Price, who blamed tooth decay on modern Western diet habits such as consumption of white flour, pasteurized milk, and processed sugar, which he also linked to criminal behavior.
Price's theories were expanded by Melvin E. Page and Hal Huggins, who promoted the pseudoscientific idea of "balancing body chemistry".
A significant part of the critique of holistic dentistry is related to the unsubstantiated use of certain services and treatments, many of which have either been investigated and found ineffective or have not been researched enough to be declared safe and effective for practice.
However, there is a lack of scientific research that supports such treatments,[6] and in fact, herbal remedies have been found to impact the safety of more invasive or prolonged dental procedures, and can lead to additional complications if they interact with a patient's current medications.
A potential example of this is the Cavitat, a non-validated ultrasound device purported to be able to detect alleged lesions described as "cavitations" (see: neuralgia-inducing cavitational osteonecrosis), or the non-evidence-based utilization of breathing apparatus by certain "biologic dentists" during removal of amalgam fillings, intended to reduce mercury toxicity by eliminating inhaled airborne material.