You Should Know

My dentist also told me I do a great job at flossing. I've never flossed or used a water pik in my life. I just nodded and quietly said "uh thanks".

If I may ask, which water pik do you use?

Same - I could never understand interdental brushes. How the hell was I supposed to get that between my teeth when even I waxed floss won’t fit? So I gave up and now use an electric toothbrush +waterpick when I can be arsed. My dentist is more than happy so I guess I’m doing ok.

I know someone who has this for decades, only to have it clear up - loosen up and become flossable - after they had their wisdom teeth removed.

same, and this will compound as less flossing leads to tartar build-up, which makes flossing/brushing even harder.

On another note, get a waterpick, its a life changer!

Well, sorry to be the person you're dreading, but I'm going to jump in with some "pro-flossing bias" since the bias is for a good reason. This Buzzfeed article bases their argument on one AP study. If you try to click the link to the AP study in the article you linked, you'll see it has been taken down, since AP themselves have renounced it and stated that "all the studies were over too short of a time and have not enough participants."

Here's a NYT article that explains how this misinformation is based on a lot of flawed research. From the article:

In the case of flossing’s benefits, the supposedly weak evidence cited by The Associated Press was the absence of support in the form of definitive randomized controlled trials, the so-called gold standard for scientific research. Why was there so little of this support? Because the kind of long-term randomized controlled trial needed to properly evaluate flossing is hardly, if ever, conducted — because such studies are hard to implement. For one thing, it’s unlikely that an Institutional Review Board would approve as ethical a trial in which, for example, people don’t floss for three years. It’s considered unethical to run randomized controlled trials without genuine uncertainty among experts regarding what works.

I also found this counter argument that states that the poorly done study also only tracked caries (cavities) and didn't take into consideration other things, such as gum inflammation. Here's yet another counter argument with this quote:

“Every dentist in the country can look in someone’s mouth and tell whether or not they floss,” says Dr. Tim Iafolla, a dental health expert at NIH.

Don't your gums bleed? Isn't your breath bad? It's pretty clear that if you floss regularly, your gums are less inflamed. I know flossing isn't fun, but there's rotting food between your teeth, it smells bad and it's doing damage. It's pretty clear that your gums stop bleeding and your breath improves if you floss regularly.

Even Buzzfeed (which isn't really a good place to get health advice btw) has articles contradicting the post you linked. It's just clickbait. Please floss your teeth.

I read that as "there isn't good quality evidence" not as "flossing doesn't work".

If you have plaque on your teeth that doesn't get removed it turns into tartar/calculus. If it's between your teeth, over time that can lead to retreating gum and exposed dental necks. It's of course also something promoting tooth decay.

Removing this plaque with a tooth brush can be difficult to impossible depending on how your teeth are laid out. Floss can be helpful to remove it.

Are you saying this isn't true?

Honestly man you can believe whatever you choose to. I’m not here to argue with anyone.

I’m in my 30s and went from having bad gingivitis with bleeding and pain during brushing, to having gums that are comfortable with being thoroughly physically cleaned every day and that makes me happy.

The article states there's no research for it. Doesn't mean it doesn't work. But of course it also doesn't mean it actually works. Everyone may do with that what they will. But it's hard to argue the logic that flossing helps. You can leave bits of food in your gums for bacteria to eat and produce byproducts that degrade your enamel. Or you can remove that food.

But the fact is that there isn't much research is indeed a valid concern, especially when the health/science community tries to say something is good or bad. They need to prove it.

It’s kinda disgustingly satisfying when you pull gunk out. Then to think I never used to floss and that gunk used to just stay there…. 🤢

Seriously please go to the dentist and take care of your teeth. My parents stopped taking me to the dentist when I was 16 and I didn't return till I was 30. I had developed a massive anxiety over it and couldn't even look at myself in the mirror because I was terrified to look into my mouth. I got off relatively lucky but for the love of God go to the dentist

I just grab a floss pick, go sit in front of my computer, and floss while distracting myself with something else. That way I don't have to devote any focus or effort to flossing and it goes by much easier.

A water flosser takes 30 seconds. (I'm in this thread shilling for water flossers.)

Electric toothbrush makes my teeth feel soo much cleaner than a regular one - I used to have lots of cavities due to having extra sets of "inaccessible" teeth behind my wisdom teeth, and even got a prescription toothpaste with extra fluor. But now it's all a breeze keeping them properly cleaned (I do need to use dental sticks with a small brush between every meal though).

Well, clearly you should be flossing more if you bleed like that. I've used ultrasonic toothbrushes for over a decade and still ended up with cavities starting in-between my teeth because of my lack of flossing.

Something that helped me start flossing regularly was buying the really large spools of the better quality floss and a reusable dispenser. It's a lot easier to make a habit of something when you don't run out of it on the regular.