I would like to comment on Dr. Frank Spear’s May JADA column, "The business of occlusion" (
JADA 2006;137:666–7
). I have had the pleasure of hearing Dr. Spear lecture, and I have read many of his articles. I respect his dedication and passion in helping to educate dentists on advanced clinical procedures.
However, I am saddened by what is becoming a trend in many dental publications. We are seeing dentists criticize other groups of dentists who follow a different occlusal philosophy. Dr. Spear actually calls all dentists who decide to utilize neuromuscular dentistry to help their patients nothing less than "used car salespeople." Although Dr. Spear avoids using the direct terminology "neuromuscular occlusion," he makes obvious references to where his verbal jabs are directed.
I find it irresponsible of him to form an opinion this strong, with very little first-hand knowledge. Seeing a few patients for a second opinion is hardly a way to gather enough information to make such a bold statement about a group of very dedicated dentists. Does he know for a fact that the patient was not given other treatment options? Did he even bother to call the original dentist and get his or her version?
I feel that Dr. Spear is taking advantage of his status as a well-known, respected leader in our profession to make an ill-informed personal attack when he does not have all the facts on the subject. Most dentists will read his words and accept them as the absolute truth. They will assume that he has done extensive research on this occlusal philosophy to form such a strong opinion. To describe the neuromuscular occlusal philosophy as one that just uses the measurement of cementoenamel junction, or CEJ to CEJ, as its basis is not only insulting, but shows his lack of knowledge on the subject.
This is an occlusal philosophy based on accepted medical and dental science, and has successful case studies [dating back] 40 years. The Las Vegas Institute for Advanced Dental Studies has had the neuromuscular occlusion as part of its curriculum for many years, and has many live-patient treatment programs based on this science. They have had thousands of dentists attend their clinical program and complete an extensive restorative case, based on sound neuromuscular principles. No other institute or teaching program in our profession can boast this kind of clinical success.
Dr. Spear does not make any mention of the use of neuromuscular occlusion to help the thousands of patients who suffer the effects of "occlusal dysfunction" and long-term pain symptoms. The LVI philosophy does not advocate "changing a patient’s bite" solely for esthetic reasons. Not all patients end up as a restorative case. LVI has many courses educating dentists on the use of orthodontics to stabilize [the occlusion of] many patients.
I just find it very irresponsible of JADA to print [Dr. Spear’s] words. He is targeting his obvious anger toward a group of dentists who have taken hundreds of hours of continuing education to get to a point of successfully handling these difficult types of cases. In fact, these dentists are probably some of the most dedicated to continuing education in our profession. Dentists attacking dentists cannot be beneficial to us as a group. Let’s congratulate each other on our successes and keep an open mind about what other dentists are achieving.
