- Dr. David Alfaro
Let's "cancel" Dr. Westin Price......
You guys have heard of "cancel culture", right? Where suddenly "woke" persons are calling out people, places, and hobbies as now inappropriate or politically incorrect? Even people that died decades ago?
Well.....I want to add a name to the list...... Dr. Westin Price.
Who was Dr. Westin Price?
Dr. Westin Price was a Canadian dentist who lived and worked in the USA and published books in 1920's-1930's. He travelled the world completing anthropological and nutritional studies in dental and systemic health.
There are many websites that call Dr. Westin Price "the greatest dentist in the world" and there is even a foundation in his name that focuses on healthy living. But is he deserving of that title?
What does his research say?
Much of his research focuses on the role of diet and nutrition in human development, and specifically the loss of nutrients from soils and water sources in urban versus rural and isolated areas. He also wrote on the correlations between dental infections and systemic illnesses. Much of his work has been disproven but serves for historical reference.
Just like many of you, I found myself with a whole bunch of spare time this spring due to the COVID19 pandemic lockdown, so I read his books. As many as I could get my hands on. I wanted to see what the hype was about.
There was a lot that I agree with. He LOVED butter! I love butter! He loved butter from free range cows living away from cities. I do too!!! He emphasized the importance of healthy agriculture for healthy living. I love growing my own food in my organic garden.
But.....there was a side of his research that I just could not get past.
Dr. Price's unethical and racist research
Dr. Price spoke of non-white and rural and isolated people as "primitive racial stock" and stated that "unpure" genetic lineages through interracial mixing would lead to anatomical deformities, which in turn would lead to criminal behaviour and low intelligence.
He performed unethical research on institutionalized children with Down's syndrome, or "Mongoloid Idiots" to use his terminology. In one case, he expanded a child's palate orthodontically and aggressively (it would have been extremely painful) and claimed that it increased the size of the boy's genitals and turned him from a boy into a "modest man".
There are countless images of fingers prying open the mouths of indigenous peoples from around the globe to demonstrate their teeth; totally non diagnostic and treating them as research specimens!
I could go on and on giving examples of offensive experiments on the disabled, and derogatory descriptions of non-white persons.
This research reeks of the arrogance of white medical professionals of the turn of the century and parallels the eugenics movement of the era. I know that this was "how things were back then", but, should we be praising him now?
Read his books
Even though I found myself thoroughly offended at his research, especially as a Latino-Canadian with Indigenous, Spanish and Italian heritage, which would put me into both his "primitive" and "unpure" genetic categories, making me destined for delinquency and deformity, I powered through a few of his books, only to find more and more infuriating examples of unethical practices and beliefs that could only be interpreted as superiority of the white race.
But do not listen to me; read them for yourselves and make your own opinions:
Download Link: The pathology of Dental Infections and it's Relation to Dental Diseases After reading these books, I hope the next time you see someone refer to Dr. Westin Price as "the greatest dentist ever" that you cancel them and call them out for not recognizing the racist and unethical past he had---even if it was the norm for the time.
Thanks for reading!
Dr. Dave
