Your parents, your dentist, other oral health professionals, and even the federal government have preached forever that flossing your teeth is necessary to prevent gum disease and cavities.
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Most of us have heard flossing prevents gum disease and cavities, but how to keep your mouth healthy is now up for debate. “Proper flossing can remove dental plaque from the adjacent surfaces of the teeth”, a spokesman said, adding that the department would continue to review developments related to the issue. The report is controversial among dentists because their patients are thinking they don’t need to floss any longer. Associated Press also formally filed Freedom of Information Acts.
The US Agriculture and Health and Human Services departments quietly removed the flossing recommendation from the latest version of dietary guidelines. According to the AP, the feds acknowledged that flossing had never been adequately researched, as required. They found: “The evidence for flossing is “weak, very unreliable, ‘ of “very low” quality, and carries ‘a moderate to large potential for bias.'” nearly as salacious!” After researching 25 separate cases they found the evidence weak and biased.
This stain on the dental profession was cracked wide open a year ago when the Associated Press asked federal agencies for the data behind its recommendation that Americans floss.
But many dentists aren’t willing to let flossing go just yet.
Walmsley is also a scientific adviser to the British Dental Association, and his claims will no doubt send shockwaves through the profession.
If you’ve been flossing every day for years because the dentist told you to, put down the waxy string and STEP AWAAAAAY.
Modern oral healthcare providers will usually recommend a variety of methods depending on the individual patients needs but there has been evidence to support the benefits of inter dental brushes for effective cleaning of the teeth.
One study did credit floss with a slight reduction in gum inflammation.
“Generally speaking, floss is the gold standard”, Dr. Peters said. “It’s like building a house and not painting two sides of it”, he said.
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Twenty-five studies on the effect of flossing on dental health compared with brushing your teeth alone all failed to find either a strong benefit or any benefit at all to flossing. Then, without notice, federal officials omitted the recommendation from this year’s health guidelines without any notice, with an acknowledgment that the effectiveness of daily flossing has never been researched.
