"People who smoke cigarettes, they say:

“You don’t know how hard it is to quit smoking.”

Yes, I do. It’s as hard as it is to start flossing." - Mitch Hedberg

    • PartySlices@lemmy.world
      331·
      1 day ago

      That doesn’t say flossing sucks, just that mouth wash is at least as good, but at least one is needed for good dental hygiene.

      • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
        14·
        21 hours ago

        mouth wash is at least as good

        Mouthwash has a couple of downsides.

        1. It does not discriminate good bacteria from bad bacteria. If you stop or delay treatment, you have a chance of getting a runaway situation with nasty bacteria.

        2. It does not remove plaque. If you stop or delay treatment for a while, bacteria make and settle down in to plaque. You’re relying on dental visits to remove the plaque.

        3. Mouthwash does not remove food lodged in the gumline or in between teeth.

        If you don’t like flossing, I’d recommend getting a waterpic. Keep your tongue scrubbed and brush after every meal. Only use mouthwash if you start having funky smells / tastes / things seem off.

        No cavities in 25 years. Unfortunately, the 25 years before that did not go as well, it took me a long time to sort out dental hygiene.

        • PartySlices@lemmy.world
          1·
          21 hours ago

          Yeah, I personally floss as well, I was just quoting the paper that the previous person linked to refute his claim that flossing sucks. And I anecdotally agree with your points as well, would be nice to see if there are any publications that support them though.

          • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
            3·
            21 hours ago

            Hell, I don’t even trust a single study anymore… This one was done in India under the pressures of not having enough dentists to cover their massive population.

            The actual point behind it might be if you’re not going to floss, definitely mouthwash

          • rumba@lemmy.zipEnglish
            2·
            5 hours ago

            I wouldn’t dream of making anyone do anything… Okay well, that’s a lie but certainly nothing dental related.

    • RecluseRamble@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      44·
      1 day ago

      in reducing interproximal gingivitis and dental plaque

      Good luck removing that stuff stuck between your teeth with mouth wash alone. Their method didn’t even address that.