Flossing has been recommended since 1908 to prevent cavities and tooth decay.
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The government’s latest dietary guidelines do not include a recommendation to floss, a first since the US first suggested flossing in 1979. Why?
So this year in the federal government’s dietary guidelines, there is nothing about flossing. Today is the day you go to bed without feeling guilty that you didn’t floss. However, AAP President Wayne Aldredge noted to the AP that many Americans may also be flossing incorrectly, contributing to the lack of visible results of their labor.
Aldredge says that it’s necessary to look at patients over a 10 to 20 year period because gun disease is a very slow process.
One ten year old girl admits she never thinks about flossing and nearly never does it. Her mom on the other hand says she flosses a few times a month and believes flossing isn’t that important.
But after the AP asked for evidence, the federal government admitted there was no research supporting the effectiveness of flossing, the news agency said.
In a statement, the American Academy of Periodontology acknowledged there was a problem with research on the matter, stating that “much of the current evidence does not utilize a large sample size or examine gum health over a significant amount of time”. One of those studies lasted only two weeks, not long enough for a cavity or dental disease to develop.
– Parents and dentists across the country probably aren’t fans of a new report from the Associated Press that flossing may not be so beneficial after all.
Dentist Levi Spear Parmly is credited with inventing floss in the early 19th century and by 1874 dentists were widely recommending its use. The studies that did show slight advantages to flossing mostly used unreliable or outdated methods.
“It’s like building a house and not painting two sides of it, ultimately ths bose two sides are going to rot away quicker.”
She said that whether the science supports flossing or not, dentists see firsthand that it works. ADA spokesman Matthew Messina did acknowledge that there’s only weak evidence for flossing, but said that was due to study participants who didn’t floss correctly.
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There’s more on gum disease at the U.S. National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research.
