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Why do dentists always recommend to brush 2 times for 2-3 minutes? (lemmy.zip)

submitted 9 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I almost always read in the news/press that dentists recommend to brush teeth two times a day for 2-3 minutes.

This drives me crazy, because it does not make sense; The point for dental health is to systematical clean every surface of your teeth twice a day (and use inter-dental brushes/floss once a day). For me, brushing my teeth takes around 6 minutes, if I hurry up. For someone faster it might be possible in 1 minute.

So, why do dentists always give the 2-3 minutes recommendation?

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (6 children)

What's really strange to me, is that for all the expertise around dentistry, AFAIK there has never been an actual evidence-based study for how long and how often you should brush and floss.

Its literally the most important piece of dental advice they could study, and no research has been done. How much plaque builds up on average when only brushing once per week, once per month? It makes me question the whole discipline and wonder if they don't just say "brush 10 times a day" in order to sell more dental products.

Maybe they'd discover that actually you only need to brush twice a week, and floss twice a week. Maybe it ends up being flossing every day, and brushing once a month... who knows.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

From someone with a science background: There are a lot of expenses with that type of clinical trial.

In particular, if you're going to assign someone to a group that is known to be unhealthy (brushing once a month) you need to pay for any dental or medical problems that arise from them not brushing.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 months ago

For sure, and they should def stop if there were any serious long-term affects, like any medical trial.

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