Freedom
from Dental Disease:
An Interview with Dr. Robert Nara
If you have questions about this article, contact Tom at thomasc@exotrope.net
)
Introduction
In 1819 a dentist named Levi S.
Parmly wrote a book called A Practical Guide to the Management of the Teeth .
. . Comprising a Discovery of the Origin of Caries, or Decay of the Teeth, with
its Prevention and Cure.
Some 77 years later, Dr. G. V. Black
closed his address to a group of dental school graduates with these words:
"The day is coming, and perhaps within the lifetime of you young men, when
we will be engaged in practicing preventive rather than reparative dentistry.''
Yet the U.S. Public Health Service tells
us that 98 out of every 100 men, women, and children in the United States still
suffer from some form of dental disease. And American Dental Association figures
indicate that the average American has 14 teeth decayed, filled, or missing by
the time he or she reaches 20 years of age! Just what has happened to the dream
of preventive dentistry?
"It isn't a dream anymore, it's a
reality!" says Dr. Robert Nara of Houghton, Michigan, who adds,
"Dental disease-tooth decay and bud gums--can be eliminated . . . I've been
doing it for almost 20 years.' "
These are pretty strong words ...
especially to those of us who are suffering from the pain and financial losses
caused by conventional reparative dentistry. But Bob Nara is sure of his message
. . . S0 sure, in fact, that he has put his means of earning a living on
the line in a bitter struggle with the dental establishment (those professional
organizations which, Nara claims, condition this country's dentists to do no
more than "help the patient's mouth rest comfortably while the teeth
die").
MOTHER EARTH NEWS was curious
about Nara 's claims and about the system of preventive cure, called Oramedics,
that the Michigan dentist has designed to help "spread the word " that
dental disease can be eradicated.
And so staffer Bruce Woods flew up to the
Wolverine state for a talk with Nara, who had--not long before--had his license
suspended by the Michigan State Dental Association. This transcript of their
conversation contains some statements that-if true--paint a shocking picture of
a "medical" profession that has the means to insure dental health but,
instead, allows political and economic pressures to limit its practice to
treating symptoms .. . while it completely ignores the causes of tooth and gum
disease.
Whether you finish this interview as a
believer in Oramedics or not, we think you owe it to your mouth to read
what Bob Nara has to say.
PLOWBOY: Dr. Nara, your ideas
about preventive dentistry have, so far, cost you your license to practice,
gotten you kicked out of the county, state, and national dental organizations,
and forced you to face criminal charges. I know this situation didn't develop
overnight, so why don't we begin at the beginning. Can you tell me about your
training and professionalbackground?
NARA:
Of course. I took my
undergraduate degree at Michigan State University--in East Lansing. Michigan--in
1955. Immediately thereafter, I enrolled in the University of Michigan's dental
school. After graduation. I served in the Navy for two years ... during which
time I practiced dentistry at the Pacific missile range headquarters in
California. I returned to Houghton, Michigan when my hitch was up and set myself
up in private practice in 1961.
PLOWBOY:
How did it happen that
your work turned toward preventive, rather than reparative dentistry?
NARA:
Well, first of all, I was
taught enough microbiology, oral physiology, and biochemistry in dental school
to get a pretty fair understanding of the processes that contribute to dental
disease. This "medical" material, however, was presented to us in a
rather hit-or-miss pattern .. . with bits of information dribbling in during one
class or another. What my schooling really prepared me for, however--and what
any student in dental school is actually trained to do-was mechanics . . .
drilling and filling.
PLOWBOY:
Don't the dental schools
encourage preventive care?
NARA:
No, they don't encourage it
at all! And there's another factor that contributes to the lack of preventive
dentistry in the United States, too. You see, most young dentists--upon
graduation-have a very substantial educational debt to take care of. Then, in
order to get a practice started, these men and women have to go out and buy more
than $50,000 worth of equipment! So there is, as you can see, tremendous
pressure put upon the beginning dentist to get going and bring in some money. I
believe that many of these people would like to be able to start their practices
by teaching folks how to clean their mouths, but the simple truth is that the
big money is in reparative work. So, the new dentist--who, as I've said, is
really under the economic gun--puts off his or her ideas about prevention until
after the bills are paid . . . and once that pattern is established, it never
really gets broken.
PLOWBOY:
Can you be more specific
about that "pattern"?
NARA:
Certainly. You see, after a
beginning practitioner has become convinced that mechanical repair is the only
way to get out of debt, he or she will usually spend a long period of time doing
little else. Now, reparative dentistry is, for the most part, dull, tedious,
and--in all but a financial sense--unrewarding work. It doesn't take much of
this sort of drudgery to kill off any idealism that might have motivated the
dentist to try prevention in the first place.
