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Never flossed, never heard of anyone flossing in my circles. It seems like a very country specific thing, and afaik studies find very little to no benefits to

Never flossed, never heard of anyone flossing in my circles. It seems like a very country specific thing, and afaik studies find very little to no benefits to flossing. People look at me weird when I tell them I brush my teeth three times a day, here it seems like people are told to do it twice per day.

jamiegreen 4y ago
Same. Brush 3 times daily, never really floss. Not sure about the benefits, but my dentist doesn't complain. Then again, this is Britain.
- netruk44 4y ago
  My dentist in the US said to me that they would actually prefer people to brush less and floss more. They made a point of saying that if you brush twice a day and don't floss at all, they would instead prefer you to brush once a day and completely replace the other brushing session with flossing. (The ideal is brush AND floss every session, but they've learned that just telling people to do that results in them not actually changing anything) I honestly don't know how good of advice that is, but I brush and floss daily, so it wasn't really directed at me in the first place, hah.
  - jemmyw 4y ago
    I gave up flossing. It has made no difference as far as I can tell, and my dentist hasn't noticed. As far as I know, research has been ambiguous on the benefits and it's been dropped as a recommendation by some organisations because of the lack of evidence. The change that did make a difference to me, and is supported by evidence: switch to an electric toothbrush.
    - jrib 4y ago
      Might depend on what you eat but when I first started flossing, the gunk that I saw being removed was enough to convince me that flossing was a good idea. It may depend a lot on the tightness between your teeth, for example, how beneficial it is?
      - shinycode 4y ago
        It surely depends on how your teeth are aligned. Without flossing if I eat red meat for example every single time some get stuck and brushing never gets it out. My wife with the same meal never ever had this problem (or did any flossing btw)
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
popotamonga 4y ago
I brush every single time i eat. Even if it's a snack. WFH forever helps make that possible.
- jemmyw 4y ago
  Not immediately after eating I hope, that would do more damage than not.
  - efnx 4y ago
    Why is that?
    - snazz 4y ago
      If you ate something acidic, brushing might just rub the acid into your teeth. I’m not quite sure how big of a deal it is but that’s my guess as to why you want to wait a bit.
    - mfgs 4y ago
      Acidic foods and drinks will temporarily soften the enamel in your teeth. Brushing right afterwards can remove the softened enamel. Brushing right after drinking acidic soft drinks or soda is meant to be much worse for your teeth than not brushing.
      - julianeon 4y ago
        Thanks for this comment. Going to change my eating habits as a result.
      - robocat 4y ago
        I thought one weird trick to having good teeth was outright avoiding sugary drinks (soft drinks) and snacks. I always assumed avoiding causes was more important than remediation (teeth cleaning). Anecdotally, it seems reasonable. That said, flossing gets rid of obvious stuck gunk, so I do that (with care to avoid damaging gums).
jimkleiber 4y ago
I'm curious, as some cultures also have toothpicks on every restaurant table and toothpicks seem as if they might provide similar benefits to flossing...do people in your country use toothpicks a lot?
- alanbernstein 4y ago
  The main purpose of flossing is to scrape the narrow sides of the teeth, not to remove material from between the gaps.
  - jimkleiber 4y ago
    Ah, I appreciate that answer, thank you!
cainxinth 4y ago
> afaik studies find very little to no benefits to flossing. My gut reaction to that statement was incredulity, but the intro to the wiki article for flossing confirms it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss > ...empirical scientific evidence demonstrating the clinical benefit of flossing as an adjunct to routine tooth brushing alone remains limited. Who knew?! I'm not going to stop flossing though. I didn't always and I believe it had a very positive impact on my gum health in particular. I always get high marks from the dental hygienist.
- gpt5 4y ago
  The main problem is that there are zero long term studies on flossing. Gum recession and Gengivitis take decades to develop, until you are old and don't have enough of gums left to hold your teeth.
  - softsound 4y ago
    Decades? Nah just a few years is all you need, a lot of it is more apparent from eating disorders. Even with flossing + brushing daily it can be hard to overcome for some people once you have it. Sadly can confirm as I had no cavities in high school, did terrible in my 20's especially around 20-27 went through a lot of depression, lack of money/medical care/ in and out of work a lot and I'm trying to fix what I can just starting my 30's after losing 2 teeth It can be hard to overcome shame when already depressed so it's hard to visit a dentist moreso if you have no money to do anything. It's easy to screw up even more so if you have bad genes on top of it, a lot of my family has issues with teeth. At least stem cells can be found within your teeth and there is a process now to regrow some of your teeth with your own stem cells, doesn't replace implants though but helps. This process isn't popular yet but at least it's possible in a few areas in the states.
    - cableshaft 4y ago
