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Weston A. Price, DDS (1870–1948) was a dentist and nutritionist. He was the chairman of the Research Section of the American Dental Association from 1914–1923, but was later marginalized by the American Dental Association for his outspoken views on what he considered the detriments of root canals.

Biography

You teach, you teach, you teach!

On November 3. 1933 Charles F. Bodecker, D.D.S. from the laboratory of Histo-pathology, Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery, New York delivered a paper called "Metabolic Disturbance in Relation to the Teeth" which in part said:

"The findings of Agnews, Boyd and Drain, Eddy, Percy Howe, Hanke Martha Jones, Marshall, McBeath, Klein and McCollum, May Mellanby, Price, and others show that dental disorders may be greatly reduced by a proper adjustment of the diet. Some of these investigators maintain that a lack of vitamin C is principally responsible for the activity of dental caries (Howe, Hanke). Weston Price regards vitamin B and mineral salts as the important elements in a caries free diet. Some believe that the lack of vitamin D is the offending factor (Mellanby). Finally, a disturbance in the calcium-phosphorus balance (which includes vitamin D) is the factor to which most recent investigators point as being responsible for the high activity of dental caries."

On page 567 of the same article Bodecker also states "All investigators who have observed nutritional experiments have noted that the activity of dental caries is reduced under improved nutrition. But the fact that this disease can not be prevented in all cases, again shows that our understanding of the problem is by no means complete."

In 1939 through Paul B. Hoeber, Inc; Medical Book Department of Harper & Brothers, Price published "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration", a book that details a series of ethnographic nutritional studies performed by Price across diverse cultures.

Some of the cultures studied include the inhabitants of the Lötschental in Switzerland, the inhabitants of the Isles of Lewis and Harris in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland, the Gaeltacht areas on the western islands of Ireland, the Eskimos of Alaska and Canada, the Native Americans, among the inhabitants of New Caledonia, Fiji, Samoa, the Marquesas Islands, Tahiti, Rarotonga, Nukuʻalofa, Hawaii, the Masai, Kikuyu, Wakamba and Jalou tribes of Kenya, the Muhima of Uganda, the Baitu and Watusi of Rwanda, the Pygmies, and Wanande in the Congo, the Terrakeka, Dinka and Neurs of Sudan, the Aborigines of Australia, the inhabitants of the Torres Strait, the Māori of New Zealand, the Tauhuanocans, Quechua, "Andes Indians", "Sierra Indians" and "Jungle Indians" of Peru.

In his studies he claimed to have found that plagues of modern civilization (headaches, general muscle fatigue, dental caries or cavities, impacted molars, tooth crowding, allergies, heart disease, asthma, and degenerative diseases such as tuberculosis and cancer) were not present in those cultures sustained by indigenous diets. However, within a single generation these same cultures experienced all the above listed ailments with the inclusion of Western foods in their diet: refined sugars, refined flours, canned goods, etc.

In the forward to the book physical anthropologist Earnest A. Hooton of Harvard University stated "A great deal of elaborate and patient research and experimentation has been expended upon this problem of the etiology and control of dental caries, but I do not suppose that anyone would claim that it has been solved. At any rate, the dentists are still busily engaged in drilling our cavities and in plugging them. A quantity of excellent evidence has been amassed which indicates that dental caries is, to a great extent, connected with malnutrition and with deficient diets. For I think that we must admit that if savages know enough to eat the things which keep their teeth healthy, they are more intelligent in dietary matters than we are. So I consider that Dr. Price has written what is often called "a profoundly significant book." The principal difference between Dr. Price's work and many others so labelled is that in the present instance the designation happens to be correct. I salute Dr. Price with the sincerest admiration (the kind that is tinged with envy) because he has found out something which I should like to have discovered for myself."

Scholarly papers by Weston Price

Price, Weston A. (1930) "Seasonal Variations in Butter-fat Vitamins and their Relation to Seasonal Morbidity, Including Dental Caries and Disturbed Calcifications"; Journal American Dental Association, Vol. 17, May, Bulletin 103)

Price, Weston A. (1930) Some Contributing Factors to the Degenerative Diseases, with Special Consideration of the Role of Dental Focal Infections and Seasonal Tides in Defensive Vitamins; Oct., Nov., Dental Cosmos, Bulletin 107.

Price, Weston A. (1931) "New Light on the Control of Dental Caries and the Degenerative Diseases." Journal American Dental Association 18, 1189

Price, Weston A. (1931) "A New View of Health and Disease Based on the Rise and Fall in the Levels of Life with Cycles in Vitamin Tides"; American Journal of Public Health, June, Bulletin 111.

