Friday, November 25, 2011

It's National Flossing Day!

You may have heard about National Flossing Day in the news. It's always the day after Thanksgiving here in the US.

Since Thanksgiving is a day of feasting, what better day to remember flossing than today?  Here's the 2011 Proclamation that talks about the sense behind our holiday.
Have you ever played the game called "Rumors?"  (Some people call it "Telephone.")  - One person writes down a sentence and whispers it to a friend, then that person whispers it to another, until everyone has heard it.  The last person writes down what they heard and that's compared with the original.  The changes and distortions can be hilarious.  If you read the White Paper that is part of this years National Flossing Day, you'll learn how even doctors and dentists sometimes accidentally play the same game.

The title of the White Paper is "Spinning Floss Facts Into Fictions".  It explains some flossing research that gave proof flossing reduced cavities, but it mostly explains how the flossing in that study that was done by moms with a little simple training has come to be commonly described in scientific articles as "professional" flossing.  Based on this "rumor",  journal articles for dentists are saying "only professional flossing has been shown to reduce cavities." The White Paper hopes to make it clear that flossing has been tested and shown to reduce cavities, but you don't have to wait for a "professional" to floss you.  Your own daily flossing will do just fine!

Happy Flossing Day!  Floss on!



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