Comment by wmeredith | Hacker News Reader

Comment by wmeredith | Hacker News Reader

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There was a huge (flawed) news story back in 2016 that reported flossing wasn’t worth it and it spread like wildfire because people don’t like to floss. Kind of like how there’s a big “wine/chocolate is good for you” article every couple years.

I’ve worked alongside dentists in and off in a marketing capacity. I’ve also been married to one for 15+ years and I can tell you that every dentist in the country can look in your mouth and knows whether you floss regularly or not by the amount of plaque built up between your teeth. And plaque is bad. The NIH published an article shortly after the one I mentioned above to try and combat the misinformation: https://newsinhealth.nih.gov/2016/11/dont-toss-floss

More on Snopes: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.snopes.com/news/2016/08/06/...

TL;DR: flossing is poorly executed by most people (much like brushing) and the studies on it are flawed, but you’d be hard pressed to find an oral healthcare pro that would recommend against it, and almost all are for it. And no, there is no “big flossing lobby” pushing it.

Is a water jet equal to or better than flossing?

Dental plaque is a biofilm. The point of flossing is to break up the biofilm.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque

Here's a study (just read the summary here) that says a water jet (waterpik brand,) is effective. No idea who paid for the study and didn't research the plaque types mentioned against the wikipedia plaque article to see if there are other types of plaque.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19385349

I have to say if I go a couple days without flossing (once in the evening,) but with water jetting, I can feel the floss sliding across something, presumably the plaque/biofilm between the teeth before the floss cuts into that layer and I can feel it against the tooth. I use one of those forked flossers which isn't the best approach as it doesn't wrap around the tooth but you can pivot the fork to get some extra coverage. It makes an onerous task slightly less onerous.

You can buy plaque staining tablets to visually evaluate your plaque condition. Buy some, water jet and test. Floss and test. let us know the results.

I do both plus an Oral-B electric brush. Probably too much for most people.

Not sure about waterjet but a electric toothbrush like Sonicare is pretty good at cleaning the teeth. You can just feel the teeth are much cleaner with very little left for the floss to clean. Maybe the back molars need some flossing. I kind of enjoy using the Sonicare too since it makes the job of cleaning trivial.

Then why have my dentists over the past decades always asked me how much I floss (I don't) instead of giving me increasingly severe warnings about my tooth damage due to lack of flossing?

“How much do you floss?” In no way implies they think you floss often. It’s actually the reverse. For example, if someone ask “How much do you shower?” It’s a not so subtle hint that you stink, not that they think you shower often.

You aren't contradicting parent poster. Snopes conformed that flossing is backed only by the speculation and comical bias of dentists who don't collect data careful. (Healthy gums are assumed to be evidence for flossing, therefore flossing is confused to be evidence for healthy gums).

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