It seems that many of these doctors eventually come to regard dental health from
the same frame of reference as most of the American public does ... that dental
disease is inevitable and that everyone will lose his or her teeth sooner or
later. Naturally, once this attitude takes over--and it may be a "gut
feeling'' that's never actually spoken about or even consciously thought--the
dentist begins to feel that prevention is a waste of time . . . and so the
status quo perpetuates itself.
PLOWBOY:
But this common attitude
didn't keep you from practicing preventive therapy?
NARA:
No, it didn't, and I think
there are several reasons why I was able to maintain my interest in prevention.
For one thing, I'm a pretty stubborn individual. For another. I dislike even
trying to treat a mouth that isn't clean. I mean, why go through the time and
effort necessary to really remove decay and place nice fillings when you
know--because the mouth itself is not being cared for--that the new work is
going to be decayed all around its margins in six months or a year? There's
simply not much job satisfaction in enlarging the same filling time after time
until the tooth has to come out.
So, early in my practice I tried to put together a plan that would motivate my
patients, to help them establish an effective oral hygiene program. I failed
miserably--as I should have known I would--because nobody wanted to listen.
My patients, at that time, shared the common attitude: "Come on, Doc, just
get that tooth filled, or get this one pulled. and let me out of here."
Because most folks don't want to spend any more time than is absolutely
necessary in a dentist's office, they want to get away from that chair and away
from those drills as quickly as possible.
PLOWBOY:
This "fear"
would seem to be related to the frame of reference you spoke of earlier.
NARA:
Right, it's part of the same
attitude. And, because of that frame of reference, a dentist can talk till he or
she's blue in the face about keeping the mouth healthy and so forth. Nobody
wants to hear about it . . . nobody even believes it !
PLOWBOY:
Do people actually doubt
that prevention can be effective, or do they simply feel that they lack the
willpower to follow through with such a program?
NARA:
I think that--in most
cases--a combination of both these beliefs is at work . . . because the concept
of a really effective oral health program is simply beyond the scope of most
people's experience. For example, note the toothpaste ads that are run on
television: "Look. Mom, only one cavity ! " Now, that ad is
claiming--and the manufacturers of that product are claiming--that really good
prevention will result in only one cavity every six months! At that rate, a
person could have more than 32 fillings by the time he or she reaches 21 years
of age! It's crazy, and this kind of advertising contributes to our national
indifference toward the prevention of dental disease.
Another problem with the traditional approach to oral hygiene is that it's all
"teach, teach, teach". Now adults, especially--and even children to a
large degree--don't really appreciate being told that someone is going to teach
them something. Most folks consider the very suggestion that they need education
to be an insult, a put-down. Yet, many "modern" dental offices have a
room with a big sign on the door that says. "Patient Education Room".
The sign might as well say. "This Way, Dummy", because that's exactly
the feeling that's conveyed.
PLOWBOY:
How did you manage to
communicate the necessary information without insulting your patients, then?
NARA:
Well, I knew that most
people avoid the dentist's office until they need work done . . . usually either
a filling or an extraction. And people in pain aren't likely to be receptive to
a cute story about preventing the disease. So, I had to design a system that
would penetrate, first, the preoccupation with money worries and physical
discomfort that most folks bring to the office with them. And I also had to
figure out a way to change the preconception that nothing can be done about
tooth decay and gum disease anyway.
With all of these cards stacked against me. I knew that I needed a very
effective psychological delivery system. So, I spent a lot of time thinking
about it, saying to myself. "How can I do this?"
My goal was to stop disease, and I was sure that I could stop it--I had all of
the scientific evidence in the world to back me up--if I could get the patients'
help and cooperation.
And that's what the "method" that I came to call Oramedics does: It
enables me to get the patients to cooperate, to take the control of their own
oral environment into their own hands. And the system works!
PLOWBOY:
But as soon as you
started practicing this form of prevention, you began to encounter resistance
from the dental establishment. When did the first signs of your coming
"war" with organized dentistry show up?
NARA:
I began working, in 1968, to
bring about some changes in the outmoded dental laws that still exist in much of
the U.S. At that point I was mainly concerned with setting up a system that
would help the dentist to be more effective in his or her job. Part of the
problem, as I saw it, was that most dentists simply didn't have the time to
handle health education effectively. I felt that this situation could be
remedied if the doctors were able to delegate some of the more routine dental
tasks to paradental personnel. After all, there are many new types of
paramedical jobs and paralegal jobs today, but we really don't have any new
paradental positions . . . there haven't been any "new kids on the
team" for years.
