The herbal & nutritional supplement industry is massive and is growing every year.  A large percentage of our patients are taking or ingesting some sort of supplement that may fall outside of FDA regulation.  Health care providers including dentists are sorely lacking in knowledge about many of these supplements.  

The lack of regulation makes these supplements difficult to obtain unbiased information on.  Luckily there are several places that we can go to obtain information on these products.  

The best resource for information on herbal and nutritional supplements is called the Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database.  There is a subscription fee of $75 for a year of service.  The information contained in this database is unparalleled in its depth and accuracy.  

Some other useful websites that can be used to look up information on supplements is Consumer Lab.  This website contains tests, reviews, warnings, and product information on many of the products available on the market today.  Some information is available free and some is by subscription only.  A one year subscription runs $29.95.

The last resource of interest is Quack Watch.  Quack Watch's purpose is to combat health-related frauds, myths, fads, and fallacies.  Want information about how big of a rip off those Kinoki Foot Pads are?  Quack Watch is the place to look. 

These three resources can really help give the dentist extremely important information regarding substances which can absolutely impact the delivery and success of the treatment we provide.  

I hope everyone kept the receipt for their Kinoki Foot Pads.