Hello, my name is Dick Thom; I am a dentist and Naturopathic physician. Many of you may have previously attended one of my seminars or teleconferences or via the internet. For those of that dont know me: I practiced dentistry in eastern Canada for 12 years before returning to school and receiving 2 ND degrees, one from Toronto (CCNM) and the other from NCNM in Portland. I teach at NCNM (and have been there teaching for the last 20+ years), I see patients in my private practice in Portland, OR and lecture extensively throughout Canada and the US.  

I have produced 4 short videos for you and your practice. These are designed for your patients to save you time in explaining your practice of medicine. They are very generic and should easily fit into your practice, no matter which modalities you use. • The first video is a brief introduction to the alternative medicine paradigm. It covers the definitions of Health Vs. Disease and is an attempt to get the patient thinking differently about the current health model. The goal is to make your job easier. I am trying to help your patient understand that your role is not to treat their symptoms, but rather identify them and then help the patient try to understand why they are happening.

The long-term goal of this is to create life-long patients. This paradigm is designed on forming a lasting relationship with patients. It is via this approach that the true effectiveness of your therapies will bear fruit. After all, seeing a patient for less than 5 visits will hardly produce the type of results you or your patient truly wants or needs.

The next 3 videos introduce a simple model of how to approach patients with chronic disease. The overview of this chronic disease model, shows 3 overlapping circles one circle representing what must be added to the body for health, one representing what must be removed from the body for health and the third showing a variety of therapies that you may utilize for you to help enhance your patients level of wellness.

Throughout each of the videos I often refer the patient back to you to clarify, specify the best option for them based on your evaluation. We have tried to increase the acceptance of the patient to your approach to medicine. This will help everyone the patient, you, and the greater good of Humankind. So I encourage you to make the videos available for your patient. They will do a lot of your work and help the patient better understand why you have made your specific recommendations.