A brief history of conflicting ideals in health care

Three medical traditions were in conflict in fifth century B.C. Greece. The Aesculapian view was grounded in illness as a mystery and remedies based on authority. The Cnidian School emphasized early views of disease and science. The School of Cos, commonly associated with the name Hippocrates, was patient and practice based. The history of medicine is a complex intertwining of these traditions. Each developed its own epistemology--theory of how we come to know things and what basis is used to ground truth. These three traditions can be found in dentistry today. Even taken together, however, they fail to account for modern dental practice.