Nexus - 0220 - New Times Magazine-pages

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PLOWBOY: But this common attitude didn't keep you from this situation could be remedied if the doctors were able to dele- practising preventive therapy? gate some of the more routine dental tasks to paradental personnel. NARA: No, it didn't, and I think there are several reasons why _— After all, there are many new types of paramedical jobs and para- I was able to maintain my interest in prevention. For one thing, _legal jobs today, but we really don’t have any new paradental posi- I'm a pretty stubbom individual. For another, I dislike even trying __ tions: here haven't been any ‘new kids on the team’ for years. to teat a mouth that isn't clean. I mean, why go through the time So, I started lecturing that dental assistants should be trained to and effort necessary to really remove decay and place nice fillings polish teeth, to give fluoride treatments and so forth, in order to when you know—because the mouth itself is not being cared _ allow these people to become really worthwhile members of the for—that the new work is going to be decayed all around its mar- dental health team. I pushed pretty hard to get new laws passed gins m six months or a year? There's simply not much job satis- that would help bring about these changes. For instance, I got faction in enlarging the same filling, time after time, until the myself elected to the American Dental Association's House of tooth has to come out. Delegates in 1971 and spent four years pushing for moder laws. So, early in my practice I tried to put together a plan that would The first real sign of the troubles to come, however, showed up motivate my patients, to help m = " > in April of 1968. I was called, them establish an effective oral at that time, before the State hygiene program. I failed miser- é j . . Board of Dentistry and told—by ably—as I should have known I The dental establ ishment Is one of the Board's members— wold Pecause nobody wanted scared to death that the public is jedi soot tne tow Trepied My patients at that time shared going to realise the entire that I believed myself to be in the common attitude: "Come on, the right, that I was acting in the Doc, just get that tooth filled, or profession has been making a public interest, and that I would get this one pulled, and let me continue to do so regardless of out of here.” Because most folks living by repairing the results of whatever he was tempted to do don't want to spend any more in retaliation. The Board mem- time than is absolutely necessary @ disease they could have been ter responded by saying, "We'll in a dentist's office, they want to * I | ' get you." And it took him 10 get away from that chair and curing al a ong: years, 10 long years of battles in away from those drills as quickly the professional organisations as possible. (Source: PDA Network News, #9) and in the courts, to finally take PLOWBOY: How did you my licence away from me. manage to communicate the nec- The State Board chose to essary information to your attack me on the ground that I patients, then? was training my assistants to perform the routine tasks I described NARA: Well, I knew that most people avoid the dentist's office above. They tried to force me to stop doing this, and I of course until they need work done—usually either a filling or an extrac- _ refused. Then, in 1972, one of my assistants, while following my tion. And people in pain aren't likely to be receptive to a cute __ instructions, placed a medicated piece of cotton in a patient's cavi- story about preventing the disease. So, I had to design a system ty—and the man returned the next day with warrants for my assis- that would penetrate, first, the preoccupation with money worries _tant's and my arrest. He was actually the attorney who served as and physical discomfort that most folks bring to the office with chief investigator for the Dental Board's Department of Licensing them. And I also had to figure out a way to change the preconcep- _and Regulations! tion that nothing can be done about tooth decay and gum disease PLOWBOY: And what was the outcome of that 1972 arrest? anyway. NARA: Well, it eventually led to an arraignment. And, at the With all of these cards stacked against me, I knew that I needed _ hearing, the judge explained to me that if I were found guilty as a very effective psychological delivery system. So,I spentalotof charged, I could spend a year in jail and be fined up to $500. He time thinking about it, saying to myself, "How can I do this?" then asked me how I intended to plead, and I told him "guilty". My goal was to stop disease, and I was sure that I could stop The judge was upset by this. "You're putting me in a rough spot it—I had all of the scientific evidence in the world to back me here, Doctor," he said. I asked him what he meant, and he up—if I could get the patients’ help and cooperation. explained that if I didn't plead “not guilty" he'd have to sentence And that's what the ‘method’ that I came to call Oramedics does: me. I replied that I was at fault, that I had allowed my assistants it enables me to get the patients to cooperate, to take the control of to polish teeth and so forth. So, the judge turned off his tape their own oral environment into their own hands. And the system _recorder, leaned over the bench, and advised me to get myself a works! lawyer and to give the matter some serious thought before I came PLOWBOY: But as soon as you started practising this form of __ to trial. Well, I didn't hire an attorney. I didn't want one, because prevention, you began to encounter resistance from the dental my attitude was that the laws themselves were wrong—and I fig- establishment, When did the first signs of your coming 'war' with _ ured that I might just as well be the person who challenged them. organised dentistry show up? At any rate, it took another six months for the case to actually NARA: I began working, in 1968, to bring about some changes come to trial, and the State Dental Board must have gotten a bit in the outmoded dental laws that still exist in much of the US. At worried by that time. It looked pretty certain that the judge was that point I was mainly concerned with setting up a system that going to have to throw me in the slammer for a year, and the would help the dentist to be more effective in his or her job. Part Board must have decided that they'd get a lot of bad press if they of the problem, as I saw it, was that most dentists simply didn't —_ sent a dentist to jail for letting his assistants perform routine tasks, have the time to handle health education effectively. I felt that so they dropped the charges. 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—1 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 practising this form of prevention, you began to encounter resistance from the dental establishment, When did the first signs of your coming 'war' with organised 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 US, 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 NEXUS ¢ 23 * JUNE - JULY 1994