So, I started lecturing that dental assistants should be trained to polish
teeth, to give fluoride treatments, and so forth... in order to allow these
people to become really worthwhile members of the dental health team. I pushed
pretty hard to get new laws passed that would help bring about these changes.
For instance. I got myself elected to the American Dental Association's House of
Delegates in 1971 and spent four years pushing for modern laws.
Unfortunately, dental laws fall under the category of state's rights, so--even
though the House of Delegates did vote to recommend liberalized
legislation--direct action could only be taken at the state level. And it just
so happens that my home state of Michigan is one of the most backward places--in
terms of dental progress--in the Union. This is because we have a network of
long-entrenched "dental politicians" in Michigan. In many states, on
the other hand, there is a regular turnover among professional politicians,
because many people compete for these positions. Michigan, however, lacks that
healthy competition, and old dental ideas are seldom challenged here. In fact,
just as an example, we had two men-- father and son-who ran the Michigan State
Board of Dentistry for 40 years!
Anyway, I went to work, through the appropriate political channels, and helped
to get rid of some of these people who were--I thought--standing in the way of
necessary change. And, in the process of fighting the entrenched hierarchy. I
did make some enemies . . . enemies who are still "haunting" me today.
The first real sign of the troubles to come, however, showed up in April of
1968. I was called, at that time, before the State Board of Dentistry and
told--by one of the Board's members-that I'd lose my license if I continued to
rock the boat. I replied that I believed myself to be in the right, that I was
acting in the public interest, and that I would continue to do so regardless of
whatever he was tempted to do in retaliation. The board member responded by
saying. "We'll get you." And it took him 10 years, 10 long years of
battles in the professional organizations and in the courts, to finally take my
license away from me.
The State Board chose to attack me on the ground that I was training my
assistants to perform the routine tasks I described above. They tried to force
me to stop doing this, and I, of course, refused. Then, in 1972, one of my
assistants--while following my instructions--placed a medicated piece of cotton
in a patient's cavity . . . and the man returned the next day with warrants for
my assistant's and my arrest. He was actually the attorney who served as chief
investigator for the Dental Board's Department of Licensing and Regulations!
PLOWBOY:
And what was the outcome
of that 1972 arrest?
NARA:
Well, it eventually led to
an arraignment. And, at the hearing, the judge explained to me that--if I were
found guilty as charged--I could spend a year in jail and be fined up to $500.
He then asked me how I intended to plead, and I told him "guilty".
The judge was upset by this. "You're putting me in a rough spot here.
Doctor," he said. I asked him what he meant, and he explained that--if I
didn't plead''not guilty''--he'd have to sentence me. I replied that I was at
fault, that I had allowed my assistants to polish teeth and so forth. So, the
judge turned off his tape recorder, leaned over the bench, and advised me to get
myself a lawyer and to give the matter some serious thought before I came to
trial. Well, I didn't hire an attorney. I didn't want one, because my attitude
was that the laws themselves were wrong ... and I figured that I might just as
well be the person who challenged them.
At any rate, it took another six months for the case to actually come to trial,
and the State Dental Board must have gotten a bit worried by that time. It
looked pretty certain that the judge was going to have to throw me in the
slammer for a year, and the Board must have decided that they'd get a lot of bad
press if they sent a dentist to jail for letting his assistants perform routine
tasks, so they dropped the charges.
PLOWBOY:
Was that the end of your
troubles?
NARA:
Everything did settle down
for a while. I was, at the time, writing research proposals for Michigan
Technological University. And, about a year after the trial, I came up with a
really unique proposal that seemed to have a very good chance of being accepted.
While I was out of town lecturing, however, the president of the Copper County
District Dental Society went to the dean of the university's School of
Business--who was in charge of the grant proposal program--and told him that the
college should take my name off the proposal and put the Dental Society
president's name on it! The president threatened that--if this wasn't done--the
Society's members would write letters to the Department of Health, Education.
and Welfare saying that they did not want this research done in their area. Of
course, HEW isn't likely to try to conduct research in any given area if the
local doctors oppose that study . . . because the project would become a
terrible mess.
PLOWBOY:
Are you referring to the
peer pressure that could be put on the researchers?
NARA:
Correct. Anyway, the dean
was upset--he didn't want to lose the grant that might mean several million
dollars to his university--and, as he was unable to reach me, he gave in. My
name was taken off the proposal and the name of the president of the County
District Dental Society was put on.
