I had poor oral hygiene in my 20's. I didn't floss. And it became a problem by my late 20's- I had to have a root canal, another tooth needed a crown. Now, I'm almost 40 years old and I've rarely gone to the dentist over the last 5 because I floss and use a dental pick so thoroughly, I do not require much cleaning when I do go and I obviously have no cavities.
So, I am extemely skeptical of any claim that flossing doesn't work. Of course, you have to flossing properly and I actually remove far more food from my teeth with a pick-- I use those disposable flossing with floss on one end and a pick on thr other.
It's a textbook case of the midwit "muh studies" meme.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Studies are imperfect and limited, by resources, biases, and the imagination/ingenuity of those conducting and funding them. Anyone except an overeducated fool can see that removing rotting food from between your teeth is better than not removing it, for all aspects of oral hygiene.
Had the same experience in my 30s. It's actually insane how much healthier my gums became once I started flossing regularly, although that's obviously not the same as caries. Went from having cavities every dental visit to maybe having one over a 10 year period, and it was all about changes in brushing/flossing.
I had poor oral hygiene in my 20's. I didn't floss. And it became a problem by my late 20's- I had to have a root canal, another tooth needed a crown. Now, I'm almost 40 years old and I've rarely gone to the dentist over the last 5 because I floss and use a dental pick so thoroughly, I do not require much cleaning when I do go and I obviously have no cavities.
So, I am extemely skeptical of any claim that flossing doesn't work. Of course, you have to flossing properly and I actually remove far more food from my teeth with a pick-- I use those disposable flossing with floss on one end and a pick on thr other.
It's a textbook case of the midwit "muh studies" meme.
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. Studies are imperfect and limited, by resources, biases, and the imagination/ingenuity of those conducting and funding them. Anyone except an overeducated fool can see that removing rotting food from between your teeth is better than not removing it, for all aspects of oral hygiene.
The linked cochrane review was withdrawn and replaced by https://www.cochranelibrary.com/cdsr/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD012018.pub2/full. The conclusion is different. But at best the evidence is weak. Time will tell
Had the same experience in my 30s. It's actually insane how much healthier my gums became once I started flossing regularly, although that's obviously not the same as caries. Went from having cavities every dental visit to maybe having one over a 10 year period, and it was all about changes in brushing/flossing.