This is really interesting, but I firmly believe in its accuracy. Although I do practice in skewed places, most people want regular dental check-ups, and their children will not take too much sugary drinks.
In my experience, most people do not often use dental floss. Men rarely have regular flossing. Although dental flossing is rarely performed on a regular basis, I rarely see caries between the near teeth in my patient population. I think this is the fact that fluoride works. Even if you do not live in a fluorided area, you can get a lot of water from the foods and beverages you eat. These foods and beverages are most likely treated with fluorided water. In the era of fluoride, as more and more patients grow, I see changes in attenuation between the proximal ends.
Similarly, early in my career, I saw periodontal disease-a disease that causes bones around tooth roots to stay away from harmful bacteria that live beneath the gums between teeth, making the disease more common. I rarely see any obvious bone loss in the skewed crowd. I partially attribute this to my patient group’s tendency to check and clean regularly, but more importantly, the smoking habits in my patient group have almost completely disappeared. Interestingly, the bone levels of these smokers began to decline, but once they quit smoking addiction, the bones will stabilize and the bone levels will not change in the following decades.
Some people may be due to genetics, even if they do not smoke, they will still lose the bones at the root. I found this to be uncommon. Many of them are not satisfied with any kind of periodontal treatment. Just bad luck.
Another type of person who loses their root bones-in the end, their own teeth are almost never people who have ever had dental cleaning services. Surprisingly, how much tartar (calculus-hard objects) will accumulate under the teeth and gum line. This provides a good protective environment for anaerobic bacteria living below the gum line, resulting in bone loss at the root.
I don’t advocate flossing. I just say that many people who rarely or never use dental floss but do not smoke and at least occasionally clean their teeth are likely to have little or no dental disease. Using dental floss to reduce gum bleeding and improve breathing may be a “better choice”, but I have not seen bone loss or rampant proximal caries in these patients. Fluoride seems to have changed caries sensitivity.
YMMV in other patient populations with different habits is mainly smoking and eating/drinking a lot of sugar.
Kevin Bryant, he practiced dentistry for nearly forty years.
