Dentistry

| Department Overview |--------------

The Department of Stomatology of Fudan University Affiliated Huashan Hospital was founded in 1947. In 1981, it was approved to confer master’s degrees in clinical stomatology, and in 2014, it was approved to confer doctoral degrees in clinical stomatology. It is a Shanghai standardized training base for general dentistry resident physicians, a specialist physician training base for endodontics, and a specialist physician training base for oral and maxillofacial surgery; the supporting institution for the Department of Stomatology of Fudan University Shanghai Medical College; and a deputy-chair unit of the Shanghai Stomatological Association. The former department directors were Li Xuexiang, Zhang Mengyin, Gao Yuefen, Yu Liying, and Zhao Shouliang; the current director is Zhong Laiping. The department currently has 45 physicians, 6 technicians, and 30 nursing staff, including 3 professors/chief physicians, 9 associate professors/deputy chief physicians, and 27 attending physicians; 17 hold doctoral degrees and 24 hold master’s degrees. The department has opened 37 outpatient dental chairs and 44 inpatient beds, with more than 100,000 outpatient visits and more than 2,000 inpatient operations annually.

With a conscientious, responsible, rigorous, and pragmatic approach, the Department of Stomatology fully leverages the comprehensive strengths of Huashan Hospital and its distinctive collaborations with key disciplines to provide high-quality medical services for patients with oral, maxillofacial, head, and neck conditions. The department comprises 10 subspecialties: oral and maxillofacial head and neck surgery, endodontics, oral mucosal diseases, periodontology, dentoalveolar surgery, prosthodontics, orthodontics, oral implantation, pediatric dentistry and oral prevention, and oral and maxillofacial imaging. It specializes in tumors crossing the skull base, oral and maxillofacial head and neck tumors, microsurgical endodontics, and oral mucosal diseases, while giving equal emphasis to oral implantation, periodontal disease, dentoalveolar surgery, and pediatric dentistry and oral prevention. In 1973, Professor Zhang Mengyin and Professor Yang Dongyue of the Department of Hand Surgery jointly performed the third free-flap transplantation operation in the world at that time and the first such operation in China for a maxillofacial defect.

2023 group photo of the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital

Members of the core group of the leadership of the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital

| Discipline Features/Subspecialty Features |--------------

The Department of Stomatology is equipped with a large number of high-end medical devices and instruments that support high-quality clinical medical services. These include ZEISS surgical microscopes, the AESCULAP high-speed power system, the KAVO cone-beam CT three-dimensional imaging system, an all-ceramic CAD/CAM computer-aided design and manufacturing system, ZEISS/LEICA dental microscopes, an iTERO intraoral scanner, laser therapy equipment, an ultrasonic bone knife, a minimally invasive subgingival ultrasonic scaler, W&H/NSK implant motors, endodontic motors, a warm gutta-percha filling system, and minimally invasive tooth-extraction instruments.

Clinical diagnosis and treatment include: 1. surgery and multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of oral, maxillofacial, head, and neck tumors; 2. craniofacial combined radical resection and multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment of tumors crossing the skull base; 3. surgery for oral and maxillofacial trauma, orthognathic surgery, and temporomandibular joint disorders; 4. microscopic endodontic treatment of difficult and calcified root canals, and microsurgical apical surgery; 5. esthetic dental restoration and cold-light teeth whitening; 6. multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatment and photodynamic therapy for oral precancerous lesions and oral mucosal diseases; 7. implant-supported prosthetic rehabilitation for difficult cases; 8. basic and sequential treatment of periodontal disease; 9. minimally invasive tooth extraction and intentional replantation of fractured teeth; 10. complete and partial removable denture restoration, precision attachments, and esthetic restoration with CAD/CAM all-ceramic crowns; 11. MBT-based fixed orthodontic treatment and invisible orthodontics; (12) pediatric dentistry and oral prevention, among other services.

In addition to general outpatient clinics, the department has expert clinics, special-needs clinics, and international medical clinics. Dedicated senior physicians are responsible for consultations. Appointments are made by telephone, and consultations can be conducted entirely in English, providing services for domestic and international patients with special needs.

| Department Features |--------------

1. Craniofacial combined surgery and multidisciplinary comprehensive treatment for tumors crossing the skull base

The Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Head and Neck Surgery fully leverages the hospital’s strengths and, relying on the National Center for Neurological Disorders, strengthens multidisciplinary cooperation with the departments of neurosurgery, anesthesiology, oncology, radiation oncology, pathology, and radiology, among others. It performs craniofacial combined radical resection plus immediate repair and reconstructive surgery for brain tumors involving extracranial structures and for oral, maxillary sinus, ear, and eye tumors involving intracranial structures. It explores a high-difficulty MDT clinical diagnosis and treatment system for tumors crossing the skull base and has made significant progress in the diagnosis and treatment of advanced malignant tumors and complex skull-base diseases. It provides hope for patients with highly challenging tumors crossing the skull base.

2. Neoadjuvant and individualized treatment of oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma

Neoadjuvant treatment for oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma is expected to optimize existing treatment regimens. Building on extensive previous clinical research in the discipline, the department conducts prospective clinical studies of immune-related neoadjuvant treatment and prospective clinical studies of individualized precision oncology 2.0. Through multidisciplinary collaboration, these studies aim to improve the overall survival and quality of life of patients with oral and maxillofacial squamous cell carcinoma and to provide high-level evidence-based medical evidence for optimizing diagnostic and treatment guidelines.

