CONTROVERSIES
IN DENTISTRY
Public, media and professional concerns
drive most controversies in dentistry. Both ignored
and overblown controversies can result in public health
damage because many dental controversies impact overall
public health.
Ignored controversies like early orthodontic
treatment can harm the public. Early orthodontic treatment
beginning at ages 2 to 8 has only recently become one
of the hottest topics in dentistry. Unfortunately, it
can take years, even decades, for a hot topic to break
down the barriers of the status quo and become routine
treatment offered to patients. For many patients a few
years or a decade means it can be too late to offer
the best care.
Overblown controversies like mercury in
dental amalgam can harm the public too. Mercury in dental
amalgam has been blamed for almost ever human illness
known to man, without proof. In 150 years of use, no
patient death or illness has been recorded as being
due to either dental amalgam or dental amalgam mercury
except for rare cases of allergy. Even so, public, media
and professional attention have resulted in attempts
to ban amalgam fillings simply out of fear. This unreasonable
fear of mercury has spilled over into medicine. Accurate
mercury thermometers and are being replaced with inaccurate
ones. Accurate mercury blood pressure gauges are being
replaced with inaccurate ones. Millions of patients
are now affected by inaccurate blood pressure and temperature
readings, unreasonable fear of dental amalgam fillings
and baseless costly removal and replacement of dental
amalgam fillings.
David C. Page, D.D.S.
Your Jaws ~ Your Life (page 49)
