Anesthetics are generally administered with the aim of eliminating the pain experienced during treatment. Thanks to anesthesia, the patient can relax during the treatment, thereby allowing the dentist to concentrate on the procedure in hand.

Local anesthetics are seldom, if ever, discussed with the patient. The reason for this rests equally with the dentist as with the patient. For the dentist local, anesthesia is merely a means to an end, i.e. achieving an optimal result with the patient's teeth. The dentist quite often lacks specific knowledge pertaining to the pharmaceutical characteristics of the anesthetic and other active ingredients present in the capsules. A general practitioner, dentist or dental surgeon certainly knows more than enough to administer a local anesthetic, but they are not pharmacists.

The patient rarely asks for information regarding the use of local anesthetics. This is most often due to a lack of knowledge relating to the subject matter and a (misplaced) reluctance to ask for information.

The first people, as far as we know, with knowledge of local anesthesia were the inhabitants of Peru. They had long known that chewing on coca leaves caused a numbing of the mucous membrane in the mouth.

It was not until the latter half of the 19th century that research into this effect was conducted in Europe. This lead to the first eye operation under local anesthesia by the eye surgeon, Kol Ier in Vienna in 1884. The anesthesia was achieved using cocaine. Following this first successful operation cocaine was increasingly administered as a local anesthetic. In fact cocaine became commonplace in Europe as a local anesthetic. Before long, the disadvantages of cocaine became self-evident. Toxicity, a short lasting effect and addiction were problematic. However, the local anesthesia phenomenon had become well known and greatly appreciated. 

It was now possible to carry out an operation without causing the patient unnecessary suffering, the doctor was better able to concentrate on the procedure in hand and the affliction could be treated much sooner because the threshold for both doctor and patient to start treatment had become much lower.

At the beginning of the 90's, Marthe Bosscher came across a relatively large number of patients in her natural-healing practice, who were suffering from health problems, which were for the most part attributed to amalgam fillings. This is easily detected using the Dr Voll method of electro-acupuncture measurement. After diagnosing these symptoms, patients were advised to have their (metal) amalgam fillings replaced with less toxic alternatives and to contact their dentist. Alongside this advice, patients underwent a homeopathic detoxification program. The aim of removing the filling was to stop the long-term poisoning of the body. The detoxification program was designed to accelerate the expulsion of amalgam already accumulated in the body. For a long time, this two-track approach had much success in treating patients with amalgam problems. In 1994, however, the results began to be less successful.

At the beginning of the 90's, Marthe Bosscher came across a relatively large number of patients in her electro-acupuncture and natural-healing practice, who were suffering from health problems, attributed for the most part to amalgam dental fillings. This was easily detected using the Dr Voll method of electro-acupuncture measurement. After diagnosing these symptoms, patients were advised to have their amalgam fillings replaced with less toxic alternatives and to contact their dentist.

Alongside this advice, patients underwent a homeopathic detoxification program. The aim of removing the filling was to stop the chronic poisoning of the body, while the detoxification program was designed to accelerate the elimination of amalgam already accumulated in the body. For a long while, this two-track approach had much success in treating patients with amalgam problems.