
Brushing your teeth: no longer the best thing for your teeth? - joedevon
http://bio230fall2010.wordpress.com/2011/03/24/brushing-your-teeth-no-longer-the-best-thing-for-your-teeth/
======
jdpage
I would guess that the wrinkle is that one's mouth would still be chock-full
of bacteria, lending the breath a fœtid odour.

~~~
bmelton
Interesting assertion. You're undoubtedly right, of course, but it just
reminds me of the ideals promoted by the deodorant companies.

Once upon a time, everybody smelled like everybody smells, which is to say,
probably not quite as pleasant as people smell now -- arguably. Then somebody
came along and invented deodorant, began marketing it to women to give them a
competitive dating advantage -- "Smell better than the next woman and get more
men" \-- which they (historically obviously) fell for, and now deodorant is
considered necessary... but for what purpose?

People are very adaptive to smell, and beyond the same statistical outliers we
have now, generally speaking, people would have smelled about the same. Now
though, the bar has been arbitrarily raised, and the result is that everybody
not wearing deodorant is a grotesquely smelling freak, where the only outcome
is that, once again, we all smell the same, but slightly different -- and of
course, we're now all spending an extra $10 a month on a product that nobody
really needs, but that was marketed well enough initially that it's become a
staple.

~~~
sandGorgon
actually, there is a related phenomenon called "Beyond Shampoo" or "nopoo"
(the website seems to be down). There is a huge movement around giving up soap
and shampoo permanently to avoid and cure stuff like dandruff, acne, etc.

I personally had HUGE successes with it in improving my overall hygiene - but
be warned that it takes upto six months for your body to "reboot". during that
time, your hygiene grows worse - before getting extremely better. I suspect it
is the same case with the brushing thing : it will take quite some time before
the flora and fauna of your mouth reboots.

[1] [http://freetheanimal.com/2010/12/a-most-successful-self-
expe...](http://freetheanimal.com/2010/12/a-most-successful-self-experiement-
over-18-months-soap-and-shampoo-free.html) [2]
[http://paleohacks.com/questions/17060/no-poo-and-
dandruff.ht...](http://paleohacks.com/questions/17060/no-poo-and-
dandruff.html#axzz2mCPzOIdR)

~~~
anoncow
I tried the no shampoo thing for a month. The result was extremely scaly,
itchy scalp. So I used Ketoconazole + shampoo once. (Ketoconazole can cause
dryness, flakes and hairfall; so I used very little of it). Had some dryness
and some hairfall following the wash. The next two weeks were without shampoo.
Now I intermittently use a "mild" shampoo like Johnsons baby shampoo every
week or so and my seborrheic dermatitis is much better. So the nopoo thing is
not so bad.

~~~
thaumasiotes
My sister and I both suffered from dandruff while living near Santa Cruz,
California. And we both found that it magically went away when we moved.

When I grow out facial hair, there's a particular spot on my upper lip that
starts to flake, which I also think of as "dandruff". Kept shaven, it's
asymptomatic.

Basically, there seem to be many mysterious causes and effects involved.

~~~
gojomo
I'm curious: was your residence in Santa Cruz a misty/mold-conducive
environment? What's the climate and household like where you moved to?

~~~
thaumasiotes
Foggy, yes.

We moved to various places -- Philadelphia, Shanghai, Costa Rica, Brazil. I
can only really speak for Shanghai, which is incredibly hot with about 100%
humidity in the summer (I have seen water pool on the floor of my building,
just because there was so much in the air) and 1-4 degrees centigrade in the
winter. I've never thought of it as misty.

Don't move to Shanghai for the weather.

------
Wingman4l7
Obligatory mention of Betteridge's law of headlines:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headline...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)

~~~
jafaku
It's not really obligatory, and it would be nice if you guys just stopped
posting that, especially on science articles since asking questions is what
science does.

~~~
Wingman4l7
Fair enough. However, it's hoped that this might encourage less linkbait-y
titles, especially for overviews of new science research. A headline like
"Biofilm-inhibiting bacteria may provide an alternative to brushing your
teeth" conveys much more information about the content _(and doesn 't break
that "law", either)_.

~~~
saurik
Most of the time the people writing these articles have never even heard of
Hacker News; this is just a more socially acceptable way to flaunt trivia in
front of people to feel smarter while at the same time being able to call
"first!".

~~~
Wingman4l7
Not having heard of Hacker News is irrelevant to writing better headlines. The
"law" is hardly trivia; it's a great way to shed light on lazy writing and
introduce people to simple manipulative tricks of journalism.

~~~
saurik
The headlines are not written by the people on Hacker News: they are written
by people on websites other than Hacker News, and then posted verbatim here.
If 100% of people on Hacker News read these comments and would never write an
article with a question as the title, it would not change the fact that
articles with questions as the title would occasionally get posted to Hacker
News.

------
vezzy-fnord
Excessive brushing has always been detrimental to the enamel.

~~~
pmiller2
This is why the ADA recommends brushing your teeth only twice a day, rather
than after every meal.

------
s0rce
Why is it snowing?

~~~
Schwolop
Urgh.

Ctrl+A Ctrl+C Ctrl+L data:text/html, <html contenteditable> <ENTER> Ctrl+V

 _phew_

~~~
ars
Thank you. I couldn't read it - the snow kept triggering my orienting reflex
and making it harder than necessary to simply read the article.

------
dredmorbius
Might be worth mentioning Weston Price, an early 20th century dentist "known
primarily for his theories on the relationship between nutrition, dental
health, and physical health. He founded the research institute of the National
Dental Association, which later became the research section of the American
Dental Association, and served as its chair from 1914–1928." (Wikipedia)

In particular, he drew a _lot_ of relationships between diet and not only
dental but general health. Some of which sounds a bit kooky but a lot of which
seems to be getting confirmed, especially regards the role of sugar and
processed carbohydrates.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Price](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weston_Price)

~~~
yetanotherphd
That is in no way relevant to this article, it's enough to have people
promoting fad diets on articles where it is actually relevant, without this
too.

~~~
lukifer
It isn't exactly controversial that frequent sugar consumption exacerbates
oral microbial growth. My mouth health got drastically better after giving up
soda, and more so again after giving up grains.

------
erikb
Well, let's not be too fast about throwing away a well known solution because
one research shows that there might be (better?) alternatives.

------
Brakenshire
Possibly, maybe will no longer best the best thing for your teeth.

Seems very interesting, but very early stage.

------
bigd
neat snowing background, loved the fall direction controlled by the mouse
motion.

~~~
coldcode
It would be neater if it piled up.

------
goggles99
Probiotics will form the future of medical and dental preventative care. That
and Epigenetics.

~~~
toomuchtodo
And most likely nutrition. It appears that your weight is determined by your
gut bacteria:
[https://www.google.com/search?q=gut+bacteria+obesity](https://www.google.com/search?q=gut+bacteria+obesity)

~~~
tiatia
"Your weight is determined" No. If at all, they are only a part of the problem
and you have the chicken - egg problem. Do you have different bacteria because
you are fat or are you fat because you have different bacteria?

Causes are: -genetic -epigenetic -life style -nutrition (cabrs!) -viruses (no
kidding, obesity may be infectious) etc.

~~~
drsingleton
I think the jury is still out on that. Metagenomic studies have only become
possible in the past decade, and consequently there haven't been any long tern
studies in humans. Studies in mice have show that the normal microbiota is
rather static throughout the full life of the host. If this extends to humans,
then the microbes are the "egg" in the equation.

