Here's some information I found on Weston Price......obviously a very
biased view and different from the view expressed here before about the
man.....and not really my view but still, an interesting view.
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"Holistic Dentistry": A Brief Overview
Stephen Barrett, M.D.
William T. Jarvis, Ph.D.
A significant number of dentists have gone overboard in espousing
pseudoscientific theories, particularly in the area of nutrition.
"Holistic dentists" typically claim that disease can be prevented by
maintaining "optimum" overall health or "wellness." In the dental office
this usually involves recommendations for expensive dietary supplements
or a plastic bite appliance. John E. Dodes, D.D.S., an expert on dental
quackery, has remarked that "wellness" is "something for which quacks
can get paid when there is nothing wrong with the patient."
Historical Perspective
Much of "holistic dentistry" is rooted in the activities of Weston A.
Price, D.D.S. (1870-1948), a dentist who maintained that sugar causes
not only tooth decay but physical, mental, moral, and social decay as
well. Price made a whirlwind tour of primitive areas, examined the
natives superficially, and jumped to simplistic conclusions. While
extolling their health, he ignored their short life expectancy and high
rates of infant mortality, endemic diseases, and malnutrition. While
praising their diets for not producing cavities, he ignored the fact
that malnourished people don't usually get many cavities.
Price knew that when primitive people were exposed to "modern"
civilization they developed dental trouble and higher rates of various
diseases, but he failed to realize why. Most were used to "feast or
famine" eating. When large amounts of sweets were suddenly made
available, they overindulged. Ignorant of the value of balancing their
diets, they also ingested too much fatty and salty food. Their problems
were not caused by eating "civilized" food but by abusing it. In
addition to dietary excesses, the increased disease rates were due to:
(1) exposure to unfamiliar germs, to which they were not resistant; (2)
the drastic change in their way of life as they gave up strenuous
physical activities such as hunting; and (3) alcohol abuse.
Price also performed poorly designed studies that led him to conclude
that teeth treated with root canal therapy leaked bacteria or bacterial
toxins into the body, causing arthritis and many other diseases. This
"focal infection" theory led to needless extraction of millions of
endodontically treated teeth until well-designed studies, conducted
during the 1930s, demonstrated that the theory was not valid.
Melvin Page, D.D.S., one of Price's disciples, coined the phrase
"balancing body chemistry" and considered tooth decay an "outstanding
example of systemic chemical imbalances." Page ran afoul of the Federal
Trade Commission by marketing a mineral supplement with false claims
that widespread mineral deficiencies were an underlying cause of goiter,
heart trouble, tuberculosis, diabetes, anemia, high and low blood
pressure, hardening of the arteries, rheumatism, neuritis, arthritis,
kidney and bladder trouble, frequent colds, nervousness, constipation,
acidosis, pyorrhea, over-weight, underweight, cataracts, and cancer.
Page also claimed that milk was "unnatural" and was the underlying cause
of colds, sinus infections, colitis, and cancer.
The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation of La Mesa, California, is the
repository for many of Price's manuscripts and photographs. It was
founded in 1965 as the Weston Price Memorial Foundation and adopted its
current name in 1972. Its newsletter, book catalog, and information
service promote food faddism, megavitamin therapy, homeopathy, chelation
therapy, and many other dubious practices.
Paul Getty
Morehead City, NC
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