Keeping Teeth Healthy

  The translation of research into practice assumes that clinically relevant evidence is available. Unfortunately, in light of the billions of dollars invested in dental research during the last five decades in Europe and the US, the dental research community has paid relatively little attention to clinical aspects of care. Consequently, and contrary to the situation in medicine, there are relatively few randomized controlled trials and other outcomes oriented studies in dentistry that have evaluated clinically relevant interventions. For example, there are no clinical trials that have compared the outcomes of different methods of caries diagnosis using relevant outcome measures. Also, no outcome studies are available for disease-based management of dental caries, periodontal diseases, or facial pain.

  The burning question in the news last week was this: should you bother flossing? The answer for decades has been "of course." And it's likely you've heard something similar from your dentist. I know I have. But, while the importance of flossing may have been widely accepted, the evidence supporting it turns out to be surprisingly thin. 

Is "support your blog post with a link or two to studies" such an onerous request?