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I'm a dentist from Germany, University of Heidelberg. As I see, the author of the article has no idea what kind of benefits flossing has. She saw someone who d
by zeynalov 14y ago
I'm a dentist from Germany, University of Heidelberg.
As I see, the author of the article has no idea what kind of benefits flossing has. She saw someone who didn't used floss and has good teeth. Yes, it's true that some people are more immune to the diseases than others. I saw a 65 year old women in Azerbaijan, who had never brushed her teeth and has 30 perfect teeth, without any paradontitis or tooth decay or any lost teeth. They were just perfect. Scientist found Mandibular Bones which were 600,000 years old, and they had all teeth on it. And we're sure that they didn't brush their teeth. - Homo Heidelbergensis ( http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Unterkiefer_von_Mauer_%28Replika%29.JPG/620px-Unterkiefer_von_Mauer_%28Replika%29.JPG http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2f/Unt... )
So why some people don't get tooth decay or other diseases even if they don't brush their teeth? There are many factors, but for further read you can search Google. I'll answer the author of the article. She says that there are no studies showing if flossing is useful for tooth health. I wonder if she searched PubMed about that. There are hundreds of studies showing how benefical floss really is. (for ex.: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22161438 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22161438)
I did several studies on myself and on my wife, about effects of floss. One most important advice that I can give people: Floss is as important as brushing.
- codva 14y agoFrom the PubMed link you provided. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There is some evidence from twelve studies that flossing in addition to toothbrushing reduces gingivitis compared to toothbrushing alone. There is weak, very unreliable evidence from 10 studies that flossing plus toothbrushing may be associated with a small reduction in plaque at 1 and 3 months. No studies reported the effectiveness of flossing plus toothbrushing for preventing dental caries." That doesn't really support your case.
- zeynalov 14y agoThat's true, but this study shows some benefits of floss even it's weak. "Flossing plus toothbrushing showed a statistically significant benefit compared to toothbrushing in reducing gingivitis at the three time points studied, the SMD being -0.36 (95% CI -0.66 to -0.05) at 1 month, SMD -0.41 (95% CI -0.68 to -0.14) at 3 months and SMD -0.72 (95% CI -1.09 to -0.35) at 6 months." I just selected random study from the search results, didn't read it entirely. But there are hundreds of studies about benefits of floss.
- codva 14y agoI wasn't questioning the usefulness of flossing. I want it to be useful. I'd hate to think of all that wasted time over my adult life!
- beagle3 14y agoYou should question it. If it isn't useful and you found out now, think of all the wasted time in the future that you would be saving! I'm not saying it's useless - but the mentality of "oh, I've been wrong for so long that I'd rather not find out now" is IMHO a horrible philosophy. For me - give me the hard facts, however inconvenient they are.
- ricardobeat 14y agoThat's compared to toothbrushing only. What about mouthwash or xyilitol (the subjects of this article)?
- samsolomon 14y agoWhat about modern diets? Surely our ancestors didn't eat as much sugar as we do. Perhaps a better diet is more important than flossing? Disclosure: I floss.
- ricardobeat 14y agoMaybe you didn't get to the end: the author tells us she replaced flossing with mouthwash + xylitol for a month, and by the end of it, her dentist said her teeth were perfect, unlike before. Not a third-party anecdote.