Nutrition and Oral Medicine (Nutrition and Health)

162 Part III / Nutrition and Oral Healthdental medications. Chinese herbs are often complex mixtures and may not be fromreliable sources. Dental professionals should work with the patient’s TOM provider toevaluate any potential problems, particularly with herbal mixtures.Clearly, it is important for the dental professional to be aware of the CAM modalitiesbeing used by patients and to review whether they might interfere with dental therapy.An important finding in surveying CAM users is that they often do not volunteer informationto their health care providers concerning their use of CAM therapies. Anonjudgmental approach to the patient’s choices fosters a comfortable environment andprovides an opportunity to educate patients about efficacy and safety of the variousmodalities and to provide credible resources for further self-education.REFERENCES1. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. What Is Complementary and AlternativeMedicine (CAM)? Available at Website: (http://www.nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam/#1). AccessedJuly 15, 2002.2. Eisenberg DM, Kessler RC, Foster C, et al. Unconventional medicine in the United States: prevalence,costs, and patterns of use. N Engl J Med 1993; 328:246–252.3. Eisenberg DM, Davis RB, Ettner SL, et al. Trends in alternative medicine use in the United States, 1990–1997: results of a follow-up national survey. JAMA 1998; 280:1569–1575.4. Kessler RC, Davis RB, Foster DF, et al. Long-term trends in the use of complementary and alternativemedical therapies in the United States. Ann Intern Med 2001; 135:262–268.5. Astin JA. Why patients use alternative medicine: results of a national study. JAMA 1998; 279:1548–1553.6. Eisenberg DM, Kessler RC, Van Rompay MI, et al. Perceptions about complementary therapies relativeto conventional therapies among adults who use both: results from a national survey. Ann Intern Med2001; 135:344–351.7. Goldstein BH. Unconventional dentistry. 2. Practitioners and patients. J Can Dent Assoc 2000; 66:381–383.8. Jacobsen PL, Epstein JB, Cohan RP. Understanding “alternative” dental products. Gen Dent 2001;49:616–620.9. Harlan WR Jr. New opportunities and proven approaches in complementary and alternative medicineresearch at the National Institutes of Health. J Altern Complement Med 2001; 7(Suppl. 1):S53–S59.10. Harlan WR Jr. Research on complementary and alternative medicine using randomized controlled trials.J Altern Complement Med 2001; 7(Suppl. 1):S45–S52.11. National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. About the National Center for Complementaryand Alternative Medicine. Available at Website: (http://nccam.nih.gov/about/aboutnccam/index.htm). Accessed July 15, 2002.12. ClinicalTrials.gov. Linking patients to clinical research. Available at Website: (http://clinicaltrials.gov).Accessed June 28, 2002.13. Food and Drug Administration, Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. Dietary SupplementHealth and Education Act of 1994. Public law 103-417.94. Available at Website: (http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/dietsupp.html). Accessed June 28, 2002.14. Food and Drug Administration. MedWatch: 2002 Safety Information. Available at Website: (http://www.fda.gov/medwatch/SAFETY/2002/safety02.htm). Accessed July 15, 2002.15. Touger-Decker R, Mobley C. Oral health and nutrition: position of ADA. J Am Diet Assoc 2003; 103:615–625.16. US Department of Health and Human Services. Healthy People 2010: Understanding and ImprovingHealth. 2nd Ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 2000.17. US Department of Health and Human Services. Oral Health in America: A Report of the SurgeonGeneral. Rockville, MD: US Department of Health and Human Services, National Institute of Dentaland Craniofacial Research, National Institutes of Health, 2000.