thomassmith65 13 hours ago

How is the reader to judge these practices? There are no footnotes, and I neither know who the author's dentist is, nor how evidence-based the author's dentist's advice is.

  • akovaski 13 hours ago

    You judge it as if you're getting this advice from an acquaintance or a stranger. It's just some guy talking about his experience. If something from the post is novel to you, maybe ask a dentist, or find standard practices that dentists generally recommend.

    • thomassmith65 12 hours ago

      What ratio of what dentists generally recommend is based on evidence?

        The translation of research into practice assumes that clinically relevant evidence is available. Unfortunately, in light of the billions of dollars invested in dental research during the last five decades in Europe and the US, the dental research community has paid relatively little attention to clinical aspects of care. Consequently, and contrary to the situation in medicine, there are relatively few randomized controlled trials and other outcomes oriented studies in dentistry that have evaluated clinically relevant interventions. For example, there are no clinical trials that have compared the outcomes of different methods of caries diagnosis using relevant outcome measures. Also, no outcome studies are available for disease-based management of dental caries, periodontal diseases, or facial pain.
      
      https://ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3972581/

        The burning question in the news last week was this: should you bother flossing? The answer for decades has been "of course." And it's likely you've heard something similar from your dentist. I know I have. But, while the importance of flossing may have been widely accepted, the evidence supporting it turns out to be surprisingly thin. 
      
      https://health.harvard.edu/blog/tossing-flossing-20160817101...

      Is "support your blog post with a link or two to studies" such an onerous request?

Koshkin 8 hours ago

One can go to what seems to be infinite lengths, in terms of time, effort, and attention, caring about their health (in general). I’ve always wondered whether it is worth it.

SirMaster 12 hours ago

Is it that difficult?

I'm 36 and have had 0 cavities, or anything I've had to have done to my teeth.

I just brush, floss, and antiseptic mouthwash twice daily and get biannual cleanings.