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=== Endodontic therapy ===
=== Endodontic therapy ===


Although the research of Price and his contemporaries supporting teeth extraction over endodontic treatment has been shown to be flawed, newer case reports showing possible validity despite the lack of any scientific evidence supporting their claims kept focal infection theory alive on the margins of the dental profession.<ref>{{Cite book | last = Bergenholtz | first = Gunnar | authorlink = | coauthors = Preben Hørsted-Bindslev, Claes Reit | title = Textbook of Endodontology | publisher = Wiley | date = 2009 | pages = 135-136 | isbn = 1405170956}}</ref> There has been a more mainstream resurgence in the possible validity of some aspects of focal infection theory "particularly in individuals who are immunocompromised".<ref>{{Cite book | last = Saraf | title = Textbook of Oral Pathology | publisher = Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers | date = 2006 | pages = 188 | isbn = 818061655X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book | last = Henderson | first = Brian | coauthors = Michael Curtis, Robert Seymour | title = Periodontal Medicine and Systems Biology | publisher = Wiley | date = 2009 | pages = 33 | isbn = 1405122196}}</ref> As a result "the dental and medical communities are cautiously reconsidering the biological plausibility of the 'focal infection' theory."<ref>{Cite book | last = Henderson | first = Brian | coauthors = Michael Curtis, Robert Seymour | title = Periodontal Medicine and Systems Biology | publisher = Wiley | date = 2009 | pages = 33 | isbn = 1405122196}}</ref> However, this has also meant that some publications are presenting Price's "poorly designed and outdated" research as the work of a pioneer whose results were long suppressed and only recently are being rediscovered.<ref name=Baumgartner/>
Although there is broad consensus in the medical and dental communities that endodontically treated teeth are not related to degenerative changes previously believed to be associated with focal infection theory, recent publications have once again began to cite Price's research in this area. Although the research of Price and his contemporaries supporting teeth extraction over endodontic treatment has been disproved, publications still cite Price's "poorly designed and outdated" research as support for focal infection theory, which could possibly lead uninformed patients to believe that these are new and valid findings.<ref name=Baumgartner/>


== Publications ==
== Publications ==

Revision as of 20:51, 28 October 2010

Weston A. Price (Born: Weston Andrew Valleau Price)[1](Newburgh, Ontario September 6, 1870–Santa Monica, CA; January 23, 1948) was a dentist, nutritionist, and inventor of a pyrometer furnace used in baking dental porcelain. He also founded the Research Institute of the National Dental Association, later to become the Research Section of the American Dental Association, of which he also served as chair from 1914-1928.[2] [3] [4] He was later marginalized by the American Dental Association[citation needed] for his outspoken view that endodontic therapy was a causal factor of systemic disease based on focal infection theory.[5]

Early years

Born in Newburgh, Ontario, Canada on September 6, 1870 Price graduated from the dental college of the University of Michigan in 1893 and began to practice in Grand Forks, North Dakota but later moved to Cleveland, Ohio that same year. [6]

Research

Technology development

Price conducted various research efforts to develop technological solutions to dental diseases. He invented and improved the pyrometer dental furnace for the manufacture of porcelain inlays that included the fusion of metal and porcelain. Price also researched improvements in producing dental skiagraphs in the early 1900's and developed special instruments for studying the effect of x-rays on cancer. Much of this work was presented at various professional societies in which he had membership.[1][7] His work with radiographs include pioneering a new radiological technique for studying teeth as well as using radiographs to analyze endodontically treated teeth. [8]

Nutrition

Beginning in 1894 Price started to consider diet as the primary cause factor of tooth decay and was attracted to calcium metabolism when he became an active student of nutrition.[9] In the early 1930s, Price's research suggested "vitamin B" and mineral salts were important dietary components to prevent caries.[10]

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration

In 1939 Price published Nutrition and Physical Degeneration,[11] a book that details a series of ethnographic nutritional studies performed by Price across diverse cultures, including the Lötschental in Switzerland, Native Americans, Polynesians, Pygmies, and Aborigines, among many others.[12] The photographic material and notes collection in this research "included over 15000 original photographs, 4000 lantern slides (about half of which are hand colored) and a library of strip film lectures."[13]

