"Phase-Free" Dentures: Preparing for Disasters with Your "Everyday Smartphone" Inquiries Are Increasing for "Denture Bank," a Free Cloud Storage Service for Denture Data

2026.08.27 11:00

株式会社お守り入れ歯

Large-scale damage has occurred in various regions due to major earthquakes and sudden, heavy downpours.Omamori Dentures Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Sapporo, Hokkaido; President: Akira Ikeda), which operates dental laboratories, is expanding its “Denture Bank” service nationwide. This service allows users to store their denture data in the cloud for free on a daily basis, enabling the rapid production of replacement dentures in the event of sudden breakage or loss. Inquiries for the service have doubled in just three months.

スマホで簡単に複製依頼

Easily Request a Duplicate via Smartphone

[Natural Disasters Are No Longer Someone Else’s Problem]

Natural disasters have struck various regions, including Kumamoto and the Kanto region, causing extensive damage due to landslides and large-scale flooding.Since it can take anywhere from one week to several months for essential services to be restored and relief supplies to arrive, the importance of being prepared on a daily basis is growing. To promote the “phase-free” concept—which aims to reduce disaster damage by breaking down the barriers between everyday life and times of disaster—the government has begun holding discussions with experts.

[Worried About Parents Living Far Away? The “Denture Bank” Is Gaining Popularity Through Word of Mouth]

At Omamori Dentures Co., Ltd., which operates a dental laboratory in Sapporo, Hokkaido, inquiries about the “Denture Bank”—a service that allows people to prepare for emergencies using their everyday smartphones—are on the rise.Inquiries come from family members living apart from their parents—such as, “We’ve reached a point where the Nankai Trough earthquake could strike at any moment; is there a Denture Bank in Nagano Prefecture, where my mother lives?”—as well as from professionals working with the elderly, who ask, “Home care workers are also troubled by everyday losses; is there a Denture Bank dentist nearby?”

The Denture Bank is a free service that digitizes the shape of dentures and stores the data in the cloud on three servers located overseas; the entire process takes about 30 minutes. In the event of an emergency, a new set of dentures can be replicated immediately by phone using this data. While there is a fee for replication, the service is provided free of charge during large-scale disasters.Since April 2026, the service has been distributing miniature dentures equipped with IC chips free of charge to new users. When the miniature denture is held up to a smartphone, the user’s denture data number and the contact phone number for requests are displayed, allowing for immediate contact even in the event of a sudden loss.Since the included strap can be attached to a smartphone or keys, users who used to worry about not being able to find their contact information when it mattered most now say, “I always carry my smartphone with me, so I feel safe.”

ミニチュア義歯でいつでも連絡

Stay in Touch Anytime with Miniature Dentures

[Losing Your Teeth Can Be Life-Threatening]

During the Great East Japan Earthquake, one in five people lost their dentures—either because they were too startled by the sudden earthquake and fled in a panic without being able to take them, or because they were damaged after falling during evacuation.Although dental teams worked tirelessly to restore them, local dental clinics had also been damaged, and patient records were lost. As a result, dentures had to be remade from scratch, taking several months to deliver. During that time, poor oral hygiene persisted, and many elderly people, whose physical strength had declined, died from aspiration pneumonia.Our CEO sought a way to provide dentures quickly and began storing patient data in 2021 as a precautionary measure. While we hope nothing ever happens, we believe it’s essential to be prepared, so we made server and data storage fees free of charge.In 2023, we began collaborating with dental clinics nationwide as the “Denture Bank.” This collaboration among dental clinics—transcending prefectural boundaries and our own corporate network—is the first initiative of its kind in Japan. Currently, 18 dental clinics have joined the network, and 675 sets of denture data are stored in the cloud.

バラバラになった義歯

Dentures That Have Come Apart

[Denture Solutions That Give Both Parents and Children Peace of Mind]

A Message from the CEO: “Through my many years of working with the elderly, I’ve come to realize the importance of creating an environment where not only the patients themselves but also their families can feel at ease. In daily life, dentures can be left behind on trains, accidentally thrown away, or—in cases of dementia—flushed down the toilet. While making dentures requires multiple clinic visits, family members are the ones who accompany patients, even when they’re residing in care facilities.We’ve also developed the Denture Bank app to enable families to share denture information, so we can even receive calls from distant relatives requesting duplicates. We will continue to improve and develop our services so that as many people as possible can live their daily lives with peace of mind.”

We regularly hold free denture consultation sessions at the Asahikawa Station Plaza, where we also provide information about the Denture Bank.In addition to our next session scheduled for Wednesday, September 30, 2026, we plan to set up a booth at the “Wednesday, What Do You Think? Festival 2026,” which will be held at the Daiwa House Premist Dome in Sapporo from Friday, September 4, to Sunday, September 6.

Denture Bank = https://irebabank.com/

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