11–14 of 14 posts
I attribute it to my strict diet at the time: Keto, no products with added sugar. Few fruits. Mostly vegetables, fats, and some meat. Certain foods would cause bad breath so I limited consumption of those at key times.
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You’re telling people to not trust science, just trust some unscientific proxy test. That’s how you get to Feng Shui, homeopathic drugs, ear candling and bleach enemas. If the statement were so obviously true, it wouldn’t be hard to prove through research. It isn’t so it isn’t actually obviously true.
Not flossing is a frequent root cause of gingivitis, which can degrade to periodontitis and subsequent tooth loss due to damage to the bone that holds your teeth.
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The article does read like it's pointing out the lack of randomized controlled trials for parachutes: https://www.bmj.com/content/363/bmj.k5094 People don't pay for studies of something they think is obvious. That's why you get only poor-quality studies. Dentists can tell who's flossing and who's not just by looking, and they know that their healthier patients floss. It's not impossible that they're being misled, but…
> People don't pay for studies of something they think is obvious. Then why do they pay for a study of the effect of flossing? And why is the result that it really doesn’t help a lot? > Dentists can tell who's flossing and who's not just by looking, and they know that their healthier patients floss. But can they? Or do they see someone with healthy teeth and say it’s someone who flosses correctly?
(I don't know much about dentistry, but that's what they do with new food ingredients and supplements, with which I have a little familiarity.)
As for dentists, yes, they ask people about their flossing habits. That's not as good as a formal mathematical study, but we're talking about so many people that a real effect would be obvious.
(We put too much weight on statistical significance. It's great to have a rigorous process, but in a lot of ways, if you can't see the effect at a glance, then it's not really going to do all that much good. We have a number of drugs that are better than placebo or alternative drug, but not that much better.)
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> People don't pay for studies of something they think is obvious. Then why do they pay for a study of the effect of flossing? And why is the result that it really doesn’t help a lot? > Dentists can tell who's flossing and who's not just by looking, and they know that their healthier patients floss. But can they? Or do they see someone with healthy teeth and say it’s someone who flosses correctly?
I think most of those poor-quality studies are something they can show the FDA: "We want to put this new variety of dental floss on the market. Here's the crummy study we did showing a bare minimum of effort. Can we?" (I don't know much about dentistry, but that's what they do with new food ingredients and supplements, with which I have a little familiarity.) As for dentists, yes, they ask people about their flossing…