September
1, 2004
Sometime around
1981, one of my young
associates approached
me one day and stated, “Barry,
I don’t think
that you should be
doing gum surgery
anymore.” Now,
I had been taught
in my very highly
accredited dental
school (University
of Maryland, College
of Dental Surgery,
the oldest dental
school in America)
to perform gum surgery
to treat moderate
to severe gum disease.
What’s more,
I really didn’t
want to hear what
this young upstart
was telling me since
I had found that
I could mutilate
gums and bone just
as well as my periodontist-specialist
friends could do.
All that blood and
sutures and bubble-gum
packing really made
me feel like “a
real doctor.” In
addition, I found
that such procedures
were very financially
lucrative. I could “cut
and sew” and
bill my patients
and insurance companies
a great deal of money,
and they would actually
pay me for doing
so. Of course, the
end result of my
efforts really did
not stop their periodontal
disease. Years later,
they still continued
to lose alveolar
bone.
He also showed me
a letter written
to the profession-at-large
from a Dr. Paul Cummings.
Dr. Cummings had
been the Chief of
the Department of
Periodontology at
the University of
North Carolina at
Chapel Hill. In that
13-page letter, he
extolled the virtues
of a man named Dr.
Paul Keyes.
I do remember one
of the many profound
things that Dr. Cummings
said was that he
felt guilty and wished
to “apologize” to
the countless numbers
of patients who had
been unnecessarily
mutilated by the
students that I (he)
had taught to perform
periodontal surgery.” Additionally,
he stated, “the
conservative, non-surgical
techniques do work.
Try them, you’ll
like them and so
will your patients.
But I doubt that
the periodontists
ever will. It is
not the road to a
second Mercedes.”
Wow, talk about
pissing people off.
I would encourage
all professionals
to read that letter
from Dr. Cummings.
After reading that
letter, my first
exposure to the concept
of conservative,
non-surgical treatment
of perio, my curiosity
was quite stimulated.
I called and made
an appointment to
fly from San Antonio,
Texas, to Washington,
DC, to meet with
Dr. Keyes. He was
gracious enough to
agree to meet with
me.
At a Chinese restaurant
for our lunch meeting,
I was immediately
in awe of this charming,
brilliant giant of
a scientist whose
credentials made
me feel so very humbled.
I truly did not
wish to abandon the
easy-to-do, highly
profitable, no lab
fee, periodontal
surgery. However,
among many profound
statements he made,
one in particular
changed my dental
career forever. Dr.
Keyes told me, “Barry,
periodontal disease
is nothing more than
a bacterial infection.
And you don’t
treat an infection
with a
knife, you
treat it like any
doctor treats an
infection, with some
form of medication
that eliminates the
bacteria and their
toxins!” (At
least that is the
closest I can remember
to his exact words.)
Of course, the rest
is history, as they
say. I became a believer
and disciple of Paul
Keyes. I returned
to Texas, aggressively
advertised and implemented
the new “Non-Surgical
Treatment of Gum
Disease.” Well,
as you can imagine,
as they say in Texas,
the “stuff
hit the fan.” Almost
every periodontist
in Texas immediately
lodged complaints
to the Texas State
Board of Dental Examiners
about “Dr.
Solomon’s fraudulent
claims as to the
success of treating
gum disease without
any surgery.”
The Dental Board
then launched a major
attack against me
to attempt to suspend
my dental license
for advertising “that
Keyes technique that
doesn’t work.” One
of my ads stated, “Gum
Disease is Totally
Preventable.” Well
the Board attempted
to punish me because
of what they claimed
was “false
advertising.” I
needed to hire a
law firm to defend
myself.
At that time, I
also had treated
many of the local
news media people,
newspaper, radio,
and television as
patients. We received
a tremendous amount
of publicity in all
forms of the media
about “Dr.
Solomon’s using
a new form of treatment
to treat gum disease
without causing the
patient unnecessary
pain and expense.”
Many hundreds of
patients, who had
been told by their
periodontist that
they needed extensive
gum surgery at considerable
expense, called me
for appointments.
But to add even greater
insult to injury,
many of those patients
first called to break
their scheduled appointments
with their periodontists
and then asked to “have
their x-rays and
records transferred
to Dr. Barry Solomon.” This
was one group of
really pissed-off
guys, God bless them.