I was, of course, very angry when I heard about this, because the proposal was
my work ! So--since I had no other course of action available--I filed a
complaint with the Dental Society against its own president! In retaliation, the
Society simply disbanded and then reorganized itself . . . thereby clearing the
records of all former complaints!
But, although those local dental politicians had effectively swept my charges
under the table, they were really riled that I'd had the gall to attack them.
Soon after they had reorganized their little club, Society dentists sent a
series of letters to the Department of Licensing and Regulation. These documents
charged me with unethical conduct on the grounds that I was still training my
dental assistants to polish teeth and perform other such routine chores.
Ironically, while I was being hassled for training my assistants to polish
teeth, the major dental journals were carrying ads for a portable device that
would allow patients to polish their own teeth at home!
And, to make the situation even more ludicrous. I was then-and still
am--qualified to teach in any dental school in the country. I don't need a
single additional credit to train young people to become dentists . .. and yet
my profession attacked me for teaching dental assistants to polish teeth!
PLOWBOY:
The charge is almost
identical to that made in 1972 . . how were the members of the Dental Society
able to make it stick in this case?
NARA:
In 1972 they had tried to
"get" me in the civil courts and had let those charges drop for fear
of bad publicity. In this instance, however, they decided to handle the matter
themselves and stay out of the courts. So I was charged, before the Michigan
State Board of Dentistry, with letting an unlicensed assistant polish teeth and
with ''advertising an unrecognized specialty". The latter accusation refers
to an ad that I had placed in the local yellow pages. The advertisement read: "Specializing
in Oramedics ... for people with teeth who want to keep them." You
should know, too, that it is not illegal for a dentist to advertise in Michigan.
For instance, dentists have run ads saying that they specialized in dentures, or
root canals, or something like that, and they have had no problems. Oramedics,
however, is not a term that the American Dental Associstion or the Michigan
State Dental Association recognizes. And, on the basis of those two charges,
they were ultimately able to suspend my license for 15 months.
Even more ludicrous ... I don't need a
single additional (college) credit to train young people to become dentists .
. . and yet my profession attacked me for teaching dental assistants to polish
teeth!
PLOWBOY:
When did this suspension
take effect?
NARA:
On February 15. 1978.
PLOWBOY:
Did you then make any
effort to appeal the Board's action?
NARA:
Yes, I did. As a first step,
I filed an appeal, based on what I felt was the unconstitutionality of
Michigan's dental codes . . . and charging, also, that the board was guilty of
misconduct because of the manner in which the proceedings were held and the
findings reached.
You see, the Board had, as usual, hired a hearing examiner-in this instance he
was an administrative judge named Wayne Lusk--to rule on the case. But Lusk
found me innocent: He said that the Oramedics-related charges "failed to
establish a violation"! The Board, however, threw Lusk's report out, upheld
the charges against me, and then also voted never to use Mr. Lusk--who had 35
years' experience as a hearing examiner-- again !
At any rate, I filed an appeal-- based upon the discrepancies in the dental
codes and on this "irregularity'' --with the state appeals court.
PLOWBOY:
And did the appeals court
give you any help?
NARA:
No, the court was also
presented with a "counterstatement of facts'' from the State Board of
Dentistry, and it denied my appeal for "lack of merit and grounds
presented''.
PLOWBOY:
Have you taken any
further steps to clear yourself?
NARA:
I've appealed to the
Michigan State Supreme Court. They've had my appeal for some 10 months now and
have yet to decide if they'll even hear the case! This delay is curious, as I
was assured--by Mr. Bruce Lindstrom, who was then the aide in charge of Upper
Peninsula affairs for Governor Milliken--that my appeal would be handled quickly
and that a stay of my license suspension would be granted, automatically, while
the appeal was in progress. Lindstrom told me this when the appeal was first
filed. He has since resigned, and I've still gotten no word from the Supreme
Court.
PLOWBOY:
It does seem as if you're
being singled out for ''special treatment''. Do you have any theories that could
explain this apparent vendetta?
NARA:
In my opinion the whole
thing boils down to one simple fact: The dental establishment is scared to death
that the public is going to realize that the entire profession has been making a
living by repairing the results of a disease they could have been curing all
along! I just happen to be, at the present time, the person who is in the best
position to expose organized dentistry.
Nothing was resolved in my prior encounters with the county and state dental
associations, because they dropped their charges and swept mine under the table.
This time, however, I think there's going to be a winner and a loser, and my
opponents are pulling out all the stops to keep me under wraps. They're
soliciting a lot of support, too--by using loaded terms like "unethical
conduct"-among those indoctrinated dentists who don't want anyone upsetting
their very lucrative apple carts.