      Lost four teeth when my fillings kept popping out, then eventually was told "you'll need crowns, those will be $2500 apiece" while I was in between jobs. I ended up letting them rot until they needed pulled, and that was something I wish I could take back today. I eventually was able to afford to get two dental bridges put in, but I've had issues with them off and on ever since: one of the anchor teeth needed a root canal and eventually cracked in half, now I need to get that and the other tooth pulled and get implants at some point. And I've got pretty bad gum issues around one of the anchor teeth (a pocket of size 5, just under serious periodontal disease) on my other bridge, and have gotten it deep cleaned and given antibiotics under the gumline a few times that so far hasn't reversed the process at all. If I could go back in time I'd be more diligent about dental hygeine, and/or would have borrowed money from someone or sought cheaper ways to get those crowns in, because it's a lot easier to keep crowns flossed than bridges.
jrib 4y ago
I remember being taught in school (United States in the early 90s) to brush teeth three times a day. This seemed odd to me since no one brought a toothbrush to school to brush after lunch.
abrookewood 4y ago
Not sure about the evidence/research, but proving that flossing does more than brushing seems simple enough: just brush until you are satisfied, then pull out the floss and see what it pulls out from in between your teeth. Flossing never fails to extract some amount of food when I do it.
- ericmcer 4y ago
  My dentist said something similar, that flossing will pull a bunch of stuff out of my teeth. I never floss and on the rare occasion I do nothing comes out, maybe a little blood. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, I don't really floss anymore though as it just feels like jamming string between my teeth for no reason. Never had a cavity or dental problem of any kind, in my mid 30s. Floss once a month maybe.
- michaelcampbell 4y ago
  > Flossing never fails to extract some amount of food when I do it. Now, prove that that amount of food actually does damage, and you have something.
  - nick__m 4y ago
    Does halitosis count ? ;P
    - gweinberg 4y ago
      Yes. If all flossing does is cut down on the bad breath, that's still a benefit.
- jrmg 4y ago
  Wait, what? People can see stuff bring removed by flossing? That has never happened to me, unless it’s something obvious like a piece of peanut skin that got logged in there somehow. Usually, the floss starts and ends looking pretty much the same.
  - 4y ago
arwhatever 4y ago
When I was in elementary school we were shown training materials which recommended that we brush there times a day. When we would ask the teacher how we should arrange to do so as young school students, the response was always something like, “Suppose we change the subject …”
WalterBright 4y ago
I go to the dentist every 2 months. The effects of not flossing, vs flossing once a day, vs flossing twice a day are very noticeable. Though I was cautioned to not floss aggressively, as that will wear down the tooth enamel.
- lm28469 4y ago
  Noticeable doesn't mean beneficial. Also dentists are very prone to over recommend things, because they're either directly or indirectly paid to do so. https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/5766223?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/57... Go to 5 dentists you'll get 5 widely different diagnosis. I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth removed "very soon" or I'd suffer in the future, that was almost 20 years ago, never had a toothache, never had a cavity, never had any issues with my wisdom teeth
  - WalterBright 4y ago
    My dentist recommended pulling my wisdom teeth over 40 years ago. I still have them, and they are the healthiest teeth in my mouth. (I switched to another dentist.) Another time the dentist wanted to put in a crown, I had him do a filling instead. And so on. One needs to be a participant, not just do whatever the dentist says. It's quite clear, though, that flossing fixes the obvious inflammation of the gums. At least in my mouth, it does.
odysseus 4y ago
One of my dentists had a little embroidered sign on the wall: "Floss only the teeth you want to keep." My main motivation for flossing aside from fresher breath is it dramatically makes the next dental visit easier. Meaning, way less bloody and painful. But my dentist says only about 30% of patients floss regularly.
Aeolun 4y ago
I’ve never brushed my teeth more than once a day, and people in some circles say that’s crazy. I recognize that it might be better to do it twice a day (like doing it three times might be better still?) but breaking the habits of a lifetime is hard, with uncertain gains.
beardedman 4y ago
FWIW, many years ago I used to have a real problem with bleeding gums whenever I brushed my teeth (mainly around my molars). Flossing daily solved that completely.
- moffkalast 4y ago
  I've similarly observed massive improvements doing it daily, but in general people tend to have very strong opinions one way or the other which makes me think it's very dependant on the teeth's in-between distance, microbiome, brushing technique and more. Some people can just like brush once a day with a regular toothbrush and have perfect teeth, meanwhile some of us have to do scientific experiments, use sonic toothbrushes, floss, and use mouthwash or our teeth start falling apart immediately lol.
  - beardedman 4y ago
    Sadly I fall in the "scientific experiments" group! :) I don't think my wife even needs to floss.
eutectic 4y ago
I think it's more the case that the benefits of flossing haven't been studied much, not that it's been thoroughly investigated and found not to work.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

jamiegreen 4y ago

Same. Brush 3 times daily, never really floss. Not sure about the benefits, but my dentist doesn't complain. Then again, this is Britain.