I called Dr. Keyes
to come to my hearing
as an expert witness
in San Antonio. He
was gracious enough
to agree to come.
The Dental Board
always coordinated
disciplinary hearings
at the time of the
Texas Dental Association
meeting in the spring.
The event turned
into a media circus.
We had coverage from
every major local
network as well as
from CNN and the New
York Times.
Gee, some have even
accused me of exploiting
that situation for
free advertising,
heaven forbid.
One cowboy-investigator
for the Dental Board,
Stetson hat included,
when interviewed
by a local television
reporter, stated: “W-ai-e-ll,
Solomon is just a
Yankee who doesn’t
understand the way
things are done down
here!” Great
stuff.
The “prosecutors” of
the Board, my competitors
and adversaries,
stated their opinion
about “the
falseness” of
my ads in my stating
that periodontal
disease is “totally
preventable.” When
it was Dr. Keyes’ turn
to testify as an
expert authority,
he was beautiful.
He stated, “Certainly
periodontal disease IS totally
preventable. Something
is either totally
preventable, or it
is not preventable
at all. Like pregnancy
is either totally
preventable, or it
is not preventable
at all.”
The Dental Board
showed Dr. Keyes
very little respect.
Obviously, they were
intimidated by his
stature and oncoming
notoriety. I was
so very proud of
him and flattered
to be associated
with him in any way
whatsoever.
The Dental Board
first tried to suspend
my license. When
my attorneys made
it quite clear that
I would carry the
fight to the Texas
Supreme Court (a
major bluff since
it was financially
impossible for me
to afford such a
fight), the Dental
Board offered for
me to “accept
a reprimand.” My
position was that “why
should I accept a
reprimand for having
done nothing wrong,
but for championing
a state-of-the-art
procedure to better
treat gum disease
without surgery and
without putting the
dental consumer to
unnecessary expense
and suffering?”
My attorney informed
me that if we did
appeal the Board’s
decision to a State
Court, we would,
most likely prevail.
However, in doing
so, I would incur
additional tens of
thousands of dollars
more in legal expenses.
Reluctantly, I agreed
to accept the reprimand,
their “slap
on the wrist.” To
this day, I regret
having done so. On
hindsight, I should
have taken out a
second and third
mortgage on my home
to fund the appeal.
However, as with
most adversity, there
is always a silver
lining and hidden
blessing. The attempted
attack and persecution
of me in this episode
of my career and
involvement for championing
the “Keyes
Technique” had
some wonderful results.
The day after the
Dental Board hearings,
the New
York Times published
a half-page article
on the front page
of the second section
about me and my travails
with the Texas Dental
Board. They featured
a large picture of
me (with much darker
hair, of course)
with a quote that
I made to their reporter, “ ‘To
cut gums is criminal,’ Dr.
Solomon states.”
Even more fun, that
evening, I was hooked
up by remote television
feed for a big segment
on the “MacNeil/Lehrer
News Hour” on
PBS. At that show,
they had me debating
with Dr. Edwin Barrington,
then president of
the American Society
of Periodontists.
He was being telecast
from another city,
exactly where I do
not remember. The
commentator of the
show, whose name
also slips my mind
(again, senility
creeps in) started
the telecast by asking, “Why
is all this brouhaha
over dental treatment
going on?” Of
course, Dr. Barrington
refuted the fact
that gum disease
could be successfully
treated non-surgically.
By then, my dander
was quite up. In
front of millions
of viewers, I asked
my learned debate
opponent, “Dr.
Barrington, other
than putting a great
deal of money in
your pocket and mine,
what good are we
doing for our patients
by doing gum surgery
on them when we are
dealing with nothing
more than a simple
bacteria infection?” Needless
to say, he came back
with a very lame
response.
I received countless
calls and letters
from all over the
world as a result
of that telecast
and the International
Edition of the New
York Times from
people wishing to
know more about the
conservative treatment.
Even my mother called
from Baltimore to
tell me that she
was worried about
my being in the middle
of such a controversy.
When I asked her
what she thought
about the actual
television show,
she said, “You
need a haircut!”
There are no words
adequate to express
my respect, admiration,
gratitude and awe
over Dr. Paul Keyes.
His contributions
to our profession
and to humanity in
general rank among
the greatest.
Dr. Keyes, thank
you profoundly.
Barry Solomon, DDS |