Dental Floss May Have No Medical Benefits, Says AP Report (gizmodo.com)

Joe_NoOne quotes a report from Gizmodo: Flossing may not yield the protective benefits we've been told to expect. Since 1979, the federal government in the U.S. has recommended daily flossing, but by law these dietary guidelines, which are updated every five years, have to be supported by scientific evidence. Surprisingly -- and without any notice -- the federal government dropped flossing from its dietary guidelines this year, telling the Associated Press that "the government acknowledged the effectiveness of flossing had never been researched, as required." AP national writer Jeff Donn reports: "The two leading professional groups -- the American Dental Association and the American Academy of Periodontology, for specialists in gum disease and implants -- cited other studies as proof of their claims that flossing prevents buildup of gunk known as plaque, early gum inflammation called gingivitis, and tooth decay. However, most of these studies used outdated methods or tested few people. Some lasted only two weeks, far too brief for a cavity or dental disease to develop. One tested 25 people after only a single use of floss. Such research, like the reviewed studies, focused on warning signs like bleeding and inflammation, barely dealing with gum disease or cavities. Wayne Aldredge, president of the periodontists' group, acknowledged the weak scientific evidence and the brief duration of many studies...Still, he urges his patients to floss to help avoid gum disease. 'It's like building a house and not painting two sides of it,' he said. 'Ultimately those two sides are going to rot away quicker.'"

Comments

Floss

[31415926535897]

I have lots of experience over the years, (with me), and I've done it every way.

Floss. That's all there is to it. You will have trouble with your gums and with cavities if you don't.

You don't have to floss every day. Once a week is enough. Your dentist won't even be able to tell the difference.

Re:Floss

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much this, though I now floss every day. (And I live somewhere where it's not usual.)
In fact, I'd recommend flossing only over brushing only.

I've had a lot of gum and tooth issues at once, and it always was between the teeth. Turns out, the gaps between my teeth got bigger and I had a lot of shit getting stuck there. Now that Ifloss, I haven't had any new issues, but there's some permanent damage.

Anyway, when I remove something that was stuck between my teeth I instantly feel much better.

Re: Floss

[Defakto]

This isn't necessarily true. I had a similar conversation with my dentist. He had one client who was a religious floss we and brusher, they have terrible teeth. Multiple root canals, at least 12 fillings. Then there's me. I rarely floss unless I can tell something is stuck, then I do to get it out. The strength of your teeth is mainly genetic and environment. Sadly my son has his mother's teeth and already has problems.

Re:Floss

[jomama717]

I don't care if there is no evidence of medical benefit, or correlation with cavities/gum disease - those things are intangible. Flossing teeth after just 2-3 days of NOT flossing produces so much gross tangible stuff from between the teeth I still feel a lot better after doing it, no matter what.

I'm going to guess there is no evidence of medical benefit to applying deodorant every day, but FFS please do.

Rotting Meat

[labnet]

Fine, don't floss:
but when you have a conversation with me, and you a piece of rotting meat stuck in your mouth for days on end, I'm taking 10 paces back.

Mental Breakdown

[dohzer]

Did they study what happens if you have a little bit of orange gunk stuck between your teeth and would have a breakdown if you couldn't use floss to remove it?

How to floss regularly

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Floss
2. Smell used floss
3. Be totally grossed out.
4. Floss forever.

Story is a beat up. They didn't say it makes no difference. They just said the research supporting it was old and had poor methodology, possibly because "Big Floss" didn't think "floss research" was worth throwing money at and people have been doing it anyway because it's common sense.

So another clickbait headline which will have AP's media customers rubbing their hands with glee, but misleading and many people will take away the wrong conclusion.

Evidence based medicine

[phantomfive]

Not everything we know comes from randomized, large-scale trials. There are other ways to gain knowledge. This link shows why randomized, large-scale trials are not always the best idea.

Re:I say bullshit

[Anonymous Coward]

They didn't say "flossing is useless". They said flossing hasn't been studied properly, so by law, they are not allowed to put it in the official guidelines.

Re:The house analogy sucks

[I'm New Around Here]

So do some of my teeth.

wrong headline

[prefec2]

So the true story is that the claim has not been prooven. This makes the claim not false, it makes it untested and unverified. As the claim still can be tested , it is not a believe. So the ball lies now in the corner of dental floss researchers to evaluate the effect in a real study.

FLOSS

[MancunianMaskMan]

Wot no gnu logo here? https://www.gnu.org/philosophy...

Oh /. where art thou!

Re:Typical

[radio4fan]

British dental health is much better than in the US.

British Teeth Aren’t That Bad (American Teeth Are Far Worse)

Which countries' children have the worst teeth?

Re:Typical

[AmiMoJo]

Health wise we do better, but until fairly recently people tend not to worry too much about the cosmetic aspect so their teeth look bad.

I had a brace for some fairly serious overcrowding when I was a child, but once the problem was fixed they lost interest in neatening everything up. I'm kinda tempted to pay to get them fixed now that those invisible braces are available. It's not so much the looks as the getting food suck in them all the bloody time.

Also, I wish my wisdom teeth would stop trying to kill me. Intelligent design my arse.