PLOWBOY:
Why do you refer to
"unethical conduct" as a loaded term?
NARA:
I think many people would
feel that the phrase has an almost "dirty" ring to it . . . it sounds
like it has something to do with morality. This is not really the case, however,
because--in medical jargon--the functional meaning of "ethics" is
usually "not squealing on another doctor". If the other guy makes a
mistake, you are expected--because of your professional ethics--not to expose
him. You can imagine, then, why the dental establishment has come so unglued
about my case . . . because I haven't discriminated, I haven't singled out any
individuals, I'm exposing the whole profession's lack of concern about disease
prevention! And. of course, if there weren't anything there to expose, it's
unlikely that I would have drawn such a violent reaction.
Strangely enough, however, the whole battle could have been avoided. I wouldn't
have had anything to expose if the dental establishment had allowed me to
continue to practice and develop my methods. It would have been easy--and
mutually beneficial--for all of us to work together and share each other's ideas
for the good of the patients and of the profession. But, when they took my
license away and threw me out of their associations, they left me no recourse
but to fight, and that's what I'm doing.
PLOWBOY:
And how nre you striking
back at the associations that have attacked you?
NARA:
I've filed a suit against
the American Dental Association, the Michigan State Dental Association, and the
Copper County District Dental Society for eight million dollars in damages. I
didn't want to sue, and I still don't. but i have no other way to defend myself
at this point.
PLOWBOY:
The National Health
Federation Bulletin recently cited a 1974 study in which a group of dentists
were asked whether they felt that they had an effective preventive dentistry
program in their offices. If the answer was "no", the study requested
the reasons for this lack. Some 88% of the dentists questioned explained the
absence of such a program by saying that they were uncertain about the financial
aspects of disease prevention. Do you feel that this sort of "office
economics" is behind some of the opposition to your "Oramedics"
approach to preventive dentistry?
NARA:
Oh, I'm sure it is! For
example, did you realize that there's a $30-million-a-year business going on in
denture teeth alone . . . I don't mean full dentures, just the little white
beans that dentists stick into the plastic form that they call a denture. And
that figure only represents one small item. If you multiply it by all of the
filling materials, bridges, inlays, and so forth, you can see that there is a
tremendous amount of financial interest in maintaining the disease process.
There's another angle to this economic concern, too. When we all but eliminated
polio we didn't put physicians out of business ... in fact, we couldn't ever do
without M.D.'s ... because we seem to replace every disease that we are able to
eliminate with another that was almost unheard of before. But dentistry is--for
all intents and purposes--based on one disease. If you can eliminate that
disease--and you can! --the job market for dentists would eventually be limited
to cosmetic work and regular preventive checkups. The future simply wouldn't
hold enough work for the number of dentists that we have today.
I've tried to discuss this possibility in my lectures, to calm the fears that it
creates among my cohorts. After all, those people that are practicing today
don't have a thing to worry about. There's so much dental disease in this
country right now that we could all spend the rest of our lives just trying to
correct the existing problems! I feel, however, that we are morally obligated to
prevent disease whenever and wherever we can ... and that the focal point of our
efforts has to come in children's dentistry, where the damage can be stopped
before it starts.
Of course, the ADA would claim that it does concentrate on prevention for
children . . . with things like the Children's Dental Health Week. But the fact
is that those programs have been totally ineffective.
For example, our dental establishment constantly assures us that we have the
finest system of dental care in the world. Yet a study was recently done in New
Zealand to determine how many school children--out of a random sampling of
10,000-were missing any permanent teeth. That study turned up 18 students who
had already lost one or more. In a similar study made in the U.S., however,
6,000 out of a random group of 10,000 were already missing one or more permanent
teeth. And the discrepancy shown by these two studies--the difference between 18
children and 6,000 who have lost irreplaceable teeth-is attributable to the fact
that New Zealand has a dental nurse program for its schoolchildren. Of course,
we have children's dental programs too ... and the evidence damns them as
worthless.
PLOWBOY:
You touched upon the
subject of dentures while we were discussing the financial pressures that may
cause dentists to resist preventive programs. Yet you yourself do not make
dentures . . . can you tell me the reason that you don't?
NARA:
Because I'm not motivated to
provide that service. Dentures are the end of the road, and--in my opinion--a
dentist selling dentures is akin to a physician peddling coffins. It seems to me
that it's almost immoral for a healer to spend too much time and effort cleaning
up after a preventable illness that has run its course. Naturally, someone has
to make these prosthetic devices, but I choose not to.
PLOWBOY:
Would you say that
American dentistry places a heavy emphasis on dentures?
