Sapporo Dental College & Hospital in Uttara, Dhaka

The establishment of Sapporo Dental College for uplifting the quality of dental education and service in a true sense was the brainchild of Prof. Dr. Mohiuddin Ahmed. The need for a private dental college was initially felt while Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Hannan were students at Dhaka Dental College- the only Dental institution in the country in the late nineteen seventies. During that period the Oral Health care delivery system was in its primary stage and there was a substantial lack of quality dental education in the country.

The journey between Sapporo and Dhaka began back in 1983 with the enrollment of Prof. Dr. M.A. Hannan, the first Bangladeshi student enrolled in Hokkaido University, School of Dentistry under Prof. Jun Ishikawa. The next Bangladeshi student to follow was Prof. Dr. Mohiuddin Ahmed under Prof. Masaaki Kawamura. During his study in graduate school, Dr. Mohiuddin discussed his ideas for the improvement of oral health services in Bangladesh and the dream of establishing a private dental college with Professor Kawamura. After many hours of elaborate discussion, Professor Kawamura finally endorsed the idea. Later under the planning of Prof. Kawamura and Dr. Mohiuddin, Bangladeshi students were enrolled in different departments to form a team of manpower essential for establishing the dream institution- “Sapporo Dental College”. Other Professors at Hokkaido University were also very sympathetic and offered their wholehearted support for the realization of the project. They were Prof. Akira Amemiya, Prof. Hirokata Shimokobe, Prof. Yasunori Totsuka, and Prof. Nobue Inoue, along with numerous well-wishers and friends.

The institution is the pioneer of community-based dental research aimed at improving the oral health status of the rural people in Bangladesh, and continuously setting up programmes to serve the underprivileged. The Institute has accomplished many community dental service projects at the grass-root level, among them the most recent one was supported by the Embassy of Japan. Besides, nationwide dental and medical camps are continuously performed to extend service to the remote areas of the country where dental and medical services are scarce and almost non-existent.