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Pros And Cons Of Flossing

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Earlier this month, some news came out that rocked the entire dental community. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has removed it's recommendation for flossing from its U.S. Dietary Guidelines. A recommendation that has been made since the late 1970's!

Delving deeper into this decision, it doesn't appear as if the evidence is pointing towards an ineffectiveness of flossing, but rather, a lack of existing evidence to support that flossing is indeed effective. While researching studies that have been conducted over the last decade, the Associated Press has concluded the current research was found to be "unreliable", "very low quality" and even to have "a moderate to large potential for bias".

In a letter from the Federal Government to the AP, the Dept of Health and Human Services admitted the effectiveness of flossing has never been properly researched. According to Paul Camargo, DDS, MBA, in an interview with …show more content…

Professor Walmsley, a scientific adviser to the British Dental Association said "The difficulty is trying to get good evidence. People are different and large studies are costly. Until then, you can't really say yes or no."

In a statement from a HHS spokesperson, "Since neither the 2010 nor 2015 Advisory Committees reviewed evidence on brushing and flossing teeth, the authors of the current edition decided not to carry forward the information on brushing and flossing included in past editions of the guidelines. By doing so, they were not implying that this is not an important oral hygiene practice.

So it seems more time and more funding is needed to gain a coveted spot on the U.S. Dietary Guidelines. Until then, there are still many high ranking dental officials that have not given up on the benefits of flossing and will continue to recommend it. Below are several quotes taken from several of these officials on the

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