NARA:
Very much so. Dentures are,
for one thing, about the most profitable service that a dentist can provide. You
might not know this, but dental laboratories often don't charge more than $25 a
plate to prepare a set of dentures for a dentist. And the finished product-$50
worth of work for both upper and lower plates--might cost the patient as much as
seven or eight hundred dollars! In fact, the lab costs on most dental services
are usually less than 20% of the fee charged to the patient. The profits are
tremendous! I feel that, because of this huge profit potential, dentures should
be taken out of the hands of the dentists!
In fact, a dentist named Dr. W.W. Alport tried--back in 1877 --to have
denture-making removed from the curriculum in dental schools. Alport was ahead
of his time, but I think this change will have to come about. After all, if our
profession is supposed to be trying to save teeth, doesn't it constitute a kind
of conflict of interest to have this tremendous economic return for selling
"crutches"?
PLOWBOY:
I think many people will
see it that way. But your Oramedics program, on the other hand, does concentrate
upon saving teeth. Could you tell me precisely how Oramedics works, and what
facts and figures you can cite to prove that it has been successful in your
nearly 20 years of practice?
NARA:
First and foremost.
Oramedics is a method of reaching the patient . . . it's a kind of
consumer-protection dentistry. To put it another way. Oramedics is a combination
of scientific tests and a psychological delivery system. The tests show the
ecology of the mouth and can monitor the improvement or degeneration of that
ecology, while the delivery system motivates the patient to continually improve
the health of his or her teeth and gums. Now, it might sound egotistical to say
that our message reaches people better than the traditional "patient
education programs" do, but egotistical or not, that statement is true . .
. and our success is based upon the logic inherent in the program, not on my
charming personality!
When a patient comes into my Oramedics office, he or she is given--as a part of
the routine examination--a U.S. Navy plaque index test. Now, most people will be
curious about this test, because it's unfamiliar to them. The staff then
explains what the test is: that it was developed and is in constant use by the
Navy, and that it is a means of measuring the amount of plaque--a film made up
of bacteria, food particles, and saliva --which is adhering to the teeth. From
that point. most folks want to know how the test relates to them and how they
can improve their "score".
Similarly, when we ask the patient to spit into a little bottle, he or she will
usually ask why we're doing this. The question is a logical one, and we answer
that the saliva sample will be tested to let us know the amount of bacteria that
the mouth contains. And, once the person understands the reasons for the tests,
he or she is told that--if we all work together--we can eradicate most of the
plaque and bacteria ... and thus create an oral ecology that will no longer
support tooth decay or gum disease!
Of course, most folks become a bit suspicious upon hearing this. But, we go on
to explain that their suspicion is a product of an "old" frame of
reference ... and that the frame of reference will have to be changed because
Oramedics doesn't accept tooth decay or bad gums.
The two tests, then, help the dentist understand whatever problems are present.
But, more important, they also help the patient see the problems. And, once you
let someone understand his or her disease--and then convince that person that
the disease can be simply and inexpensively cured--you can expect that he or she
will cooperate with you to get the illness cleared up.
Over a period of almost 20 years of using these methods, we have never failed to
eliminate dental disease from the mouth of anyone who has cooperated with us. Of
course, we have had some folks say, "Dr. Nara. you're some kind of a
nut." and just get up and go out the door.
PLOWBOY:
What percentage of your
patients have refused to follow the program and left your practice?
NARA:
We've kept careful records
on that. Over the years we've lost between three and five percent of our
patients because they weren't willing to try--or stick with-- the program.
PLOWBOY:
That leaves you with
quite an impressive "suecess ratio''.
NARA:
And the people who do stay
to listen get our message, and once they get the message, it stands to reason
that they'll follow through. I mean, who really wants to have bad teeth? Then,
of course, once the results begin to show up--which is usually in a matter of
weeks--these patients feel very proud of themselves, and rightly so ... because
Oramedics is self-help dentistry. The dentist's office becomes a place where the
patient can check the progress that he or she is making toward having a
completely disease-f ree mouth!
You could say that Oramedics is to dental health as Dr. Kenneth H. Cooper's
"aerobics" is to physical fitness. When Cooper wanted to bring his
running program to the people he said, in effect, "Look, you clowns, your
blood vessels are going to hell, you need to get some oxygen pumping around in
there, and the only way you can do that is with exercise! " And Cooper
designed a simple test: All you had to do was to see how far you could run,
walk, and crawl in 12 minutes, then check your distance against the figures in
the Aerobics book to find out what kind of shape you were in.
