Dr. Robert Nara: Preventive Dentistry Activist

By Bruce Woods
Published on March 1, 1979
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Dr. Robert Nara has paid a heavy price for trying to move the practice of oral care to a preventative dentistry model.
Dr. Robert Nara has paid a heavy price for trying to move the practice of oral care to a preventative dentistry model.
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Dr. Nara during his interview.
Dr. Nara during his interview.
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Diagram shows the progression of tooth decay and loss over time for most Americans.
Diagram shows the progression of tooth decay and loss over time for most Americans.
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Diagram compares the cost of dental and progression of dental disease between conventional dentistry and oramedics.
Diagram compares the cost of dental and progression of dental disease between conventional dentistry and oramedics.

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 dentistry 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 bad 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. So 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 care, called Oramedics, that the Michigan dentist has designed to help “spread the word” that dental disease can be eradicated.

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