Price claimed that various diseases endemic to Western cultures of the 1920s and 30s, from dental caries to tuberculosis were rarely present in native non-Western cultures sustained by indigenous diets. He observed that as non-Western native groups adopted Western patterns of living they also became afflicted with Western diseases, and he concluded that the cause was dietary. He believe that Western methods of food purveyance in the early 20th century deprived foods of the vitamins and minerals necessary to prevent these diseases. He claimed that moral degradation had a dietary cause as well.[14]

Reception

In the 1939 foreword to the book, physical anthropologist Earnest A. Hooton lauded Price for contributing to the existing extensive research on dental caries by not only confirming previous observations that dental caries were much less prevalent in "savages," but also studying the nutritional differences in these "primitive" diets to look for the etiology of the decreased number of caries, which had not been done before.

An early reviewer of this book opined that his basic thesis sounded "prosaic and self-evident" to those "versed in diatetics" though also criticized Price's controversial conclusions about morality as "not justified by the evidence presented."[14]

Endodontic therapy

Price performed extensive research on pulpless and endodontically treated teeth which contributed to the theory of focal infection, which held that systemic conditions could be explained by infections in the mouth and should be treated with dental extraction. His research, based on case reports and animal studies performed on rabbits, claimed to show dramatic improvements after the extraction of teeth with non-vital pulps. Price's research fit into a wider body of testimonials in the dental literature of the 1920s, which led to the widespread acceptance of the practice of extracting, rather than endodontically treating, infected teeth.[5] By the 1930s, the theory of focal infection began to be reexamined, as new research shed doubt on the results of previous studies. One researcher in 1940 noted "practically every investigation dealing with the pulpless tooth made prior to 1936 is invalid in the light of recent studies" and that the research of Price, among others, suffered from limitiations in technical aspects as well as in their interpretations of results.[15] In the context of more modern dental research, Price's studies were flawed due to inadequate controls, while using too large of doses of bacteria and bacterial contamination of teeth during tooth extraction.[5]

Legacy

Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

Originally known as the Weston A. Price Memorial Foundation, the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (PPNF) was established in 1952 as a non-profit organization that serves as the guardian for the archived material from the research of Weston A. Price and medical doctor Francis M. Pottenger, Jr..

The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Weston A. Price Foundation was co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon and nutritionist Mary G. Enig to disseminate the research of Dr. Weston A. Price. In 2002, Stephen Barrett of the website Quackwatch published an internet essay a portion of which criticized the Weston A. Price Foundation and Weston Price's premises and conclusions.[16] The Weston A. Price Foundation has written a point by point rebuttal.[17]

Endodontic therapy

Although the research of Price and his contemporaries supporting teeth extraction over endodontic treatment has been shown to be flawed, newer case reports showing possible validity despite the lack of any scientific evidence supporting their claims kept focal infection theory alive on the margins of the dental profession.[18] There has been a more mainstream resurgence in the possible validity of some aspects of focal infection theory "particularly in individuals who are immunocompromised".[19][20] As a result "the dental and medical communities are cautiously reconsidering the biological plausibility of the 'focal infection' theory."[21] However, this has also meant that some publications are presenting Price's "poorly designed and outdated" research as the work of a pioneer whose results were long suppressed and only recently are being rediscovered.[5]

