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Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

mcgill.ca

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Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#151

Post by Suppafly »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #67
ccppurcell wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My parents both have fillings in almost every tooth, my sister and I have none. Neither of us did anything particularly special, my parents were quite strict about sugar (for the UK in the 80s/90s) and we brushed our teeth twice a day. I never flossed regularly, though I have started doing it more in the last few years.

Fluoride treatments at the dentist and fluoridated tooth paste are a big factor in my area. A commenter also mentioned fluoridated water, which had the same objective, but it causes demineralization of teeth (fluorosis) and possibly behavioural / hormonal changes ( https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6520156/ , https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512... , https://ec.europa.eu/health/scie…

Anti-fluoride people say the weirdest things.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#152

Post by MagicMoonlight »

zenexer wrote: post #59
derektank wrote: post #50

It seems like FDA restrictions on clinical trials have really shot us all in the foot by depriving us the opportunity to collect data on this bacteria before it was made available as a supplement. There is clearly a demand for this product and it seems quite likely that Hillman et al could have gotten a cohort together to conduct a trial if they hadn't been faced with such extreme restrictions on testing. Why is info…

Because the participants could very easily spread it to other people. This wouldn’t just affect them. That’s why the trial was ultimately required to take place under quarantine. It’s not even a question of whether it would spread, but whether it might spread. There’s a reasonable chance that this bacterium would, in fact, spread, and nobody has proven otherwise. The FDA is doing its job here: it’s protecting the mas…

They didn’t care when they were spraying down entire cities with bacteria to test the spread of biological weapons.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#153

Post by dsego »

Suppafly wrote: post #150
dsego wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm the same, I brush and floss regularly, occasionally use chx mouthwash, dental disclosing tables and oral probiotics. She forgets to brush sometimes, eats more sweet. She had only one or two cavities in twenty years we've known each other. I've had two root canals and have fillings regularly. Truth be told, she doesn't drink coffee at all, I drink several cups a day. She also doesn't drink much alcohol, I have one…

Did you have asthma as kid? I know a couple of people whose teeth are wrecked from inhaler usage. Now they tell you to rinse your teeth after using them, but didn't in the past.

No, but I do have a smaller lower jaw and wear a night guard because I do sometimes clench and grind (depending on stress levels, caffeine intake, etc). This might cause excessive wear. My mother also suffers from bruxism.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#154

Post by loco5niner »

mishu2 wrote: post #58
ttrmw wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dunno that it's awkwardness so much as the discomfort of watching someone with pretty messed up teeth forcing too-large ID brushes in between them

Thank you all very much for the feedback, it gives me a new perspective on things. We wanted to show a real case, rather than animations, because we thought it would be clearer for our patients; but we are probably desensitized to watching stuff like this. Would you prefer to see a 3D animation instead, or something else?

Another perspective, I don't mind the real videos. They are helpful. It might be easier to for some watch if the subjects had fairly nice teeth. I think animations would be less helpful.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#155

Post by loco5niner »

csallen wrote: post #141
csallen wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This exactly. I don't think the average person is as comfortable as a medical professional at starting at videos/images of messed up teeth, injuries, disease, etc. It's not exactly what we want to stare at when learning.

Also, while I'm at it, I'd suggest maybe putting an hour or two of research into how to make content… exciting? I know you're a dentist and a software engineer, not a YouTuber, but it's worth looking up a bit about what YouTubers and entertainers know about how to hold an audience's attention. Just a few small changes can probably result in a 1.5-3x improvement in the number of people who make it to the end of a vide…

Another perspective, I don't feel like these informational videos need to be exciting. For this, I feel like 'just the facts' are a breath of fresh air.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#156

Post by loco5niner »

Salgat wrote: post #133
mishu2 wrote: post #43

It may still take us some time to reach that goal, but the good news is that we have an effective solution available right now: keeping good oral hygiene is known to prevent both caries and gum disease, and takes less than 10 minutes a day for the average person. If you need more information, we recently developed a free website to get you started: https://lifelongsmiles.hk/

What's interesting is that there is no strong proof that flossing actually helps. The U.S. Health department had to take down their recommendation to floss because they couldn't produce evidence of its efficacy.

If you want to be inspired to floss more often, just smell your floss after not flossing a few days. Disgusting, and that's convincing enough for me.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#157

Post by loco5niner »

Salgat wrote: post #133
mishu2 wrote: post #43

It may still take us some time to reach that goal, but the good news is that we have an effective solution available right now: keeping good oral hygiene is known to prevent both caries and gum disease, and takes less than 10 minutes a day for the average person. If you need more information, we recently developed a free website to get you started: https://lifelongsmiles.hk/

What's interesting is that there is no strong proof that flossing actually helps. The U.S. Health department had to take down their recommendation to floss because they couldn't produce evidence of its efficacy.

Citation needed.

Flossing IS important:

https://www.nidcr.nih.gov/health-info/gum-disease/ask-the-ex...

https://www.ada.org/resources/ada-library/oral-health-topics....

https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/oral-health/brush-oral-health/...

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#158

Post by abracadaniel »

cubefox wrote: post #126
amarant wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is a trend in online writing lately, and it's leading me to more and more withdraw from online discourse. Whenever someone introduces something that greatly helps with something, there are a bunch of people who start pointing out that, while the new solution is waay better than anything before it, it's not 100% perfect, and therefore "it's benefits are exaggerated" or similar. If the new thing is in…

A similar thing happened when the media learned about Ozempic (semaglutide) a while ago. Multiple progressive outlets, especially the Guardian, published articles stating the drug was overhyped, playing down its value, citing overweight women from "fat studies" academia (basically activists against the stigma of being overweight saying that being overweight itself is not the problem), emphasizing all its downsides et…

See also effectiveness vs efficacy. If condoms are 100% effective but used incorrectly 20% of the time, they have 80% efficacy. It’s a useful stat when determining where to best allocate funds, but not for individual healthcare decisions.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#159

Post by Grimblewald »

thowawatp302 wrote: post #26
Grimblewald wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Read the article. If you have not already, you might rethink consideration of this product.

Th article just confirms my suspicion that the worst thing is I could be out $500

or, you could be infecting your mouth with a stubborn bacteria that will be difficult if not impossible to eradicate, that has the capacity to laterally acquire pathogenic genes, or through the toxin it produces, suppress other microbes which are actively beneficial. For the low cost of $500, you could end up with a lifetime of medical issues.

Re: Reports of the death of dental cavities are greatly exaggerated

#160

Post by Grimblewald »

FeepingCreature wrote: post #57
j_bum wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that your takeaway? Either you didn’t read the article, or you’re blatantly ignoring that we don’t understand the long term implications of having this bacteria in your mouth and gut microbiome. There may be no problems at all… but we don’t know. This is why FDA regulations exist. The product being sold in Prospera to skirt regulations should be a red flag anyway. I’m not saying that it can’t or won’t work. I’…

Sometimes you read an article and you think "this article doesn't want me to do X, but all its arguments against X are utterly terrible. If that's the best they could find, X is probably alright."

their argument is well reasoned and significant. The very real potential of the bacteria to acquire genes that make it pathogenic, coupled with how hard it would be to eradicate, should make all but the most desperate think twice. The final nail in the coffin, should be the fact that this is not even likely to work the way it is intended to.
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