Chiropractic And Dentistry -
Healthcare For Life

I often think of how much dentistry and chiropractic have in common. Each profession possesses a philosophy of prevention rather than just the treatment of disease. In the case of dentistry, it wasn’t very long ago that most only went to a dentist with a big problem to solve that usually involved pulling a tooth and with chiropractic, most would only go to treat back pain. Today, millions of Americans go their dentists and chiropractors for regular maintenance care and work toward preventing dis-ease in the body.

But despite this common philosophical paradigm each profession shares, one has done a better job than the other with its public relations and education efforts. It’s obvious that this is the case as I might ask you, “who is your dentist?” and you would be readily able to give me that doctor’s name. However, if I were to ask you, “who is your chiropractor?” you might not have one! This strange disparity has arisen due to many factors that are mostly politically influenced.

You see, as recently as 1987, the AMA was found guilty at the Supreme Court, of violating anti-trust laws in their attempt to “contain and eliminate chiropractic” as a healthcare option. That famous Wilk vs. AMA case proved to vindicate chiropractic as its own, legitimate, licensed and board-regulated profession, independent of allopathic medicine and the confines of the AMA.  But for decades people were fed the message to avoid going to the chiropractor and great damage was done by that misleading and ultimately, illicit behavior.

The most cutting- edge research in the index-medicus (do PubMed searches) has shown that chiropractic care is superior to drug treatment for back pain. Further, there are now several studies showing how non-surgical spinal decompression can safely and effectively reduce chronic pain due to sciatica, spinal stenosis, neuropathy and disc disease including bulging and herniated discs.  As a chiropractic physician I educate my patients about how to restore normal spinal alignment through corrective care and reveal these changes to them by comparing before and after x-rays. And I always teach that all big spinal problems started small and early detection and prevention is the best---much like your dentist teaches!