History and Activities of Bioprogressive Study Club of Japan

In 1977 and 1978, Robert Ricketts (1920-2003), who is the originator of Bioprogressive Philosophy, visited Japan to offer the Advanced Orthodontics in Tokyo with a total attendance of more than 350. In 1979 Carl Gugino, who is a co-worker in research and is the originator of Zerobase Orthodontics, started the Bioprogressive Course in Japan, which is called the Gugino Course. Since then, he has been annually conducting his courses with several instructors and developed Zerobase Bioprogressive Philosophy.

Hito Suyehiro (1928-1983), who was an excellent orthodontist in the US and had contributed to the development of edgewise technique, which is called “Suyehiro Method” in Japan in the early 1970’s and is the best friend of Gugino, worked as an instructor of the Gugino courses from 1980 to 1982. Bioprogressive Study Club (BSC) was established by his advice and support in December 1982.

Purpose of BSC is to provide the opportunity to exchange the ideas on the clinical issues relating to orthodontics and to learn from each other.　The members of the BSC are those who completed the Gugino Philosophy Course in Japan, those who attended Ricketts’ Advanced Orthodontic 2 week course or the Applied Mechanics Course by Gugino, Bench and Hilgers in the US. Since the Gugino Course has served as the qualification for the membership of the BSC, BSC has now become one of the major study clubs of orthodontics in Japan with the members of close to 350.

The first four years from 1983 to 1986 were the time when the foundation was laid by the major members. Board members were selected and various committees were organized by 1987. Under the powerful leadership of the able Presidents, Carl Gugino (1983-1986), Hiroshi Nezu (1987- 1992), Kenji Nagata (1993-1998), Katsura Imai (1999-2002), Osamu Watanabe (2003-2004), Makoto Nakao (2005-2006) and currently Kenji Nagata (2007-), BSC has made a tremendous development.

Major activities include the Ricketts seminar, the annual Gugino Course based on Zerobase Bioprogressive Philosophy, the annual Case Presentation Conference, Basic Seminar on frontal and lateral cephalometric tracing and analysis, One Day Seminar covering latest topics of orthodontics, the annual BSC meeting and various international activities including lecturing and case presentation. The scientific journal (Proceedings of the BSC) has been published annually since 1987, and the BSC Newsletters have been mailed at least twice a year since the club was established. BSC has been publishing the book of the case reports based on Zerobase Bioprogressive Philosophy and the book of the entire record of Ricketts’ Special Lecture 1990.

Every five years, we have been organizing the international orthodontic conference in conjunction with the annual meeting since 1992. In every conference we have been inviting several renowned speakers from all over the world. The first international conference commemorating the 10th anniversary of BSC was held in Tokyo in 1992 (Conference chairperson: Katsura Imai). The second international conference was held in Kyoto in 1997 (Chairperson: Isao Asami). The third conference was held in Yokohama in 2002 (Chairperson: Kazunobu Yoneyama).

One of the highlights of our activities is the BSC Hito Suyehiro Memorial Lectures, which is a great tribute to our mentor, Hito Suyehiro, who had dedicated a great deal of his time and energy to the education of modern edgewise technique to orthodontic profession in Japan and later became the founder of our group. The 1st memorial lecture was held by Robert Ricketts, titled “Therapy for Cranio-Mandibular Connection” in Tokyo, February 1990. Since then, the memorial lectures have been held in conjunction with the BSC international orthodontic conferences: the second lecture at the 10th BSC anniversary meeting by Carl Gugino, Fumio Yogosawa and Hiroshi Nezu, the 3rd lecture at the 15th anniversary meeting by Carl Gugino, Fujio Miura and Kenji Nagata, and the 4th lecture at the 20th anniversary meeting by Carl Gugino and Hideo Mitani in memory of Hito Suyehiro’s spirit, friendship and leadership.