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What is Holistic Dentistry

Holistic dentists are united by a conviction that dentistry address the whole person.

They promote a cross-disciplinary approach to patient care on the belief that conventional dentistry focuses too narrowly on discrete specialties that may distort a patient’s overall picture of health.

Holistic dentists range widely in how they put their philosophy into practice. For instance, John Laughlin III, DDS, of River Falls, Wis., focuses on skeletal issues, such as chronic pain caused by poor jaw alignment, which may be related to difficult birth procedures, a genetic abnormality, or drifting of the teeth and jaw due to tooth extraction. It may also be associated with pharyngeal (throat) airway dysfunction and tongue posture, which can affect your quality of sleep, your breathing and your stress levels. Victor Zeines, DDS, of New York City and Woodstock, N.Y., emphasizes nutrition and promotes natural dental products. Gerald H. Smith, DDS, president of the Holistic Dental Association, is concerned about the potential toxicity of fluoride in drinking water (put there to strengthen teeth against tooth decay) and mercury in metal fillings. He is convinced that metal in the mouth can work like a battery, sending electrical currents into the brain that can have deleterious neurological effects, though he can’t point to a study that proves his theory.

While holistic dentists generally agree that any “unnatural” additive is guilty until proven innocent, conventional medicine acts on the premise that a thing scientifically proven effective in treating illness is innocent as long as it can’t be tied definitively, through systematic study, to a negative outcome. Thus, the American Dental Association (ADA) has conducted a series of ongoing mercury studies. They have yet to show mercury in dental amalgams to be a health risk. However, the ADA announced a new trial in January.