netruk44 4y ago
My dentist in the US said to me that they would actually prefer people to brush less and floss more. They made a point of saying that if you brush twice a day and don't floss at all, they would instead prefer you to brush once a day and completely replace the other brushing session with flossing. (The ideal is brush AND floss every session, but they've learned that just telling people to do that results in them not actually changing anything) I honestly don't know how good of advice that is, but I brush and floss daily, so it wasn't really directed at me in the first place, hah.
- jemmyw 4y ago
  I gave up flossing. It has made no difference as far as I can tell, and my dentist hasn't noticed. As far as I know, research has been ambiguous on the benefits and it's been dropped as a recommendation by some organisations because of the lack of evidence. The change that did make a difference to me, and is supported by evidence: switch to an electric toothbrush.
  - jrib 4y ago
    Might depend on what you eat but when I first started flossing, the gunk that I saw being removed was enough to convince me that flossing was a good idea. It may depend a lot on the tightness between your teeth, for example, how beneficial it is?
    - shinycode 4y ago
      It surely depends on how your teeth are aligned. Without flossing if I eat red meat for example every single time some get stuck and brushing never gets it out. My wife with the same meal never ever had this problem (or did any flossing btw)
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

popotamonga 4y ago

I brush every single time i eat. Even if it's a snack. WFH forever helps make that possible.

jemmyw 4y ago
Not immediately after eating I hope, that would do more damage than not.
- efnx 4y ago
  Why is that?
  - snazz 4y ago
    If you ate something acidic, brushing might just rub the acid into your teeth. I’m not quite sure how big of a deal it is but that’s my guess as to why you want to wait a bit.
  - mfgs 4y ago
    Acidic foods and drinks will temporarily soften the enamel in your teeth. Brushing right afterwards can remove the softened enamel. Brushing right after drinking acidic soft drinks or soda is meant to be much worse for your teeth than not brushing.
    - julianeon 4y ago
      Thanks for this comment. Going to change my eating habits as a result.
    - robocat 4y ago
      I thought one weird trick to having good teeth was outright avoiding sugary drinks (soft drinks) and snacks. I always assumed avoiding causes was more important than remediation (teeth cleaning). Anecdotally, it seems reasonable. That said, flossing gets rid of obvious stuck gunk, so I do that (with care to avoid damaging gums).

jimkleiber 4y ago

I'm curious, as some cultures also have toothpicks on every restaurant table and toothpicks seem as if they might provide similar benefits to flossing...do people in your country use toothpicks a lot?

alanbernstein 4y ago
The main purpose of flossing is to scrape the narrow sides of the teeth, not to remove material from between the gaps.
- jimkleiber 4y ago
  Ah, I appreciate that answer, thank you!

cainxinth 4y ago

> afaik studies find very little to no benefits to flossing. My gut reaction to that statement was incredulity, but the intro to the wiki article for flossing confirms it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_floss > ...empirical scientific evidence demonstrating the clinical benefit of flossing as an adjunct to routine tooth brushing alone remains limited. Who knew?! I'm not going to stop flossing though. I didn't always and I believe it had a very positive impact on my gum health in particular. I always get high marks from the dental hygienist.

gpt5 4y ago
The main problem is that there are zero long term studies on flossing. Gum recession and Gengivitis take decades to develop, until you are old and don't have enough of gums left to hold your teeth.
- softsound 4y ago
  Decades? Nah just a few years is all you need, a lot of it is more apparent from eating disorders. Even with flossing + brushing daily it can be hard to overcome for some people once you have it. Sadly can confirm as I had no cavities in high school, did terrible in my 20's especially around 20-27 went through a lot of depression, lack of money/medical care/ in and out of work a lot and I'm trying to fix what I can just starting my 30's after losing 2 teeth It can be hard to overcome shame when already depressed so it's hard to visit a dentist moreso if you have no money to do anything. It's easy to screw up even more so if you have bad genes on top of it, a lot of my family has issues with teeth. At least stem cells can be found within your teeth and there is a process now to regrow some of your teeth with your own stem cells, doesn't replace implants though but helps. This process isn't popular yet but at least it's possible in a few areas in the states.
  - cableshaft 4y ago
    Lost four teeth when my fillings kept popping out, then eventually was told "you'll need crowns, those will be $2500 apiece" while I was in between jobs. I ended up letting them rot until they needed pulled, and that was something I wish I could take back today. I eventually was able to afford to get two dental bridges put in, but I've had issues with them off and on ever since: one of the anchor teeth needed a root canal and eventually cracked in half, now I need to get that and the other tooth pulled and get implants at some point. And I've got pretty bad gum issues around one of the anchor teeth (a pocket of size 5, just under serious periodontal disease) on my other bridge, and have gotten it deep cleaned and given antibiotics under the gumline a few times that so far hasn't reversed the process at all. If I could go back in time I'd be more diligent about dental hygeine, and/or would have borrowed money from someone or sought cheaper ways to get those crowns in, because it's a lot easier to keep crowns flossed than bridges.

