Dentures Memorial Service" Held at Jingu Shrine in Hokkaido on October 8, "Dentures Day More and more families are requesting memorial services for dentures from all over the country.

2024.09.27 11:00

コンフォート入れ歯クリニック

Comfort Denture Clinic (Head office: Sapporo, Hokkaido; President and Director: Akira Ikeda), which specializes in denture treatment, will hold a "Denture Memorial Service" on October 8, Denture Day, at Tonmiya, Hokkaido Jingu Shrine, on Tuesday, October 8, 2024, to thank and offer memorial services for dentures that have been used or have served the deceased for many years.

Denture Memorial Service

Thanks to dentures, a memorial service will be held at Jingu-Tongu Shrine.

Tuesday, October 8 is "Denture Day". Comfort Denture Clinic will hold a "Denture Memorial Service" at Jingu-Tongu Shrine in Hokkaido, which is rare in Japan. At the memorial service, we give thanks for dentures that have been used by the deceased for many years or have completed their role, and offer them on the altar along with offerings. This year will be the sixth time this ceremony has been held.

Gathered dentures

Many families wish to offer their dentures, which cannot be cremated, as they are a part of the deceased.

It all started with a casual comment from a bereaved family member who had lost a parent. At the funeral, she learned for the first time that plastic dentures cannot be cremated together with the deceased, and she could not put them in the urn after cremation because it was too full. However, the dentures were a part of the body that had supported the deceased's life for many years. They were in trouble because they could not dispose of them as garbage. Many municipalities do not allow dentures to be placed in a coffin, and I thought there must be others who are in trouble. When we consulted with a local Shinto priest to see if we could offer dentures as well as the deceased, he readily agreed to perform the memorial service, saying, "People's feelings are reflected in something they always wore.

The number of requests for memorial services has been gradually increasing, not only from our patients but also from outside of Hokkaido. Some of them are looking for a place to hold a memorial service, and some of them say, "I couldn't throw it away and kept it in a box for a long time, but I think the deceased will be happy if you hold a memorial service for it," or "I feel like I can finally hold a memorial service for my husband now. Some of them even send a letter expressing their gratitude and thoughts, along with a sweet note.

A scene from a Shinto priest's memorial service-1

Teeth are indispensable for life, and donations will be used for disaster relief.

This year, we plan to offer about 20 dentures. After the dentures have been offered, they are converted into cash and donated every year. The dentures collected at the time of treatment are also converted into cash, and this year the amount is expected to be around 100,000 yen.

Director's voice: "In Japan, there is a culture of gratitude and memorial service for things that have a soul, and dentures are no different. Once dentures are made, many people continue to use them for more than 10 years, and some for more than 20 years. Teeth support not only a person's diet, but also their life itself. As a person involved in dentures, we will offer them with gratitude, so please consult with us if you are having trouble disposing of them.

We plan to donate the proceeds after the redemption to a local disaster relief organization at a later date.