Does industry funding bias dental education and lectures?
Yes, and you should assume it every time. This isn’t about bad people. It’s about how money works on the brain. When those calcium channel blockers like Cardizem and Procardia came up for approval in the 80s, the scientists on record supporting them had taken industry money, and the ones opposed had taken far less. The drugs turned out to be good. That’s not the point. The point is that influence followed the funding regardless of how professional or educated those people were, because an exchange of money creates a debt that gets paid back, often without the person even noticing. Some clinicians refuse industry funding for exactly this reason. So when you sit in a lecture or course backed by a manufacturer, assume the recommendations are tilted, no matter how genuinely good the product is. A debt was created. Listen with that in mind.
If the answers you are finding here resonate with you, my team and I work with a small group of clients each year. The next step is a complimentary Discovery Consultation and Practice Review with Dr. McAnally.