The new Complete Health Dentistry is not so new
Lynn D Carlisle DDS
"There is nothing new under the sun." In recent browsing on facebook I came across this statement by Gary Kadi - a dental consultant. Complete Health Dentistry is born. The new category of dentistry. Created by 51 Leaders in the Future of Dentistry in Cancun Mexico. In the 50's drs saved teeth, in the next era drs took on perio disease, then technology was born, then the cosmetic revolution and now we enter the complete health dentistry era. Look for opportunities to lead this movement, stay tuned. I wonder what L.D. Pankey, Bob Barkley, Nate Kohn, Bill Brown, Bob Frazer, Mike Shuster, Rich Green, Avrom King, Wilson Southam, Pete Dawson, Bill Lockard, Bud Ham, and several other pioneers of relationship-based/health-centered dentistry would have to say about "Complete Health Dentistry" being a new category of dentistry. All of these people have talked or written about wholistic dentistry, complete dentistry, relationship-based dentistry, health-centered dentistry, wellness-centered dentistry, patient-centered dentistry, Comprehensive Oral Health Care, Volitional dentistry, and person-centered dentistry.
 Someone hasn't done a literature search or homework or they would know that this concept is at least 50-60 years old. Maybe it is timeless 
|
|
|
Here is what I have to say: "Someone hasn't done a literature search or homework or they would know that this concept is at least 50-60 years old. Maybe it is timeless". (The many names for this way of practicing may be one reason why they weren't aware of it.) Evidence is the title of Pete Dawson's first chapter - "The Concept of Complete Dentistry" - in the first edition of his Evaluation, diagnosis, and treatment of Occlusal Problems book. Here is the first sentence in this book: "The ultimate goal of any dental treatment should be to provide optimum oral health." The book was published by C.V. Mosby in 1974. Here is an article I wrote on holistic health in dentistry that was published in Dental Economics in 1981: What holistic health and its cousin wellness means to dentistry I would add L.D. Pankey's A Philosophy of the Practice of Dentistry", Bill Lockard's The Exceptional Dental Practice and my In a Spirit of Caring Revisited, understanding and finding meaning in the doctor/patient relationship as other books they should read before declaring this their new creation. I would add this web site www.spiritofcaring.com to the list. Pankey was talking about complete dentistry in his philosophy in the 1950's and Barkley was talking about it and prevention in the 60's. Add the holistic health movement in the sixties and several other people who advocated "Whole person, wellness approaches" in the sixties and you have a long list of people who predate Kadi's "discovery" by decades. Several thousand dentists have practiced this way for years. I grant Kadi and his colleagues the benefit of doubt and assume that this was an exciting new discovery for them. I remember my excitement when I discovered this in the late 60's and early 70's. It is a transformational discovery and I had a born again fervor to spread the word about this way of practicing. Seems like someone once said that every 50 or 60 years "new" discoveries are made that merely repeat what was discovered 50-60 years ago. Maybe we, the pioneers of relationship/health centered dentistry, are just getting old enough to recognize the rediscovery of what we helped to pioneer years ago. Best wishes to this group for their personal discoveries and journey toward complete health dentistry, but I hope they don't think they are discovering something new. Hopefully, they will add some new ways and energy to this wonderful way of practicing dentistry.
In a Google search, I was unable to find more information on what this group means about "Complete Health Dentistry" - what it is and how it is or will be practiced. We will have to stay tuned and see what it is about.
If you are not a In A Spirit of Caring member, we invite you to view the member benefits at Membership has its advantages or view some of our Sample articles
Join the Conversation
Customer Comment or Reviews
|
|
Average Customer Comment or Review
|
Most Helpful Customer Comment or Reviews
Bill Wathen, DDS, a professor at the Baylor College of Dentistry, sent me this e-mail in response to this article. I am posting it with his permission:
Lynn:
Your quote from Ecclesiastes and the comments in your latest post triggered several thoughts, the first being that you are spot-on with your observations.
The next was a couple of my background readings that you would find intriguing. A dentist named Levi Parmley, practicing in Toronto at the time (1817, as I recall), wrote a little handbook for his patients titled Summum bonum, in which he advocates passing a fine thread between the teeth on a daily basis to remove the noxious accretions.
It’s a fine little read if you can find a copy – it’s all about well-being, and nearly could have been written last week! The copy I know about is in the rare books collection at the University of Indiana dental school library.
The second book I thought of is written by a psychologist named Robert Wolff, titled Original Wisdom: Stories of an ancient way of knowing. Even “primitive” people have known about well-being.
Stay well. Bill _
Bill,
Thanks for your comments.
I ordered the "Original Wisdom" book on my Kindle right away - started reading it and couldn't put it down. It is one of those books that is wise on many levels.
The "Arrogance of newness" is a hazard all of us face when we have a transformational experience. In my article's case it is the discovery of wellness by Kadi.
I believe that dentists who have a transformational experience that changes their perception of how to practice dentistry can relate to Wolff's story of his life changing experience with the aborigine Ahmeed.
It also shows how much our perceptions are influenced by our upbringing, culture and training and are not the "truth". I thought of many of my patients whose perceptions of dentistry were different than mine and how ignorant I thought they were because I was the expert.
I was not as able to help them because my judgments got in the way.
Do you recommend it to your students?
I have heard several people quote Levi Parmley including Bob Barkley in his "Successful Preventive Dental Practices". I hope to be able to read it some day.
Lynn
Lynn,
As I mentioned to you before, reading your article was an out of body experience. For me it confirms the belief that dentists just don't read much outside of technical articles. It also confirms that the RB practice of dentistry may just be the best kept secret in dentistry. Spreading the message about this type of practice has truly been a challenge through the years. Seems that the best way to share its uniqueness is on a one on one format, mentor to a student who shows some interest. There no doubt will be a void for our patients when our generation passes.
Mike
Tell a Friend
| 
Testimonials
You are spot-on with your observations, February 15, 2012
Feedback on this comment (0)
del.icio.us
Digg
Reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
GoogleBookmark
Technorati
Furl
Twitter