ARTICLE IN PRESS

Homeopathy (2007) 96, 72–73r 2007 The Faculty of Homeopathy

doi:10.1016/j.homp.2007.02.009, available online at http://www.sciencedirect.com

GUEST EDITORIAL

What do homeopathic dentists do?

Modern dentistry is an exciting and rapidly changingscience. Minimum intervention and applying a naturalapproach to general dental practice are the catch-phrases of the moment.For many years a few individual dentists have used

homeopathy; in the early 1990s they came together toform the British Homeopathic Dental Association. Theobjectives of the association were to promote the use ofhomeopathy in dentistry to the public and to advancethe professional understanding of the subject throughthe creation of educational programs. The Associationhelped develop a Dental Diploma from The Faculty ofHomeopathy. The first examination was held inOctober 1994 and nine candidates passed. It is thefirst ever qualification in Dental Homeopathy andhelps the public discern qualified practitioners. TheFaculty now has an Intermediate Course in DentalHomeopathy and many dental members all over theUK. Interest in dental homeopathy and membership isgrowing.The use of homeopathy in dentistry is more limited

than in medicine. Homeopathy cannot replace themechanical arts of dentistry and there is no homeo-pathic remedy that will selectively numb a tooth.However homeopathy is a useful adjunct to conven-tional dentistry and may be used effectively in the placeof orthodox treatments which may have unpleasantside effects. There are useful homeopathic medicinesfor common oral problems such as ulcers and teethingin children. But what do homeopathic dentists actuallydo? In the past 25 years a few articles on dentalhomeopathy have been published1–5. However thisissue of Homeopathy features two studies demonstrat-ing the range of conditions treated by homeopathicdentists.The study by Mathie and Farrer6 collected the

clinical data from 14 homeopathic dentists in the UKover a 6-month period. It is difficult in general dentalpractice not to undertake interventional treatmentwhen a patient is in pain, and in this study it is unclearwhether or not interventional treatment was under-taken at the same time as the homeopathic medicineswere prescribed. Medical practitioners spend most oftheir time prescribing medicines and giving advice.Dental practitioners spend most of their time assurgeons doing physical intervention supported byprescribed medicine. If two treatments (physicalintervention and prescribed medicine) are carried outat the same time it is difficult to analyse the truemeaning of the results. This is a pilot study and a

future larger scale study should note whether dentaltreatment was undertaken in addition to the remedyand if so how this affected the results. It was reportedthat 20% of patients were prescribed conventionalmedications. Similarly, in future studies these casesshould be analysed separately. Prescribing antibioticsfor an abscess could certainly mask any effects fromthe homeopathic remedy.The third most frequently treated condition was

‘anxiety’. The results from this area are interesting as itis a medical rather than surgically based treatment.There is of course the placebo factor. The very act ofoffering a pill for their anxiety implies a caring naturewhich can in itself relieve some of the anxiety. The 7-point Likert scale was a simple tool to assess theimprovement or deterioration of the dental conditiontreated.The second study by Mojaver et al.7 is from Iran.

The first paper that Homeopathy/British HomeopathicJournal has published from that country, it illustratesthe wide and growing geographical spread of thepractice of homeopathy. It is a case series of classicalhomeopathic treatment of trigeminal neuralgia.Although not commonly treated in general dentalpractice it often presents in oral medicine departmentsof hospitals. The results show general successfuloutcomes, similar to orthodox medicine. Although itwas considered unethical to use a placebo it wasreassuring that conventional treatment was stopped forthose patients in the study.Classical homeopathic treatment requires the selec-

tion of a single homeopathic medicine at a time for agiven individual. The selection is based on manyfactors and is open to interpretation. This studyminimized this risk by using two experienced medicalhomeopaths to interview every patient at each visit.They were required to agree on the remedy selectedwith a 70% confidence rating. This consensus of thecorrect remedy may be an important factor in thesuccessful results obtained.Whereas classical homeopathy was used in the

trigeminal neuralgia paper Mathie and Farrer used apick list of 61 remedies to which the dentists could addas required. There were several clear matches: Aconitewas used for anxiety, Arnica for tooth extraction andHepar sulph for an abscess. This is what many dentistsdo—use a specific medicine such as Arnica for aparticular condition, eg tooth extraction—as opposedto the classical homeopathic approach describedabove.

ARTICLE IN PRESS

Guest EditorialP Varley

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There is a lack of homeopathic dentists in academicinstitutions. The work of Mathie and Farrer and the 14dentists who undertook the study will, I hope,encourage more homeopathic dentists to publish whatthey actually do. I look forward to the proposed largerscale dental data collection project.

References

1 Bhat SS, Sargod SS, George D. Dentistry and homeopathy: an

overview. Dent Update 2005; 32: 486–491.

2 Albertini H, Goldberg W, Sanguy BB, Toulza C. Homeopathic

treatment of dental neuralgia using Arnica and Hypericum: a

summary of 60 observations. J Am Inst Hom 1985; 78: 126–128.

3 Kaziro G. Metronidazole (Flagyl) and Arnica montana in the

prevention of post-surgical complications, a comparative

placebo controlled clinical trial. Br J Oral Maxillofac Surg

1984; 22: 42–49.

4 Lokken P, Straumsheim PA, Tveiten D, Skjelbred P, Borch-

grevink CF. Effect of homeopathy on pain and other events

after acute trauma; placebo controlled trial with bilateral oral

surgery. Br Med J 1995; 310: 1439–1442.

5 Haila S, Koskinen A, Tenovuo J. Effects of homeopathic

treatment on salivary flow rate and subjective symptoms in

patients with oral dryness: a randomized trial. Homeopathy

2005; 94: 175–181.

6 Mathie RT, Farrer S. Outcomes from homeopathic prescribing

in dental practice: a prospective, research-targeted pilot study.

Homp 2007; 96: 74–81.

7 Mojaver YN, Mosavi F, Mazaherinezhad A, Shahrdar A,

Manshaee K. Individualised homeopathic treatment of tri-

geminal neuralgia: an observational study. Homp 2007; 96:

82–86.

Peter VarleyHomeopathic Dentist, Melbourne, Australia

E-mail: pv@petervarley.com

Homeopathy