Facing denial

Always a good word to begin the year with – no more affirmative New Year's resolutions from me! Actually there is a good dental point here, despite my inspiration coming from a recent article in the British Medical Journal.

The authors point out that the growth in myths and legends has become ever stronger in recent years, and while at first thought the concept of 'denial' might bring to mind the context of World War 2, it's also highly prevalent in health care.

In the dental field, one has only to think of the widespread scaremongering around amalgam usage, or the significant campaigns (extending to august Parliamentary speeches) on the subject of anti-fluoridation, to recognise that health, and public health, is ill-served by this spreading problem.

The article goes on to highlight three recent aetiological factors in this phenomenon: the growth of 'web 2.0' which has turned an information–exchange medium of vast power into, effectively, a soap-box for anyone with the ability to write a blog; the growth of over-active media, which love to set controversy raging in the name of viewing or readership figures; and finally (though to a lesser extent in dentistry) the influence of major corporate interests.