The Dentist: Toss the Floss? Flush the Brush?

Science Vs

Spotify Studios

Education, Science, Health & Fitness

4.4 • 12.4K Ratings

🗓️ 25 May 2023

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The dentist tells us to floss, brush, avoid certain food and drinks ... but what actually matters when it comes to having healthy teeth? We're drilling into the science on all of it. Plus, we go undercover to find out how many dentists are trying to upsell you when you go in for a checkup. We talk to epidemiologist and dentist Professor Philippe Hujoel, dentist Dr. Alisha Virmani, and economist Dr. Felix Gottschalk. Find our transcript here: https://bit.ly/sciencevsdentist Fill out this quick survey to vote on the BEST SCIENCE VS EPISODE OF ALL TIME! blythet.typeform.com/to/oghHme3x In this episode, we cover: (00:00) Chapter 1: Oral hygiene is confusing (02:08) Chapter 2: Do flossing and tooth brushing prevent cavities? (11:07) Chapter 3: Flossing: Good for the gums? (16:42) Chapter 4: Does seltzer mess up our teeth? What about other food and drink? (22:26) Chapter 5: How dodgy are dentists? Credits: This episode was produced by Meryl Horn, with help from Wendy Zukerman, R.E. Natowicz, Rose Rimler, Michelle Dang and Joel Werner, We’re edited by Blythe Terrell. Gimlet’s managing director is Nicole Beemsterboer. Fact checking by Erica Akiko Howard. Mix and sound design by Bobby Lord. Music written by Bobby Lord, Emma Munger, So Wiley, Peter Leonard, and Bumi Hidaka. Thanks to all the researchers we spoke to including Dr. Joshua Emrick, Dr. Arosha Weerakoon, Professor Stephen Peckham, Professor Marie Bismark, Professor Steven Levy, Dr. Abdul Ghoneim, Dr. David Okano, Professor Christof Dörfer, and Dr. Patrick Fee. Special thanks to Chris Suter, the Zukerman Family and Joseph Lavelle Wilson. Science Vs is a Spotify Original Podcast and a Gimlet production. Follow Science Vs on Spotify, and if you want to get notifications every time we put out a new episode, tap the bell icon in your app. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, I'm Wendy Zuckerman, and you're listening to Science Vs from Gimlet.
0:03.6	This is the show that pits facts against flossing and brushing and all that crap the dentist
0:10.2	tells you to do.
0:11.8	Well, how much of it is crap?
0:17.3	Several years ago, headlines started screaming that we shouldn't be so trusting of our dentists,
0:25.7	particularly when it comes to flossing.
0:28.8	On headline read, quote, dentists say you need to floss, science says you don't.
0:35.2	And people were pissed.
0:38.2	Dental News.
0:40.1	This week, the Associated Press reported that officials have never researched the effectiveness
0:44.4	of regular flossing before cajoling all of us to do it.
0:48.3	I floss for a solid week every time I come home from the dentist because I feel guilty.
0:51.7	Yes.
0:52.7	And it really serves no purpose.
0:54.6	Get this, some surveys have found that most dentists don't even floss every day.
1:00.7	With flossing in the dog house, it made us here at Science Vs wonder how much we can trust
1:05.6	anything that the dentist tells us.
1:08.1	Does brushing even matter?
1:09.6	And what about the stuff they tell you not to eat and drink?
1:13.2	Like there's been this rampage against Selsa for years.
1:17.6	Not to burst your bubbles, but is sparkling water safe for your smile?
1:21.8	Or literally sipping on through the entire day?
	...

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