Comment on Aha!
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 5 days agoWhoa. Citations on this? I rememberJeff Donn did an expose on this released by the AP in 2016 and it turns out that there really wasn’t good quality data in flossing at all. Has this changed since then?
TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 5 days ago
Here ya go.
Determining what is and isn’t quality data is kinda open to semantic interpretation. The reason there isn’t a huge study like what you see with cancer or heart disease is because something like flossing is dependent on accurate and honest self reporting from participants. And it’s not exactly something you can really tell if your participants are being diligent or not at a large scale.
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 4 days ago
Admittedly that’s the best I’ve seen as far as data. TbF, not exactly a “ton of research”. As alluded to in the meme, my dentist always seems to think they can tell at least roughly how well I’m flossing.
TranscendentalEmpire@lemmy.today 4 days ago
There are quite a few more small sample studies out there, like I said it’s just something that is hard to accurately case study at a large scale because it relies primarily on participants accurately reporting a specific habit.
It’s anecdotal, but most dentists claim they can tell if someone flosses regularly. It makes sense, as people who floss more regularly will have less plaque and biofilm building up between teeth.
I don’t really see why people are so skeptical about it. If the main benefit of brushing is to mechanically remove plaque and biofilm from the surface of teeth, it would make sense that mechanically removing the plaque and biofilm between the teeth would also be effective.
Just because there is an absence of a study that encompasses thousands of people for a claim, doesn’t mean there is no supporting evidence. I mean who would even pay for that large of a study for research for flossing anyways, and how would it be conducted?