ADA severs ties with Dr. Oz over dental amalgam statement

According to the ADA’s website, the association has severed its ties with Sharecare, a consumer health and wellness site co-founded by Mehmet Oz, M.D., after he made misleading comments about dental amalgam during a March 28 episode of “The Dr. Oz Show.”

Apparently, producers for the show declined to interview an ADA spokeperson for the segment, although Dr. Oz did read a short statement from the ADA on the subject.

"As a science-based organization, we should always welcome inquiry, but we should not be seen as supporting the promotion of misleading information unsupported by the best science," said ADA President Robert A. Faiella.

This wouldn’t be the first time Dr. Oz created controversy by making statements that run contrary to medical science.  As outlined in a February 2013 profile in The New Yorker, the doctor’s opinions on Reiki, a Buddhist spiritual practice in which practitioners purportedly transfer healing energy to patients through the palms of their hands, routinely go against established medical science.

Sharecare users that click on ADA answers on the site will be directed to a notice stating that the health and wellness platform is no longer associated with the American Dental Association.  The notice will also direct users to the ADA’s consumer website if they want information on oral hygiene and health.