3 ms·

I’m not sure if I’ve understood this comment properly. Are you saying that it’s ok if the headline is full of shit, because it serves the more noble purpose of

I’m not sure if I’ve understood this comment properly. Are you saying that it’s ok if the headline is full of shit, because it serves the more noble purpose of getting people to trust their doctors less?

ordu 8y ago
I see it differently. 1. It is not full of shit, there are only one word in a phrasing that makes the headline misleading. It is "surprisingly". In medicine there are nothing surprising when there are not enough scientific verification for a conventional wisdom. And yes, I'm ok with it. 2. It doesn't serve the purpose of getting people to trust their doctors less. If someone do it the wrong way, the reality would fix it anyway. It is a good outcome. People would learn how to do decision making, doctors would be forced to rethink ways they persuade their patients that doctors know better. It is more contraversial, I agree, but I can live with it. Why should I have less information I need, if someone cannot deal properly with information of this kind? You know, I'm riding bike as I rode before despite of risk of retina detachement. I decided that 10 years of riding is good enough evidence for me. When I have no access to a scientific knowledge on topic, I have no other options except to fall back to use an anecdotal evidence. In any case I'm not going to through out my bike, I like it and I believe that psychological health is more important than physical.
- mikeash 8y ago
  I don’t understand #1. The article itself says that there’s plenty of evidence to support the basic dental wisdom of brushing and flossing regularly and getting regular checkups. Or are you arguing that the headline is correct and the content of the article is wrong?
  - ordu 8y ago
    There are a lot of evidence about brushing, and only brushing. Article admits it. Flossing is more contraversial, and the best argument is about problems that could arise decades later: this argument not just a rational argument for flossing, but also explains the weakness of scientific evidence. It must be hard to make a longitudal research while controlling subjects for flossing, I can understand it. But it doesn't mean that there are a lot of evidence, it means there are plausible excuses for a lack of evidence. I see this distinction as an important one. (At the same time I acknowledge, that article doesn't express it in such a wording, it does it more vague, leaving some crucial information behind links and stressing the point of lack of evidence, to justify the headline. It is clumsy.) Also in the article mentioned yearly X-rays, frequency of brushing, scaling and polishing, bonded amalgams, interdental brush, preventive visits. Not every in the exact sense that "little evidence found", and I didn't bother to visit the all linked articles to see what is there, but nevertheless, I want to point, that brushing and flossing is just a part of the article. In any case I see that the headline is good enough. After some thinking I even do not see "surprisingly" as a redundant word: surprise is a subjective feeling and the author can be surprised when I'm not. Moreover I guess that not only the author was surprised but some of his readers also. edit: typo

ordu 8y ago

I see it differently. 1. It is not full of shit, there are only one word in a phrasing that makes the headline misleading. It is "surprisingly". In medicine there are nothing surprising when there are not enough scientific verification for a conventional wisdom. And yes, I'm ok with it. 2. It doesn't serve the purpose of getting people to trust their doctors less. If someone do it the wrong way, the reality would fix it anyway. It is a good outcome. People would learn how to do decision making, doctors would be forced to rethink ways they persuade their patients that doctors know better. It is more contraversial, I agree, but I can live with it. Why should I have less information I need, if someone cannot deal properly with information of this kind? You know, I'm riding bike as I rode before despite of risk of retina detachement. I decided that 10 years of riding is good enough evidence for me. When I have no access to a scientific knowledge on topic, I have no other options except to fall back to use an anecdotal evidence. In any case I'm not going to through out my bike, I like it and I believe that psychological health is more important than physical.

mikeash 8y ago
I don’t understand #1. The article itself says that there’s plenty of evidence to support the basic dental wisdom of brushing and flossing regularly and getting regular checkups. Or are you arguing that the headline is correct and the content of the article is wrong?
- ordu 8y ago
  There are a lot of evidence about brushing, and only brushing. Article admits it. Flossing is more contraversial, and the best argument is about problems that could arise decades later: this argument not just a rational argument for flossing, but also explains the weakness of scientific evidence. It must be hard to make a longitudal research while controlling subjects for flossing, I can understand it. But it doesn't mean that there are a lot of evidence, it means there are plausible excuses for a lack of evidence. I see this distinction as an important one. (At the same time I acknowledge, that article doesn't express it in such a wording, it does it more vague, leaving some crucial information behind links and stressing the point of lack of evidence, to justify the headline. It is clumsy.) Also in the article mentioned yearly X-rays, frequency of brushing, scaling and polishing, bonded amalgams, interdental brush, preventive visits. Not every in the exact sense that "little evidence found", and I didn't bother to visit the all linked articles to see what is there, but nevertheless, I want to point, that brushing and flossing is just a part of the article. In any case I see that the headline is good enough. After some thinking I even do not see "surprisingly" as a redundant word: surprise is a subjective feeling and the author can be surprised when I'm not. Moreover I guess that not only the author was surprised but some of his readers also. edit: typo