Everything you believed about flossing is a lie

(Image credit: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images)

published 2 August 2016

Flossing might not actually do anything.

Yeah. Let that sink in. Think back over all the years you lied guiltily to your dentist about how you definitely wiggle thin little strands of thread between your teeth every night in the name of preventing cavities and gum disease. And let the sweet, sweet vindication flow in. (Alternatively, if you are a professed flosser, despair).

Apparently the federal government has recommended Americans floss their teeth since 1979, but when recently asked by The Associated Press to provide the scientific evidence of flossing's benefits, the government quietly slipped the recommendation out of its latest dietary guidelines. When AP followed up, the government confessed that the effectiveness of flossing hasn't actually been researched to the extent that is required.

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The AP looked at the most rigorous research conducted over the past decade, focusing on 25 studies that generally compared the use of a toothbrush with the combination of toothbrushes and floss. The findings? The evidence for flossing is "weak, very unreliable," of "very low" quality, and carries "a moderate to large potential for bias.""The majority of available studies fail to demonstrate that flossing is generally effective in plaque removal," said one review conducted last year. Another 2015 review cites "inconsistent/weak evidence" for flossing and a "lack of efficacy." [The Associated Press]

Wayne Aldredge, president of the periodontists' group American Academy of Periodontology, agreed that the evidence of the benefits of flossing is, well, lacking. But he said there is probably no harm in keeping it up anyway: "It's like building a house and not painting two sides of it," he said. "Ultimately those two sides are going to rot away quicker."

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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.