Dr. Robert Nara: Freedom from Dental Disease

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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. 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 place 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 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 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!

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