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Comment by troupo | Hacker News Reader

IIRC there were studies saying that flossing isn't as great as people suppose it is.

My completely uneducated guess is that it's marginally useful for people with good teeth (shape, spacing) because debris doesn't accumulate as easily, and brushes are effective.

For my case (crooked teeth, very narrow gaps) it's a great helper to get out the debris, morsels of food etc. that the brush can't get out.

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I shared this with HN on many occasions. My wife has crowded teeth, doesn't floss, barely touches her waterpik, doesn't use any proper brushing technique. She probably had a couple of fillings done since I met her 20 years ago. In the meantime I have cavities almost every year, one root canal and a dental implant on a previosly failed root canal. I flossed since university and use mouth rinses and electric toothbrushes and so on. Except for genetics, there are a few differences in our habits throughout the years. I would always brush in the evenings but I was neglecting mornings (somehow I internalized something that a teacher once said that brushing in the morning is silly because you haven't eaten anything). I also drink way too much coffee which is acidic, she doesn't drink any. And lastly, I would at times avoid dentist appointments for years, which probably didn't help.

Edit: I forgot to mention, when I was younger, I used to snore and breathe through my mouth a lot. I think this has also negatively affected my teeth.

You started out good with what seemed like an easy comparison, she doesn't floss, you do, she still has better teeth. But then you go on to show all the other differences, especially not always brushing twice a day, different diet, avoiding dentist, and its hard to understand the point of your post.

My wife and I have an almost identical routine and diet, we use the same brand electric brushes, always twice a day, and usually have coffee together. However, she's not had many dental problems, but I've had to go to the dentist tons this year. Oh, incidentally I also knocked my front teeth out in a cycling accident.

You're right, I lost the plot. I still think it's mostly genetics, just because her hygiene and frequency of dentist visits are comparable to mine. I wish I was keeping record though, because little things can add up. I obviously placed low priority on morning brushing but on the other hand she never flosses, and here we're discussing the minute details of flossing technique.

I read an article a few years ago about what brushing actually does for your teeth and why it works. The premise was that brushing applies fluoride and removes the bacterial film that eventually turns into plaque - and that about 2 minutes of brushing a day would be sufficient if we were perfect at brushing. Doing it twice a day ensures that you get good coverage. It also went into the best brushing technique etc.

Since reading that I've not stressed about missing the odd brush here and there. I've also been more conscious how I brush. I stopped flossing because my gums seem quite sensitive to it and it doesn't have great evidence of effectiveness. I use a inter-denture pick/brush occasionally when needed. This all seems to have improved things for my teeth considerably, my dentist now saying they're really clean - and ironically stopped suggesting I floss more.

I wasn't joking in my previous post about the cycling accident that destroyed my front teeth, except that it happened 20 years ago. This year the crowns I had fitted failed so I've had those removed and implants installed. It's been very painful, I left replacing them probably 10 years longer than I should have. Yesterday I got a temporary bridge on the implants, which I can't use for biting. Still 2-3 months away from having the permanent new crowns fitted.

I've recently realized how much technique matters, I was advised to use the modified bass technique (and also an inter-dental brush around the implant). My aggressive brushing used to cause my gums to recede, even with expensive soft toothbrushes, but I think it's improving since adopting the new technique. Sorry to hear about your painful experience. I do a lot of cycling and my greatest fear is falling and hurting my teeth. Actually, my implant is a result of me not taking out a molar that had a root canal a decade ago and was getting inflamed a lot. Should've extracted it much earlier, because the recurring inflammation ate away the bone. I was lucky they had enough bone to work with, needed to wait half a year for it to heal and grow after extraction (there is still a visible depression in the gumline). I do floss, but one minor annoyance is that it catches on these ridges where my filling are, I even managed to break a piece once, so I'm a bit more hesitant about scraping with the floss.

Oh, genetics trump everything.

This is plausible. My dentist says I should use toothpicks, but they are not useful for me as they don't really fit between my teeth. I do the most problematic of my tooth with an "extra small" pick now, and I can usually get those four gaps done before the pick breaks.

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