Getting evidence-based care may be like pulling teeth, researchers suggest.

A 2020 Cochrane review that assessed the two clinical trials concluded that “whether adults see their dentist for a check‐up every six months or at personalized intervals based on their dentist’s assessment of their risk of dental disease does not affect tooth decay, gum disease, or quality of life. Longer intervals (up to 24 months) between check‐ups may not negatively affect these outcomes.” The Cochrane reviewers reported that they were “confident” of little to no difference between six-month and risk-based check-ups and were “moderately confident” that going up to 24-month checkups would make little to no difference either.

Likewise, Nadanovsky and his colleagues highlight that there is no evidence supporting the benefit of common scaling and polishing treatments for adults without periodontitis. And for children, cavities in baby teeth are routinely filled, despite evidence from a randomized controlled trial that rates of pain and infections are similar—about 40 percent—whether the cavities are filled or not.

  • Montagge@lemmy.zip
    8·
    6 months ago

    I’m not sold that the dental tools can unintentionally damage enamel. Also I don’t think a sugar filled apple is going to clean teeth.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      6 months ago

      Source that even “hard” brushing can damage enamel:

      Abrasion. This is physical wear and tear of the tooth surface that happens with brushing teeth too hard, improper flossing, biting on hard objects (such as fingernails, bottle caps, or pens), or chewing tobacco.

      https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/tooth-enamel-erosion-restoration

      And here’s the source for high fiber foods like apples helping:

      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6051571/

      If you brush too hard you can chip enamel, but apples are too soft/mushy to do so, while still neutralizing cavity forming bacteria.

      Now, that study didn’t find that apples removed plaque, but it showed they prevent bacteria causing cavities and more importantly the study also required participants to only use apples as their sole dental hygiene regiment…

      And I realize I said:

      with just proper brushing or eating fiberours foods like apples, tartar really shouldn’t be accumulating to begin with.

      But I never imagined people would think I meant only brushing would be all the dental healthcare they needed.

      But man…

      After this thread I am fully prepared to say I drastically overestimated my audience.

      I can admit that.

      • Montagge@lemmy.zip
        4·
        6 months ago

        I’ll trust WebMD the day I’m dead.

        The study you linked:

        In conclusion, chewing an apple does not necessarily have a mechanical plaque removal effect.

        So it doesn’t actually help.