Conference on Putting Science into

he scientific horizons for academic dentistry have never been brighter. Scientific advances are providing new and challenging research findings in caries, periodontal disease, biomaterials, and other diseases and conditions through epidemio-logical, behavioral, and health promotion research and molecular and genetic research. The Surgeon General’s report, Oral Health in America: A Report of the Surgeon General, clearly positions oral health as a part of total health and points to the emerging science that links oral infections and systemic con-ditions.1 The release of the human genome report, the emergence of the knowledge base of biomimetics and bioengineering, an enhanced understanding of environmental, behavioral, and genetic interactions