Review Article Can biomedical science be made relevant in dental education? A North

FOR MANY years I have argued that biomedical sciencewas a powerful force, under-appreciated by the dental education community, which soon would have a major impact on the nature of dental practice (1–4). This opinion has only become stronger over the last few years, as a result of the truly phenomenal progress being made in the biomedical sciences. My sense of the rate of this progress certainly is a reflection of the field of research in which I am engaged and whose literature I routinely read, i.e. gene therapy. Gene therapy offers a level of biological manipulation that elicits considerable interest, and provides major scien-tific and clinical challenges. Although the field has significant problems, I have been especially impressed by the first report of a successful human gene therapy trial in France, described in 2000 (5). Two small childre