Brushing your teeth: no longer the best thing for your teeth?

Sorry. That's actually the original (and still an acceptable) spelling, and I rather prefer it. English doesn't really have enough vowels, so distinguishing between `e' and `œ' makes sense, orthographically. I also tend to use diæreses where appropriate.

Of course, normally I would give at least a passing thought to using more modernized spellings in this context, but I have spent most of the week writing up a series of observation sessions and my brain is beginning to revolt, liquefy, and dribble out of my ears.

Not a fan of deodorants but, biologically, they may not be completely useless:

1. Being able to afford a deodorant indicates wealth, and thus better chances of survival of the offspring.

2. Using a deodorant might also indicate an awareness of personal hygiene in the individual (atleast purportedly). This might again increase the survival chances of the offspring.

While reading this I realized most of the times when I've been complimented for my smell, I was far from being perfumed – getting home after a busy day, arriving somewhere after having to run to catch a bus, things like that.

I also find deodorant to be useless.

I can anecdotally attest to my own strategy. I buy rubbing alcohol. Have a shower, clean the problem areas. Shortly after I get out I apply the alcohol to my arm pits, and if I think I'm going to really be sweating I spray some over my upper back, chest etc. Nothing close to the amount one would use if they were spraying deodorant. The result is that I can go several days without any bad odor, even when I sweat so much that my shirts are saturated, they don't even smell, to me or anyone else.

The side effect of doing this is that I am far more sensitive to perfumes and deodorants people use, and they just aren't at all pleasant in the quantities people feel they need to use to smell "nice".

actually, there is a related phenomenon called "Beyond Shampoo" or "nopoo" (the website seems to be down). There is a huge movement around giving up soap and shampoo permanently to avoid and cure stuff like dandruff, acne, etc.

I personally had HUGE successes with it in improving my overall hygiene - but be warned that it takes upto six months for your body to "reboot". during that time, your hygiene grows worse - before getting extremely better. I suspect it is the same case with the brushing thing : it will take quite some time before the flora and fauna of your mouth reboots.

[1] http://freetheanimal.com/2010/12/a-most-successful-self-expe... [2] http://paleohacks.com/questions/17060/no-poo-and-dandruff.ht...

Our natural smell developed in a time when humans were naked and lived outdoors.

Let's just put it this way; I find it noteworthy that deodorant was developed around the same time that humans started to be packed tightly into office buildings while wrapped up in wool suits.

The problem is that there is a huge range of smell (or stench) depending on what bacteria tends to cluster in your underarms. I was one of those unlucky ones who had terrible BO until a friend introduced me to potassium alum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potassium_alum , commonly sold as "crystal deodorant".

It's now been almost 3 years since I stopped using soap or shampoo, and I no longer have any skin problems or odor problems, although I'll smell up pretty quick if I forget the crystal deodorant. The only weird part was the two month transitionary phase where my body was still producing excess oils to compensate for daily washing with soap, giving a constant, icky "you've been wearing those jeans for a whole week" feel.

Another protip: If you find your feet stink after a full day at work, try switching to wool socks.

I would suggest not using a toothbrush on your tongue, those are designed for teeth. Get a dedicated tongue cleaner. You'll be glad you did; everyone should clean their tongue.

Wow! A link on HN of a two year article gave my poor classroom blog a 5000 fold spike in page views. Apologies if the snow annoyed people, but it wasn't me but a checkbox on the free Wordpress backend. It doesn't even show on the mobile version. The science comments above are interesting, but my intended take home message was NOT to promote an alternative to the tried and true methods of proper dental care, but instead draw attention to the incredible complexity of the human oral microbiota.

Fair enough. However, it's hoped that this might encourage less linkbait-y titles, especially for overviews of new science research. A headline like "Biofilm-inhibiting bacteria may provide an alternative to brushing your teeth" conveys much more information about the content (and doesn't break that "law", either).

The article was fine, but the title is still fits the pattern. The answer is 'No'. Or, maybe, 'No, not yet'.

Well said. Anything comment that begins with "Obligatory" is usually worthless almost as bad as "This."

I don't know man; those snowflakes seem gpu accelerated to me.

Because it is extremely distracting and I actually couldn't read the article because of it.

Because the animation is incredibly CPU intensive for the effect that it has.

Thank you. I couldn't read it - the snow kept triggering my orienting reflex and making it harder than necessary to simply read the article.

That's a cool trick, thanks!

It isn't exactly controversial that frequent sugar consumption exacerbates oral microbial growth. My mouth health got drastically better after giving up soda, and more so again after giving up grains.

The salient part is Price's assertion that health was strongly dependent on diet. As I said, it's kooky, and frankly, I don't know whether I find his views credible or not, though I've shifted from my initial highly skeptical viewpoint. The work of others in the relationship of sugars to health (particularly Roger Lustig and Gary Taubes) makes me somewhat more receptive of Price's general theory.

My reason for posting was more to show that lines of inquiry similar / related to those of the source article have been pursued for a long time.

So: yes, actually, it is relevant.

Incidentally: if you're familiar with any specific criticisms of Prices work, posting those might be of interest. To myself as well as others.

"Your weight is determined" No. If at all, they are only a part of the problem and you have the chicken - egg problem. Do you have different bacteria because you are fat or are you fat because you have different bacteria?

Causes are: -genetic -epigenetic -life style -nutrition (cabrs!) -viruses (no kidding, obesity may be infectious) etc.