jrib 4y ago

I remember being taught in school (United States in the early 90s) to brush teeth three times a day. This seemed odd to me since no one brought a toothbrush to school to brush after lunch.

abrookewood 4y ago

Not sure about the evidence/research, but proving that flossing does more than brushing seems simple enough: just brush until you are satisfied, then pull out the floss and see what it pulls out from in between your teeth. Flossing never fails to extract some amount of food when I do it.

ericmcer 4y ago
My dentist said something similar, that flossing will pull a bunch of stuff out of my teeth. I never floss and on the rare occasion I do nothing comes out, maybe a little blood. I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, I don't really floss anymore though as it just feels like jamming string between my teeth for no reason. Never had a cavity or dental problem of any kind, in my mid 30s. Floss once a month maybe.
michaelcampbell 4y ago
> Flossing never fails to extract some amount of food when I do it. Now, prove that that amount of food actually does damage, and you have something.
- nick__m 4y ago
  Does halitosis count ? ;P
  - gweinberg 4y ago
    Yes. If all flossing does is cut down on the bad breath, that's still a benefit.
jrmg 4y ago
Wait, what? People can see stuff bring removed by flossing? That has never happened to me, unless it’s something obvious like a piece of peanut skin that got logged in there somehow. Usually, the floss starts and ends looking pretty much the same.
- 4y ago

arwhatever 4y ago

When I was in elementary school we were shown training materials which recommended that we brush there times a day. When we would ask the teacher how we should arrange to do so as young school students, the response was always something like, “Suppose we change the subject …”

WalterBright 4y ago

I go to the dentist every 2 months. The effects of not flossing, vs flossing once a day, vs flossing twice a day are very noticeable. Though I was cautioned to not floss aggressively, as that will wear down the tooth enamel.

lm28469 4y ago
Noticeable doesn't mean beneficial. Also dentists are very prone to over recommend things, because they're either directly or indirectly paid to do so. https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/5766223?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false https://academic.oup.com/ej/article-abstract/130/629/1346/57... Go to 5 dentists you'll get 5 widely different diagnosis. I was supposed to get my wisdom teeth removed "very soon" or I'd suffer in the future, that was almost 20 years ago, never had a toothache, never had a cavity, never had any issues with my wisdom teeth
- WalterBright 4y ago
  My dentist recommended pulling my wisdom teeth over 40 years ago. I still have them, and they are the healthiest teeth in my mouth. (I switched to another dentist.) Another time the dentist wanted to put in a crown, I had him do a filling instead. And so on. One needs to be a participant, not just do whatever the dentist says. It's quite clear, though, that flossing fixes the obvious inflammation of the gums. At least in my mouth, it does.

odysseus 4y ago

One of my dentists had a little embroidered sign on the wall: "Floss only the teeth you want to keep." My main motivation for flossing aside from fresher breath is it dramatically makes the next dental visit easier. Meaning, way less bloody and painful. But my dentist says only about 30% of patients floss regularly.

Aeolun 4y ago

I’ve never brushed my teeth more than once a day, and people in some circles say that’s crazy. I recognize that it might be better to do it twice a day (like doing it three times might be better still?) but breaking the habits of a lifetime is hard, with uncertain gains.

beardedman 4y ago

FWIW, many years ago I used to have a real problem with bleeding gums whenever I brushed my teeth (mainly around my molars). Flossing daily solved that completely.

moffkalast 4y ago
I've similarly observed massive improvements doing it daily, but in general people tend to have very strong opinions one way or the other which makes me think it's very dependant on the teeth's in-between distance, microbiome, brushing technique and more. Some people can just like brush once a day with a regular toothbrush and have perfect teeth, meanwhile some of us have to do scientific experiments, use sonic toothbrushes, floss, and use mouthwash or our teeth start falling apart immediately lol.
- beardedman 4y ago
  Sadly I fall in the "scientific experiments" group! :) I don't think my wife even needs to floss.

eutectic 4y ago

I think it's more the case that the benefits of flossing haven't been studied much, not that it's been thoroughly investigated and found not to work.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]