Free Republic

Ultimately, how many extra cavities, various other illnesses, and premature deaths will come from this hysteria is definitely something no study will ever be able to show Toss the floss! Turns out dental flossing is barely useful, even worthless perhaps. So reported the Associated Press (AP) and subsequently more than 150 news outlets, including such as the Washington Post (”The Shaky Evidence for Flossing”) and New York Times‘s more powerful “Feeling Guilty about Not Flossing? Maybe there’s No Need.” One Web site proclaimed “dentistry is a scam.” Well, okay actually that was just Kanye West. Only problem is they’re wrong....

When an orthodontist asked the reporter if he wanted a good story idea, the reporter, of course, said "yes." Jeff Donn, a national writer with The Associated Press and 2012 Pulitzer finalist, was doubtful, at first, about that tip from his son's orthodontist: There's no solid evidence that flossing actually works. "But when I started to look at research, I realized that it was a good tip — and definitely the best one I ever got from an orthodontist." As a reporter who's covered the dangers of aging nuclear power plants, drug safety and abandoned oil wells, Donn was attracted...

We're constantly told we should be flossing our teeth - despite it being fiddly, time-consuming and sometimes painful.Figures show that less than a fifth of us actually bother to do it regularly - with many tacky rolls of floss gathering dust in bathrooms the world over.Now, one leading expert has warned that if not performed correctly, flossing can actually do more harm than good.Here, Robin Seymour, Emeritus Professor of Dental Sciences at Newcastle University and leading periodontologist, explains why - and suggests other, easier ways to get perfect pearly-whites...Facebook

A police spokesman said a 36-year-old woman was caught flossing her teeth while driving 70 mph on a motorway in Wales. The spokesman, whose identity was not released, said the woman was fined $91 after police officers spotted her allegedly flossing her teeth and looking in her vehicle's rear view mirror, all while she was speeding along on the M4 motorway, The Sun said Saturday. "We've caught women applying lipstick and makeup and men using an electric razor on their way to work," the spokesman said of the recent incident. "But this is the first time we've seen someone flossing...

NEW YORK - The maker of Listerine mouthwash will spend $2 million to replace what a judge called misleading advertising suggesting the product is as effective as flossing at fighting plaque and gingivitis. About 4,000 workers will be deployed around the country to place stickers over the claim on Listerine bottles and to remove similar advertisements that hang on bottlenecks, a lawyer for Pfizer Inc. told a federal judge Monday. Television, print and medical-journal ads using the campaign are also being pulled, and the as-effective-as-floss campaign has also been removed from the Listerine Web site, lawyer Tom Smart said. U.S....