Foundation Nakao for Worldwide Oral Health to launch new round of research grant applications on 21 September 2021

Mrs Makiko Nakao and Mr Makoto Nakao

Dental academics and clinicians are invited to apply for Foundation Nakao Grant from 21 September 2021. This is the third round of funding made available by the prestigious foundation, since its launch in 2018. The organisation supports clinical trials and research in important topics such as minimum intervention dentistry and oral health of the elderly.

Successful applications will receive fully funded projects of CHF 50,000.00 per year in addition to wide exposure among dental professionals, the dental industry as well as the general public of each study’s outcomes and achievements (for a maximum of two years and up to CHF 100,0000; if the project budget is over CHF 50,000 in two years, the applicant will need to submit applications for the second year as well).

Foundation Nakao for Worldwide Oral Health was established on 21 September 2018 in Luzern, Switzerland. This was made possible by Mr Makoto Nakao, former chairman of GC Corporation, who after 42 years at the helm of the company donated his privately-owned company shares to support this noble initiative.

Advancing oral health research

The foundation’s second round of grant applications took place in September 2020 and seven studies were awarded the honour of being accepted out of a huge number of submissions. Applicants represented the following categories: government organisation, non-government organisation, university, research institution or other.

Foundation Nakao supports academic research and clinical studies contributing to its founding goal, which is the improvement of oral health and subsequent raised quality of life of all people in the world. Key oral health research areas that address minimum intervention dentistry, oral health in ageing populations and the 8020 movement, tooth function, the prevention of oral frailty and dental IQ.

“The inspiration for the Foundation came from a topic that is very close to our hearts: the impact of oral health on quality of life. My husband and I believe that dentistry has a fundamental role to play in the health and longevity of people around the world. We look forward to seeing this becoming a reality through the activities of the Foundation,” said Makiko Nakao, president of Foundation Nakao for Worldwide Oral Health at its official launch in 2018.

The management board of Foundation Nakao boasts a team of distinguished dental professionals from four continents: Europe, America, Australia and Asia. They are Prof Reinhart Hickel, Prof Clark Stanford, Prof Macro Ferrari, Prof Eric Reynolds, Prof Keiichi Sasaki, and Dr Kiyotaka Nakao.