Unconventional dentistry: Part II. Practitioners and patients

This is the second in a series of five articles providing a contemporary overview and introduction to unconventional dentistry (UD) and its correlation with unconventional medicine (UM). Dentists may provide unconventional services and use or prescribe unconventional products because of personal beliefs, boredom with conventional practice, lack of understanding of the scientific process or financial motivation. To promote these UD practices, unrecognized credentials and self-proclaimed specialties are advertised. Characteristics of users of unconventional practices are varied; however, UD users are more often female and highly educated. UD practitioners and users generally appear to be analogous to UM practitioners and users. Some UD treatments are more invasive or more costly than conventional dentistry.