You Don't Need to Floss?!

OK, when the media reaches the conclusion that studies show that you don't need to floss, I need to comment. The conclusion is wrong, but it's actually accurate to say a study has never proved that flossing reduces decay.

The problem is with the difficulty of dental hygiene studies. If you try to do a double blind study, as soon as people know the study is about flossing- they floss! Even if they otherwise never would. If they know it's about brushing, they brush better. Almost no one will brush for a full 2 minutes without a timer. The average American brushes for more like 20 seconds. If you try to do a retrospective study and ask people how much they flossed 10 years ago, the answers are garbage! People don't remember, and they almost always give themselves more credit than is due. It's like asking people to write down everything they eat, most lie! At best people don't report actual portion sizes.

So it hasn't been proved in a study that flossing prevents decay. It has been shown that it reduces gingivitis and gum disease. And science has shown that you must "disrupt the biofilm" on teeth or it caused problems. That means you must disrupt the organization of the bacterial plaque. It's not technically about removing food, or even "cleaning" the teeth. You must prevent the bacteria from building a more solid structure of plaque- the junk on the teeth. That's when the damage occurs. This must be done between the teeth, too.

Flossing is not the only way to "clean" between the teeth. A water pick can do it. I like this one. A tooth pick can do it, if you're really good at it. An African chew stick can do it. Something has to get in between the teeth every day. Studies have shown that is the interval required for "biofilm organization disruption." That just isn't as snappy a headline as  "You don't need to floss now!"