‘Holistic’ dentistry and the Importance of Evidence

[AussieNeil]

More than 2,000 years ago, Hippocrates wrote: "There are in fact two things, science and opinion; the former begets knowledge, the latter ignorance."

Michael Foley, Senior Lecturer, Public health dentistry at The University of Queensland, Australia looks at Holistic Dentistry and the Importance of Evidence, with lessons for who we should engage to keep us healthy: theconversation.com/holisti...

Neil

[djgolding]

Even if dentists would think beyond their immediate view, that would help. For 4 years I found myself fighting persistent gum disease with regular flossing, brushing and hibitane mouthwashes, suffering the judgmental comments from dentists about my failure to perform decent hygiene despite my protestations.

It wasn't until I was diagnosed with CLL that things fell into place and my lack of effective countersepsis explained why I couldn't fight off infection especially under constant attack by "normal" flora in an ideal culture environment.

Once under FCR treatment (Jan - Jul 2014), including Septrin regime, things improved; albeit slowly (I lost several teeth just before Dx, which I suppose removed a source of continuing reinfection).

Now my white cells are back up and functioning, as well as they can at this stage, and I'm off Septrin my gums are pink and healthy; my oral hygiene regime remains in place (a lifetime cause!).

If my dentist wasn't so obsessed with oral hygiene being the only problem and sought some other answers then I may have been Dx before my count reached 200,000 and my health had dropped to a lifetime low when a distended spleen sent me running, correction "walking slowly", to my GP thinking I had something truly life-threatening!

Fang bosuns should have a wider grasp on medicine or be prepared to put some research into their patients, even referring them to GPs for investigation - a bit revoluntionary - holistic care for patients!!

Scotland