[Zheng Linfan's contribution to the strategic thinking of innovative development in oral science]

Professor Zheng Linfan has played an important role in pioneering and leading the development of dentistry in China. In the early 1940s, he spearheaded groundbreaking investigations on the oral health status of Chinese students, and guided fundamental researches by clinical issues which led to the establishment of China's first oral histopathology laboratory and the Institute of Stomatology. His remarkable scholarly achievements earned him the National Medical and Health Science Conference Award in 1978. He attached great importance to "investigation and clinical practice", "basic research-driven", "interdisciplinary" and "international cooperation and exchange" in the early stage of the development of oral science in China, and therefore formed a four-in-one innovative idea, making important contributions to the innovative research and clinical development of Chinese stomatology. This article bases on professor Zheng Linfan's work and research experience. Through the excavation of archival documents, correspondence, memoirs, historical records, and oral history materials, this article reconstructs his contributions to stomatology in China, and summarizes his academic ideas, practical paths, and ideological values in promoting the construction of the stomatological development system, providing references for enriching the historical narrative of stomatology in China, and assisting contemporary advancements and technological innovation.