3. Reconstructive jaw reconstruction and dental implantation

Benign lesions of the upper and lower jaws, such as ameloblastoma, can readily cause segmental jaw defects after surgical resection, resulting in facial deformity and functional impairment. Through digital design and precision-assisted surgical procedures, the tumor is completely removed while the defective jaw is reconstructed in the same operation with a vascularized fibular myocutaneous flap or a vascularized iliac bone and muscle flap, restoring the patient’s facial appearance. Digital computer-assisted design is used to perform dental implant placement and restore the patient’s dentition, thereby recovering masticatory function.

4. Intentional replantation for vertical fractures of posterior teeth

Intentional replantation for vertical fractures of posterior teeth integrates the techniques and achievements of all dental specialties. By combining clinical practice with laboratory research, it reduces patients’ pain, financial burden, and complications. Its effectiveness exceeds 90%; its level of achievement is leading in China and, in some respects, internationally advanced, providing an effective treatment method for preserving vertically fractured posterior teeth.

5.特色 of oral mucosal disease

Oral mucosal diseases have complex causes, are difficult to treat, and persist for long periods, bringing great inconvenience and even psychological burdens to patients’ lives and work. Through an integrated Chinese and Western medicine approach, the department conducts in-depth diagnosis and treatment of oral mucosal diseases and has carried out extensive research, improving its diagnostic and treatment capabilities and benefiting large numbers of patients with oral mucosal diseases.

A patient with mandibular ameloblastoma underwent segmental resection of the mandible, simultaneous mandibular reconstruction with a vascularized fibular myocutaneous flap, and subsequent dental implant placement to restore the dentition and masticatory function

| Teaching |--------------

The Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital undertakes extensive teaching work. It was one of the first batch of Shanghai standardized training bases for general dentistry residents in 2010, one of the first batch of Shanghai training bases for endodontic specialists in 2016, and became a Shanghai training base for oral and maxillofacial surgery specialists in 2024. It strives to cultivate professionally competent dentists and young physicians who are committed to the greater good and devoted to serving the country.

The department undertakes the teaching and training of Fudan University medical undergraduates, eight-year program students, master’s students, doctoral students, standardized resident trainees, specialist trainees, and visiting trainees. It actively promotes the development of undergraduate and postgraduate medical education curricula at Fudan University Shanghai Medical College. Undergraduate teaching totals 52 class hours per year, and multiple new postgraduate medical education course projects have been added. The department currently has one master’s degree program and one doctoral degree program in stomatology, with 2 master’s supervisors and 2 doctoral supervisors, and has trained 119 graduate students to date. At present, it admits an average of 1–2 doctoral students and 2–3 master’s students, including students pursuing clinical professional degrees, each year.

Teaching and training conference of the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital

| Research |--------------

Research is the engine and soul of the rapid development of a discipline. Centered on patients, the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital is passionate about researching medical challenges, refining research directions, and advancing clinical research. Its research covers neoadjuvant treatment of oral cancer; high-throughput drug screening using organoids from oral, maxillofacial, head, and neck tumors; tissue engineering involving stem cells, biomaterials, and growth factors; clinical translation of dental pulp stem cells and oncolytic viruses; and multiple other areas, including periodontal disease, oral mucosal diseases including oral cancer, and the immune microenvironment.

In 2024, the department took the lead in establishing the Pan-Yangtze River Delta Region Clinical and Translational Research Alliance for Oral, Maxillofacial, Head, and Neck Diseases. It designed and implemented multiple prospective multicenter randomized controlled clinical trials and cohort studies, promoting prospective multicenter clinical research, academic exchange, and cooperation in oral, maxillofacial, head, and neck diseases in China.

Over the past 3 years, the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital has obtained 10 research projects, including 6 funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and published 24 SCI papers, with the highest impact factor being 18.5. Its staff serve on and review for domestic and international academic journals, including Lancet and Nature subjournals, and participate in the preparation of multiple clinical diagnosis and treatment guidelines and expert consensuses for head and neck tumors.

Over the past 3 years, under the leadership of the department director, the Department of Stomatology has organized multiple national- and Shanghai-level continuing education courses, seminars on comprehensive treatment of tumors crossing the skull base, seminars on advances in neoadjuvant treatment of oral cancer, and seminars on MDT diagnosis and treatment of head and neck tumors, among other academic conferences. The department has also established a collaborative relationship with Harvard Medical School in the United States, promoting international academic exchange and enhancing its academic standing.

Unveiling ceremony of the Pan-Yangtze River Delta Region Clinical and Translational Research Alliance for Oral, Maxillofacial, Head, and Neck Diseases in 2024

| Social Responsibility |--------------

Over the past 3 years, the Department of Stomatology of Huashan Hospital has organized more than 30 public science education activities through lectures inside and outside the hospital, poster exhibitions, free clinics, and other formats, providing the public with oral-health education and consultation on oral diseases. Key members of the department have participated in rural outreach activities in Yunnan many times. Through outpatient care, surgery, free clinics, training, and other medical activities, they have helped local physicians improve their diagnostic and treatment capabilities and delivered high-quality medical resources to remote areas of Yunnan, demonstrating a strong sense of social responsibility.

2024 Huashan Stomatology Love Your Teeth Day rural outreach activity.