Suzanne Somers DDS- How Celebrities have become the New Health Experts

Jan. 24, 2011 - PRLog -- According to Dr. Michael Zuk, the media is doing the public a disservice by not checking facts before they allow celebrities without credentials to provide advice to their audience. A recent example is Suzanne Somers blog, http://suzannesomers.com/Blog/post/Water-Fluoridation-Get-the-Facts.aspx, which takes the stand that water fluoridation is harmful.

The public can easily get scared into believing things that are not true, and the winner in this case is the dental profession. If communities take the fluoride out of the water the decay rates rise and dental bills will increase.

The hardest hit are the people on lower incomes, who can least afford it.

The dental and medical associations have revised guidelines to maintain safe levels of fluoride in the water to minimize any ill effects. Her claim that drinking a glass of water is the same as swallowing a lump of toothpaste is false, and so is the recommendation for 8 glasses of water per day (according to Dr. Oz).

The most current guidelines should be accessed from the dental associations and people should use the associations as the most current reference. Suzanne Somers does not have a dental degree, and her experts are often on the fringe of medical science.

Dentists need to speak up and educate their patients about the facts. One fact is celebrities have other motives (like selling books), while the professions are supposed to actually create less work for themselves with preventive measures.

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Michael Zuk DDS is the author of the book 'Confessions of a Former Cosmetic Dentist' which explores the reasons why aggressive aesthetic dental care, in the form of Extreme Smile Makeovers, may exploit patients and damage healthy teeth.