Price, Weston A. (1932) "Control of Dental Caries and Some Associated Degenerative Processes Through Reinforcement of the Diet with Special Activators" Journal American Dental Association Aug., 19, 1339-1369

Price, Weston A. (1933) "Additional Light on the Etiology and Nutritional Control of Dental Caries with its Application to each District showing Immunity and Susceptibility." Journal American Dental Association 20, 1648

Criticism

In 2002, Stephen Barrett of the website Quackwatch published an internet essay a portion of which criticized Weston Price's premises and conclusions. The Weston A. Price Foundation has written a point by point rebuttal.

Foundations

Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation

Originally known as the Weston A. Price Memorial Foundation, the Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation (PPNF) was established in 1952 as a non-profit organization that serves as the guardian for the archived material from the research of Weston A. Price, DDS and Francis M. Pottenger, Jr., MD.

The Weston A. Price Foundation

The Weston A. Price Foundation was co-founded in 1999 by Sally Fallon and nutritionist Mary G. Enig to disseminate the research of Dr. Weston A. Price.

References

Notes

1. George E. Meinig (January 1994). Root Canal Cover-Up: A Founder of the Association of Root Canal Specialists Discovers Evidence That Root Canals Damage Your Health - Learn What to Do (2nd rev. ed.) (Ojai, CA.: Bion Publishing), p. 10-17. ISBN 0945196199.
2. Agnew, M. C.; Agnew, R. G.; Tisdall, F. F. (1933) "The production and prevention of dental caries." Journal of the American Dental Association, JADA 20; 193-212.
3. Boyd, J. D.; Drain, C.; Nelson, M. V. (1929) "Dietary Control of Dental Caries." American Journal Diseases Children 38, 721.
4. Eddy, W. H. (1931) "Diet and Dentition." Dental Cosmos 73, 346
5. Howe,Percy R. (1921) "The Effect of Vitamin-Deficient Diet upon the Teeth." Dental Cosmos 63, 1086
6. Hanke, M. T. (1933) The Chicago Dental Research Club. "Nutritional Studies on Children." Dental Cosmos 75, 570, June, July, August
7. Jones, Martha; Larson, M. P.; Pritchard, G. P. (1932) "Dental Disease in Hawaii." Journal American Medical Association 99, 1849, November 26
8. Marshall,John. (1928)"Experimental Findings in Nutrition Studies and their Relation to Clinical Practice." Dental Cosmos 70, 1080.
9. Marshall, John. (1933) "Dental Aspects of Mineral Metabolism." Dental Cosmos75, 773, August.
10. McBeath, Ewing. (1932) "Report to the Commonwealth Fund of New York." Journal Dental Research 12, 723
11. Klein, H., McCollum, E. V. (1931) "A Preliminary Note on the Significance of the Phosphorus Intake in the Diet and Blood Phosphorus Concentration, in the Experimental Production of Caries-Immunity and Caries- Susceptibility in the Rat." Science 74,662,December 25.
12. Klein, H., McCollum, E. V. (1932) "The Significance of the Calcium and Phosphorus Ratio, in Caries-Susceptibility and Caries-Immunity." Journal Dental Research 12, 524.
13. Mellanby, May; Pattison, C. L.; Proud, J. W. (1924) "The Effect of Diet on the Development and Extension of Caries in Teeth of Children." British Med. Journal 2, 354, August 30.
14. Mellanby, May; Pattison, C. L. (1926) "Some Factors of Diet Influencing the Spread of Caries in Children." British Dental Journal 47, October 1, p.1045.
15. Mellanby, May; Pattison, C. L. (1928) "Action of Vitamin D in Preventing Spread and Promoting Arrest of Caries in Children." British Med. Journal 2, 1079, December 15.
16. Price, Weston A. (1931) "New Light on the Control of Dental Caries and the Degenerative Diseases." Journal American Dental Association 18, 1189
17. Price, Weston A. (1932) "Control of Dental Caries Through Diet." Journal American Dental Association 19, 1339
18. Price, Weston A. (1933) "Additional Light on the Etiology and Nutritional Control of Dental Caries with its Application to each District showing Immunity and Susceptibility." Journal American Dental Association 20, 1648
19. Stephen Barrett, M.D. "Stay Away from 'Holistic Dentistry'". Quackwatch. Retrieved 2007-02-11.
20. The Right Price (scroll down screen or search on section titled "Stephen Barrett")
21. Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation website
22. Weston A. Price Foundation website

Sources

• Weston Andrew Price, Forewords by Earnest Hooton, Granville Knight, and Abram Hoffer (2004). Nutrition and Physical Degeneration (6th edition ed.). Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation. ISBN 0916764087. {{cite book}}: |edition= has extra text (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Dental Infections, Oral and Systemic & the Degenerative Diseases, Vol. 1 & 2

See also

• Hal Huggins

External links

• Review of Weston A. Price's book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"
• In depth review of Weston A. Price's book "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration"
• The first 21 chapters of "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration", with illustrations and photographs

• 1870 births
• 1948 deaths
• American dentists
• American nutritionists