standardization of oral management methods and verification of effectiveness have not been sufficiently performed. In this article, we introduce our efforts to manage perioperative oral function during cancer surgery. To prevent surgical site infection during head and neck cancer or upper gastrointestinal cancer surgery and to prevent postoperative aspiration pneumonia, it is important to reduce the number of bacteria in saliva. If gargling is possible, the number of bacteria in saliva is reduced by gargling. In mechanically intubated patients, the number of bacteria in the oral cavity is significantly increased, but it cannot be reduced by brushing or wiping, while irrigation in the oral cavity is effective. However, the number of bacteria in saliva increases again in a short time. If povidone iodine or tetracycline ointment is administered topically in the oral cavity after irrigation, the bacterial count can be suppressed for several hours. We have demonstrated through a randomized controlled trial that surgical site infection is significantly reduced by topical administration of tetracycline ointment on the tongue in patients undergoing oral cancer surgery with tracheostomy. Surgical site infections may occur at distant sites with the passage of infectious agents in the bloodstream. Therefore, it is also important to treat oral infections before surgery. In the future, it is expected that oral management methods, which are effective, will be standardized and their effectiveness verified.

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