Some time ago I attempted to Google this and similar terms.

I ended up with a very sophisticated site, apparently out of India, that promised to find such a dentist for me...but first I was to enter which of a long list of medical/dental services I required...all listed in highly technical terminology...and none bearing any resemblance to what I was looking for.

More than that, I couldn't get away from that same site, no matter which 'hit' I clicked on.

I could, in all logic, only reach the dentists on 'their' list, who had, no doubt, paid to be listed.

None indicated they were 'holistic, wholistic, naturalistic' or any other description I was seeking.

The language of the site was so well-written, I was sure they had used professional writers and editors...something seldom seen on the Internet sites I usually view.

In every way, the site seemed to be a 'wall', preventing access to the type of person I was hoping to find. It felt very much like a 'Gotcha!'.

Guys in little cubicles...

...It could be that these dentists actually WOULD attempt holistic procedures, but didn't want to say so aloud.

I remember asking a regular dentist how much to replace my mercury Amalgam fillings. He got very annoyed. Yes, he gave me an estimate...but he was disproportionately upset at being asked.

Later, I began to realize he was being asked to consider the possibility that someone DIDN'T want the fillings he 'normally' gave...a question he hadn't dealt with before from his clients. He seemed to know of the controversy, just not to have had it from a customer.

I could not afford even the fairly low price he quoted. I also realize that he had to consider all the special safety procedures needed in removal/replacement. Essentially, I was asking for an entirely new dentistry than he had ever done.

It was to his credit that he came up with a cost estimate within an hour.

I think that removal/replacement could be viewed as a whole new field of dentristry, by dentists...with two very big shifts in concepts.

The dentist must first accept that he has been doing 'wrong'.

And, then he must accept that he could be seen as jumping on the very lucrative 'wholistic' bandwagon.

If he is a decent person, and thought he had been doing the the best work he could for his clients, then shifting his focus would be an emotional wrench, indeed.

I don't know, but the dentists listed in the website I couldn't get away from COULD have been saying that they would consider removing/replacing, IF a client really fully understood what they do, and had intelligent concerns beyond that.

That's giving those dentists the benefit of the doubt, I know...but there must be a huge change going on in the minds of many dentists.

Not easy to change a hundred or so years of dedication to a 'wrong' concept.

Still, it must be done...and the customers' wishes must be respected.

Such a change is happening in many, many fields.

Probably it would be best for all of us to treat all 'specialists' as gently and quietly as we can...NOT mentioning the fact that we wish these people had KNOWN the best things to do right from the get-go. We are all learning, together.

I have a sneaky suspicion that all our 'mistaken' concepts don't really matter in the 'end'...that the harmony, peacefulness, and fulfillment that exist within are greater than all the controversies we might encounter in life.

F.