Editorial

Stomatos was first published in 1995, five years after the Faculty of Dentistry was founded at Universidade Luterana do Brasil (ULBRA). The aim of the journal has always been to publish research and review articles with a focus on sharing knowledge with the local and national community of dental practitioners. Papers have traditionally described technical innovations, scientific and philosophical advances, and upcoming trends in dentistry, a field marked by major changes along the last few decades.

The journal title, Stomatos, was chosen based on a university decision to assign Greek origin names to all official publications of the institution, in recognition of the role of ancient Greece as the source and origin of knowledge, i.e., of man’s first initiative to express thoughts in writing. In antiquity, this task was the responsibility of the sibyls, Apollo’s prophetesses who wrote ideas and prophecies for the world to read. The name Stomatos reflects a commitment of the journal to share innovative and original knowledge with the dental community.

In 1996, ULBRA started to offer graduate programs and thus fostered the development of new knowledge based on the scientific experience of master and doctoral candidates and in consensus that science is able to change concepts, customs, and habits.

In our globalized world, so closely connected via social networks and the internet, the written manifestation of knowledge remains as a powerful tool to bring people together, to update and renew practices, i.e., to shorten the distance between old and new knowledge. Therefore, the Faculty of Dentistry at ULBRA is committed not only to maintaining the achievements obtained so far but also to continuously increasing the quality and visibility of our journal, so that it can someday reach readers worldwide and share with the international community of dental practitioners quality papers produced either at our institution or at any other region of Brazil or South America, or at any other part of the world. The present issue, the first published exclusively in English, is our first step toward reaching this goal. And we will continue to strive for quality improvement so that Stomatos can soon be internationally recognized as a high-quality, responsible, reliable dental journal.

This is a big step in the history of Stomatos. We invite readers, authors and reviewers to join us in this enterprise!!!

Adair Stefanello Busato, PhD
Coordinator, Faculty of Dentistry, ULBRA