And, the book also described methods to improve your score. If you follow
Cooper's recommendations, you will almost certainly improve your physical
fitness. It's the same with Oramedics , . . if you follow the instructions
contained in our books and material, you will almost certainly improve your oral
health. Now, before Aerobics was published people knew that exercise was good .
. . but how many folks did you see out jogging then? Today, of course, there are
millions of people who have personal running programs. I jog myself, every
morning, but I didn't until somebody reached me! That's what Oramedics does: It
allows the dentist to reach his or her patients, and those people do start
cleaning their mouths . . . and clean teeth do not decay and they do not foster
gum disease. It's really that simple.
PLOWBOY:
Dr. Nara, many people are
going to read this interview, and I'd suspect that a number of them will want to
try Oramedics for themselves. Is there any way that these people can locate an
Oramedics practitioner in their areas? NARA: Not at this time . . . at least not
without great difficulty. There are some 600 practicing Oramedics Fellows in the
world today, but--because of the tremendous confrontation that's going on--those
who live in the U.S. have to "keep a low profile''. If someone were to call
one of these practitioners and ask. ''Doctor, do you do Oramedics? ". . .
the dentist might well be afraid to say yes, for fear of reprisals from the
dental associations.
PLOWBOY:
Because your yellow pages
ad simply said that you practiced Oramedics ... and that was one of the factors
that led to your loss of license.
NARA:
Exactly, for the simple
reason that the dental profession doesn't recognize Oramedics--or any form of
preventive dentistry--as a specialty.
PLOWBOY: Well, since Oramedlcs
dentists are not readily available, can you describe an "aerobics"
kind of oral hygiene program that could be followed at home ... or even on a
remote farmstead?
Over a period of almost 20 years of
using these methods, we have never failed to eliminate dental disease from the
mouth of anyone who has cooperated with us ... anyone who was willing to try.
NARA:
The first thing that I would
recommend-- to any persons interested in having a healthy mouth--is much like
the first step in the aerobics program: that is, they should take a test to find
out where they stand. This sort of evaluation is necessary before a course of
action can be planned.
Now, the best of these tests is the saliva examination that I mentioned before,
the "lactobacillus test". And that examination is within reach of
anyone who has access to the postal system. People can mail in a saliva sample,
have the laboratory work performed, and receive a very specific report ...
which, will detail their oral health problems and tell them what to do in order
to cure those problems.
PLOWBOY:
Tell me how and where
these samples can be sent.
NARA:
We are offering this service
through Oramedics International. If someone writes to us saying that he/she
would like to have an Oramedics evaluation, we will mail back a sample jar and a
series of forms to fill out. The forms detail both dental and medical histories.
Then, we'll report our findings--based upon the lactobacillus count and the
patient's case history and recommend a home care, self-help program which will
enable the person to improve his or her oral ecology while spending as little as
five minutes a day on dental hygiene. We also will ask that another saliva
sample be submitted after the patient has followed our recommendations for a
month. Most people will be well on the way to dental health by then, and we can
put them on a "maintenance program" which--if followed--will almost
insure a lifetime of freedom from dental disease!
In addition to these services, anyone requesting an evaluation will receive a
20-page booklet and a tape cassette explaining the background of the Oramedics
program. The total cost for both tests, plus the evaluation, the
recommendations, and so forth is $24.
PLOWBOY:
That sounds quite
reasonable.
NARA:
This system is something
that we've devised since my license was suspended. When the dental associations
stopped me from drilling and filling, I decided to find another way to help the
public understand their mouths and keep their teeth and gums healthy. I don't
need a license to perform this service ... anyone who understands oral
physiology and microbiology could do the same thing.
PLOWBOY:
Are most of the materials
that you would recommend available without a prescription?
NARA:
Yes ... in fact, we describe
all of the items that are needed, and the patient can then either procure them
in a drugstore or order the materials directly from Oramedics International.
PLOWBOY:
It sounds as if we may
well be entering an era of doit-yourself dentistry ! How might this
trend--assuming that the Oramedics approach gains public acceptance--change the
American dental care system?
NARA:
The major change I foresee
is that organized dentistry will be forced--by public opinion--to create a
special field for preventive dentists. There are over 15,000 physicians in this
country who are board-certified in preventive medicine... but not one dentist
who is so recognized.
Therefore, I feel that the dental associations will have to develop some form of
certification for those dentists who wish to specialize in treating the cause of
the disease rather than simply repairing the damage that the illness does.
When this recognition becomes available, there will probably be a split between
those people who are interested in prevention and those men and women who are
more concerned with prosthesis ... dentures, partials, that sort of thing. In
fact. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see a violent parting of the ways occur,
a split that would--in effect--create two specific professions.
