Today, there is an ongoing debate between dental floss and inter-dental brushes, and what dental care providers should be recommending to our patients to enhance their oral health. Let go through few recent studies that are relative to this subject:
A report by the Associated Press has found that no scientific evidence has proven the effectiveness of flossing and, as a consequence, the US Department of Health removed its recommendation to use dental floss from its latest guidelines. It brought back to the surface the debate between flossing and its alternatives.
Which alternatives to dental floss would both patients and science love?
Well, a study done by the University of British Columbia published in the Canadian Journal of Dental Hygiene states:
“Patients rarely use dental floss.” This study demonstrated that patient’s compliance is directly associated with the ease of use they experienced and their motivation.
“Inter-dental brushes are easy to use and well accepted by patients.” The study found that patients were more than twice as likely to agree that inter-dental brushes were easier to use than dental floss.
“Inter-dental brushes significantly reduce bleeding sites.” When using dental floss or an inter-dental brush that is not adequate for the inter-dental space, there is still approximately a third of it that remains unreachable. To be efficient and to manage inflammation, patients must use inter-dental brushes that completely fill their inter-dental spaces.
Since all root morphology and inter-dental spaces are different, it is illogical to believe all inter-dental brushes or dental flosses will fit properly and remove effectively the biofilm.
These reconfirm our belief of the advantages that an inter-dental brush system can offer, versus dental floss.