Well you can finally stop lying to your dentist about flossing.
The Associated Press just looked at the research on the benefits of flossing, and they got the Department of Health and Human Services to admit, quote, “The effectiveness of flossing has never been researched, as required.”
There have been plenty of studies on flossing, but none of them have definitively found that it helps you get rid of plaque or prevents gum disease. The AP looked into 25 of the biggest studies and found all of them were unreliable.
So why has the government been recommending that we all floss every day for almost four decades?
A dentist from the National Institutes of Health summed it up. Quote, “It’s low risk, low cost. We know there’s a possibility that it works, so we feel comfortable telling people to go ahead and do it.”
That’s probably true, except for one thing: Floss is a $2 billion market around the world, and half of that comes from the United States.