History

In early 1920´s the interest in studying for the profession of dentistry was increasing and did not correspond with the capacity of the University Dental Clinic at Viničná Street in Prague. It became necessary to enlarge the teaching team and find new premises to enable clinical stages.

According to the Act No. 303/1920 Coll. characterized Dentistry as one of the medical arts and sciences and expressed the need for establishing the State Institute as a training centre. The teaching team was formed under the leadership of then head of Dental Clinic professor Jan Jesenský and the premises for the Institute were searched for. In 1926 the associated professor Karel Černý became the head of the State Institute and the Institute temporarily operated in the rented premises.

On the 14th January 1930 the State Institute for Dentistry was solemnly opened at the premises of the Maceška palace at Královské Vinohrady. The establishing decree of the Institute was issued by the Ministry of Public Health and Sports of the recently formed Czechoslovak Republic as early as in 1924.

Assoc. prof. Karel Černý quickly completed the infrastructure of the new workplace. The Institute contained all the branches of dentistry at that time including bed department. Clinical and pedagogical activities of the Institute can be traced in the Czech journal “Dentistry” (“Zubní lékařství”), the chief editor of which became assoc. prof. K. Černý.

Each year from 20 to 30 dentists participated in short-term attachments at the Institute. The Czech dental science soon achieved international significance, and on a regular basis, the employees from the Institute held lectures at ARPA and FDI. More and more long-term studying stays abroad, especially in the USA, became available, and the professional public was acquainted with the new experience gathered during those stays on the pages of the journal Dentistry. The employees of the Institute were correspondents of a wide range of foreign and international scientific associations.

In 1939 Czechoslovakia was occupied by Nazi Germany and all the Czech universities and colleges were closed down. Many people who were forced to leave the medical faculty joined the scientific and pedagogical team of the State Institute.

As early as in 1940 Jan Wolf and František Neuwirth published a paper “Reparative changes on the surface of natural and artificially induced enamel”. Jan Wolf was experienced in the investigation of hard dental tissues and he elaborated the window technique of initial caries lesion model and technique of the replicas of the surface of studied objects and their microscopy at high magnification. His discovery of the remineralization of superficial enamel defects using the salivary substances was the first worldwide. Over the following years, he described Nasmyth’s membrane, arcade-like structure of enamel prisms and he thoroughly studied ultrastructure of the enamel, dentine and cement. J. Wolf showed the “self-sealing” of dental fissures with the salivary calcium-containing substances resulting, which had protecting effect against dental caries and he described microrelief of the incipient carious lesion.

After World War II, assoc. prof. Karel Wachsmann became the head of the Institute. Scientific and research program remained focused on orthodontics and prosthetics, but the first reports of fluoride prevention of dental caries appeared in the professional literature. Professionals from institutions outside Prague, in particular Josef Švejda from Plzeň and Vratislav Bažant (senior) from Brno, enriched the Czech literature with new knowledge about the action of fluorine. At the first dental congress after World War II prof. Kostečka clearly recognized fluoride as the prevention against dental caries.

At the beginning of 1950s new laboratories for inorganic analysis and for investigation of mechanical properties o dental materials were established at the Institute. New research fellows – chemists and natural scientists joined the scientific and research team, which was formerly comprised only of dental professionals.

In 1948 the Ministry of Health founded the Association for the Research of Dental Caries and the research activities became conceptual. Gradually, dental caries became the research topic of the highest priority for many researchers of the Institute. The Association stipulates guidelines for introducing and implementing of dental caries prophylaxis using sodium fluoride and initiates a project that mapped fluoride content in surface waters in Czechoslovakia.

In 1953, a working team under the leadership of Čestmír Parma submitted a general report on the results of hydrological research, which represented a starting point for the introduction of municipal water fluoridation.

A new Universities Act enabled the students to study dentistry directly at medical faculties. Thus, the State Institute for Dentistry lost one of its major activities as a clinical base for comprehensive dental education. The Ministry of Health directed the Institute, renamed as Institute of Dental Research, to focus on scientific and research activities in the field of dentistry and incorporated the Institute into its scientific and research base. The head of the Institute became assoc. prof. Jarmil Kostlán.

Assoc. prof. Kostlán studied the histopathological picture of the caries lesion, elaborated methods of caries lesion imaging in passing and polarized light and using microradiography. His research received great publicity worldwide among professionals in artifactology of enamel and dentine caries lesion. The research of Anna Plačková was focused on the ultrastructure of hard dental tissues. She cooperated with the Electron Microscopy Laboratory of Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences of J. Wolf and she became a distinguished member of an international team of professionals from Strassbourg, Münster and Chicago.

Generally speaking, the research of the Institute of Dental Research was at that time focused on the pharmacokinetics of fluoride in the organism and experimental modelling of dental caries in vitro and in laboratory rodents. Moreover, experimental model for the investigation of toxic effects of fluoride on developing hard dental tissues was elaborated.

In addition to other research laboratories, a new department of statistics was established. This department significantly increased the relevance of the results of clinical and experimental studies. Lubor Mrklas elaborated the methods of indices for caries experience and state of the dentition for epidemiological purposes and advocated their methodological relevance.

In mid-1960s, four scientific and research working groups started to form. A group for oral biology was focused on pathomorphology and pathophysiology of periodontium. The laboratory base of the Institute was extended by the establishment of departments of microbiology and immunology. A Team led by M. Kindlová achieved international publicity by a complex investigation of the model of experimental periodontal lesion and immunogenetic aspects of tooth buds transplants in rats. Technological working group studied properties of amalgam and silver-palladium alloys and elaborated advanced clinical and laboratory prosthetic technologies. Clinical working group was focused on the reparative potential of dental pulp, surgical sewing materials and psychopharmacology of dental treatment in anxious patients. Working group for epidemiology and prevention collected data on the effectiveness of particular forms of fluoride prevention and in cooperation with the Institute of Healthcare Information and Statistics (ÚZIS) monitored the quality of systematic care for oral health of children and youth. A group for oral epidemiology supported municipal water fluoridation and introduction of fluoride tablets administration as a form of systemic fluoridation.

In 1980s the basic research of periodontal lesion models was extended by molecular biology and pathology and this topic became a permanent part of the research plan directed by the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. Department of epidemiology took part in the organization of a nationwide survey of oral health and treatment needs of all the population age groups, in which, for the first time, periodontal status was examined. In addition, many local surveys were conducted.

The employees of the Institute significantly contributed to the process of the assessment and testing of dental materials with respect to their safety, efficacy and safety to human health.

Since 1990s, during the recent period of the Institute existence, there have been critical qualitative changes regarding its organization and economics. Previously the Institute was a budget organization, but it became an allowance organization and this resulted in loss of all institutional endowments granted by the Ministry of Health – the founder of the Institute.

The Institute receives financial resources for its operation from the following: specific research grants allocated by the Internal Grant Agency of the Ministry of Health, Grant Agency of the Czech Republic and international sources (PHARE, EUREKA, COST etc.).

Since the 1st September 1999, the Institute of Dental Research was incorporated in General Faculty Hospital in Prague. Immediately after that it became one of the institutes of the 1st medical faculty of the Charles University in Prague and started to participate in the activities of the medical faculty.

Within the operation of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic, the position of the Institute of Dental Research and General Faculty Hospital in Prague is specific since it has obtained authorization (AO 252) for the activities regarding the assessment of dental medical devices and dental implants in compliance with the Act No. 22/1997 Coll., as amended and government decree No. 336/2004 Coll.