Patients often message us confused, and no wonder. Five different labels get used for dentists like me, sometimes for the same thing, sometimes not. Here's my plain-English guide.
Holistic dentist
The widest term. It usually means a dentist who looks at you as a whole person: your general health, your medicines, your lifestyle, not just the tooth in front of them. There's no legal definition, and no qualification you need to use the word.
Biological dentist
Often used interchangeably with holistic. The emphasis is usually on the materials used in your mouth and how they're chosen. Again, it isn't a protected title. My fuller explanation is here.
Mercury-free dentist
A dentist who doesn't place new amalgam (silver) fillings. That's increasingly common anyway. The UK has been phasing down amalgam use for years. It says nothing about how old amalgam is removed.
Mercury-safe dentist
A dentist who takes precautions when removing old amalgam fillings. How much precaution varies a great deal from practice to practice.
SMART-certified dentist
This one is specific. SMART stands for the Safe Mercury Amalgam Removal Technique, set out by the International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology (IAOMT). A SMART-certified dentist has been trained and assessed in it. That means a rubber dam, high-volume suction, a separate air supply for the patient, and protective covering for everyone in the room.
So which should you look for?
If amalgam removal is what you want, the label that tells you the most is SMART certification, because it describes a set protocol rather than a philosophy. You can check it on the IAOMT's own directory.
Beyond that, ask:
How many amalgam fillings have you removed?
What exactly do you do to protect me during removal?
What material will you replace them with?
What will it cost, and is the removal charged separately?
Where I fit in
All of those labels describe how I work, for what the labels are worth. More usefully, I'm the only IAOMT SMART Protocol Mentor in the UK, I've removed more than ten thousand amalgam fillings since 2004, and in September 2026 I became the only active IAOMT Fellow in the country.
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