Another, although less significant, change will take place on the legislative
level: Dentists will be allowed to advertise in all parts of the country. Some
states, of course, already allow medical advertising, but almost every dental ad
that's placed-- today-- is denture related . . .''Plates: In by 10, Out by
5", that sort of thing. You'd have to look long and hard to find a dentist
who advertises him- or herself to be a proponent of curing the disease!
PLOWBOY:
Is this lack of
"preventive" advertising due to the fact that the profession doesn't
certify prevention as a specialty?
NARA:
That's one of the reasons.
Primarily, however, our shortage of dentists who practice prevention is due to
the fact that the "system" places an economic premium on the repair
and replacement of teeth. Even the insurance companies that are now involved in
dentistry are mainly offering assistance in getting fillings, bridges, and
repairs in general. Most dental policies will cover little if any preventive
care . . . they are only an aid in cleaning up the mess left by the disease.
PLOWBOY:
Dr. Nara. the very fact
that you've held up in the face of 10 years of harassment proves that you
believe in what you're doing. Can you tell me why you've stuck with it . . .
what do you hope to accomplish in your career?
NARA:
The principles that I'm
operating on today are based on the belief that one person with the truth can
constitute a majority. I believe the truth is that dental disease can be
eradicated. Of course, this will only happen if the "healers" are able
to reach the public. The message must be presented in such a way that people
find it valuable. Sadly enough, though, we can't-at this time--count on the
dental profession to relay that message.
So, one of my immediate goals is to solicit the aid of allied health
professions. There are, for example, several chiropractors who are, already,
practicing Oramedics, and I plan to take the whole concept of preventive
dentistry out of the hands of the dental profession ... ii that's what's
necessary to get the job done.
PLOWBOY:
Why did you choose to go
to the chiropractors?
NARA:
Well, as you may know,
chiropractic medicine has come a long way in the past few years. The "back
crackers'' of old are probably better versed in holistic and nutritional health
care than any other medical profession in America. They have moved forward while
all the rest have stood still.
And, along those same lines. I have written a book that should be available in
January 1979. It's called Money by the Mouthful: Everything That You Need to
Know, About the Health of your Mouth and Body That No Doctor's Going to Tell You.
The volume will be available in bookstores and through Oramedics International
for $4.95, plus $1.00 postage and handling. (Editor: This
book is currently available from between $6.95 and $8.95.) I'm so sure
of the value of this book that it is completely guaranteed . . . anyone who
doesn't find Money By the Mouthful worth the price can simply send in a
post card, get the purchase price back, and keep the book.
PLOWBOY:
Will this volume take the
Oramedics case directly to the people?
NARA:
Yes, and I expect many of
them will be surprised at what they read. Oramedics is, you see, nothing new. We
aren't claiming to have come up with a revolutionary system ... we're not
pushing any "miracle" drugs or anything like that. We are simply
offering a commonsense approach to dental health, and the likes of that has
never been available to the American people before. Oramedics is nothing
more--and nothing less--than the simplest route to a disease-free oral ecology.
And I think that anyone who is interested in regaining control over his or her
life and body will surely want to know about it.
Tom
Cornwell's note: I first learned of Oramedics
International when this interview appeared in THE MOTHER EARTH NEWS, back
in 1979. My wife at the time, and I both applied the program and found it not
only invaluable, but exactly what Dr. Nara describes. Over the years, I lost
track of Dr. Nara and Oramedics, but finally found a single mention after
searching the entire internet. I was able to contact the Nara's and learned that
Oramedics had been scaled down due to various reasons. Dr. Nara ended his dental
practice in 1983 and no longer treats patients, although he still writes and
lectures.
Because of my strong interest, I was
granted permission to "carry the torch", so to speak, and rekindle the
dissemination efforts of the works begun by Dr. Nara. My choice of media being
the internet for obvious reasons.
Although the information throughout this
site is still very valid, some of the supplies are no longer being distributed
through Oramedics... That doesn't mean that they're not available. We are
currently searching out labs for saliva tests, manufacturers for an oral
irrigator, an oral gel manufacturer, dental
professionals willing to participate, etc. and any help or leads would be
greatly appreciated.
Also, any requests for information or
comments about the program can be forwarded to OraMedia.
There is an abundance of free information
available on my web site, although
we are being supported by sales of the few books and products
being made available as the work progresses.
Thank you for your support!
Tom Cornwell / OraMedia
PO Box 496, Elmira, NY 14902
OraMedia@aol.com
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