Publications

  • Price, Weston A. (1914) Some contributions to dental and medical science. Dental Summary, 34:253
  • Price, Weston A. (1915) "Are Endamebae Important Factors in The Etiology Of Pyorrhea Alveolaris? A Study of Their Habits" The Journal of the National Dental Association Vol. 2, No. 2, pg 143-165
  • Price, Weston A. (1923) Dental Infections, Oral and Systemic. Cleveland, Penton,
  • Price, Weston A. (1929) Calcium and Phosphorus Utilization in Health and Disease. 1. The Role of the Activators for Calcium and Phosphorus Metabolism. 2. The Nature and Source of Calcium and Phosphorus Activators.—Cert. Milk, Oct., Nov., Dec., 1929 and Dom. Dent. J., Oct., Nov., 1929. (Bulletin 102.)
  • Price, Weston A. (1930) "Seasonal Variations in Butter-fat Vitamins and their Relation to Seasonal Morbidity, Including Dental Caries and Disturbed Calcifications"; Journal American Dental Association, Vol. 17, May, Bulletin 103)
  • Price, Weston A. (1930) "Some Contributing Factors to the Degenerative Diseases, with Special Consideration of the Role of Dental Focal Infections and Seasonal Tides in Defensive Vitamins"; Oct., Nov., Dental Cosmos, Bulletin 107.
  • Price, Weston A. (1931) "New Light on the Control of Dental Caries and the Degenerative Diseases." Journal American Dental Association 18, 1189
  • Price, Weston A. (1931) "A New View of Health and Disease Based on the Rise and Fall in the Levels of Life with Cycles in Vitamin Tides"; American Journal of Public Health, June, Bulletin 111.
  • Price, Weston A. (1932) "Control of Dental Caries and Some Associated Degenerative Processes Through Reinforcement of the Diet with Special Activators" Journal American Dental Association Aug., 19, 1339-1369
  • Price, Weston A. (1933) "Additional Light on the Etiology and Nutritional Control of Dental Caries with its Application to each District showing Immunity and Susceptibility." Journal American Dental Association 20, 1648
  • Price, Weston A. (1936) "Eskimo and Indian field studies in Alaska and Canada" Journal American Dental Association, 23:417
  • Price, Weston A. (1939) Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects . Paul B. Hoeber, Inc; Medical Book Department of Harper & Brothers.

See also

References

Notes

  1. ^ a b History of Denistry in Cleveland, Ohio pp 44-56
  2. ^ "Weston A Price" New York Times Jan 24, 1948
  3. ^ (1925) The Nebraska state medical journal, Volume 10, Issue 6; pg 205
  4. ^ (1928) British journal of dental science Volumes 72-73; Page 101
  5. ^ a b c d Baumgartner, J. Craig; Siqueira, Jose F.; Sedgley, Christine M.; Kishen, Anil, Ingle's Endodontics (6 ed.), PMPH-USA, pp. 221–222, ISBN 978-1-55009-333-9 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |Chapter= ignored (|chapter= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ ((1948) Dental items of interest, Volume 70; pg 426)
  7. ^ Medical Record, A Weekly Journal of Medicine and Surgery - (Dec 1903, Volume 64, page 982)
  8. ^ {Walton, Richard E., Ingle's Endodontics (6 ed.), PMPH-USA, p. 554, ISBN 978-1-55009-333-9 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |Chapter= ignored (|chapter= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ ((1948) Dental items of interest, Volume 70; pg 426)
  10. ^ Bodecker, Charles F. (1934) "Metabolic Disturbance in Relation to the Teeth" Bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine September; 10(9): 553–573
  11. ^ Price, Weston A. Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects 1939. Paul B. Hoeber, Inc; Medical Book Department of Harper & Brothers.
  12. ^ Nutrition and Dental Caries - A Survey of the Literature of Dental Caries (page 429)
  13. ^ ((1948) Dental items of interest, Volume 70; pg 426)
  14. ^ a b Vaughn, Warrent T. 1940. "Effects of Dietary Deficiencies". The Scientific Monthly, 50(5):463-464
  15. ^ Grossman, Louis (1940), Root Canal Therapy, Philadelphia: Lea & Febiger, pp. 16–17 {{citation}}: Unknown parameter |Chapter= ignored (|chapter= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ Stephen Barrett, M.D. "Stay Away from 'Holistic Dentistry'". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
  17. ^ The Right Price (scroll down screen or search on section titled "Stephen Barrett")
  18. ^ Bergenholtz, Gunnar (2009). Textbook of Endodontology. Wiley. pp. 135–136. ISBN 1405170956. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  19. ^ Saraf (2006). Textbook of Oral Pathology. Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers. p. 188. ISBN 818061655X.
  20. ^ Henderson, Brian (2009). Periodontal Medicine and Systems Biology. Wiley. p. 33. ISBN 1405122196. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  21. ^ {Cite book | last = Henderson | first = Brian | coauthors = Michael Curtis, Robert Seymour | title = Periodontal Medicine and Systems Biology | publisher = Wiley | date = 2009 | pages = 33 | isbn = 1405122196}}

Sources

  • Weston Andrew Price, Forewords by Earnest Hooton, Granville Knight, and Abram Hoffer (2004). Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (6th edition ed.). Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. ISBN 0916764087. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Price, Weston A. Dental Infections, Oral and Systemic & the Degenerative Diseases, Vol. 1 & 2 (1923).
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