Flawssin
A while ago, a friend told me that I had to start flossing.
He didn't tell me this with reference to a particular piece of food or bad breath (that I know of) -- he had read that flossing helps everything, including heart attacks, and that if I wasn't flossing regularly I was just an idiot.
His advice was based on a recent study that linked gum disease to coronary heart disease and stroke: the theory is that the gum disease bacteria jump into your bloodstream through your gums and start messing with you all over. (I love the simplicity of scientific theories sometimes.)
When I read the news article, I immediately sought out the original clinical study.
I always do this when I read something about health or science. Sometimes there is a shocking amount of disconnect between the conclusions of a scientific paper and how those conclusions are reported, and it's usually very easy (going by the title of the academic journal, the date the story ran, and the issue discussed) to find the original scientific document.
In this case things lined up. From the article:
From Circulation itself:
So I followed my friend's advice and started flossing... for about a week. Then I forgot -- UNTIL I picked up Green Day's International Supervideos DVD--
-- and got blown away by the video for their 1995 meth anthem "Geek Stink Breath", which shows a tooth extraction:
(If you want to see the tooth itself, try these:
)
This is a great video. Mark Kohn directed it, and if you don't jump out of your seat when the tooth finally comes out, something's wrong with you. "Man," I thought, "you better start flossing."
I started, and I've been flossing regularly for a few months now, and it feels great! And then this comes out:
"Brush teeth for mental health"
I looked up the supporting paper:
Now, "a serological marker of peridontitis" is a nice way of saying "rotting gum slime." Once you put that in, the scientific language becomes clear, and it looks like we all have a need to floss.
(I have another friend, by the way, who refuses to pay for dental floss on principle. He says it's ridiculous and it should be free and he just steals it.)
This recent study with the gum slime focuses on dementia and memory skills -- nothing about how proper dental care might affect depression, bipolar, and other mental conditions. I'd like to see more, because I suspect that the mental health benefits of brushing and flossing have to do not just with bacteria but with ritual.
Anybody who's ever been depressed knows that having something simple that you have to do on a regular basis can be a real help. Andrew Solomon talks in Noonday Demon --
-- about how no matter how dark he feels, he makes himself exercise in the morning. Exercise has been shown to help with depression on a chemical basis, but there is also some benefit in just doing something simple and satisfying. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, and that can bust you out of a bad set of days better than anything.
So, could flossing be similar? I don't know, but I bet if you took a set of patients with moderate to severe depression and just made sure that they brushed and flossed twice a day you'd see positive results. And of course this opens the market to all sorts of MENTAL/DENTAL HEALTH PRODUCTS.
Here's one, entrepreneurs!
Run with it. I'd rather floss than exercise anyway.
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
cbreakr pointed out this amazing public access show, "Invasion Earth and Beyond"!
[might load slow]
Wow, topical science coverage from a UFO-aware Noo Yawk retiree?! Fantastic. "I don' wanna hear bout Notradamus!!!"
FYI: While researching this blog entry I came across a list of the Top 10 Phobias in the World, and I felt compelled to depict them visually:
Enjoy!
accomplishedHe didn't tell me this with reference to a particular piece of food or bad breath (that I know of) -- he had read that flossing helps everything, including heart attacks, and that if I wasn't flossing regularly I was just an idiot.
His advice was based on a recent study that linked gum disease to coronary heart disease and stroke: the theory is that the gum disease bacteria jump into your bloodstream through your gums and start messing with you all over. (I love the simplicity of scientific theories sometimes.)
When I read the news article, I immediately sought out the original clinical study.
I always do this when I read something about health or science. Sometimes there is a shocking amount of disconnect between the conclusions of a scientific paper and how those conclusions are reported, and it's usually very easy (going by the title of the academic journal, the date the story ran, and the issue discussed) to find the original scientific document.
In this case things lined up. From the article:
A long-term study published in Circulation [for heart circulation, get it?] concluded that for men age 60 and under, chronic gum disease was associated with an increased incidence of coronary heart disease, regardless of other risk factors such as age, body mass index, smoking and diabetes.
From Circulation itself:
Conclusions— Chronic periodontitis is associated with incidence of CHD among younger men, independent of established cardiovascular risk factors.
So I followed my friend's advice and started flossing... for about a week. Then I forgot -- UNTIL I picked up Green Day's International Supervideos DVD--
-- and got blown away by the video for their 1995 meth anthem "Geek Stink Breath", which shows a tooth extraction:
(If you want to see the tooth itself, try these:
)
This is a great video. Mark Kohn directed it, and if you don't jump out of your seat when the tooth finally comes out, something's wrong with you. "Man," I thought, "you better start flossing."
I started, and I've been flossing regularly for a few months now, and it feels great! And then this comes out:
"Brush teeth for mental health"
[R]esearchers from Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York found gum disease could... influence brain function through several mechanisms, such as causing inflammation throughout the body... The study based on adults aged 60 and older found those with the highest levels of the gum disease-causing pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis were three times more likely to have trouble recalling a three-word sequence after a period of time.
I looked up the supporting paper:
Conclusion: A serological [serum-related] marker of periodontitis [gum disease] is associated with impaired delayed memory and calculation. Further exploration of relationships between oral health and cognition is warranted.
Now, "a serological marker of peridontitis" is a nice way of saying "rotting gum slime." Once you put that in, the scientific language becomes clear, and it looks like we all have a need to floss.
(I have another friend, by the way, who refuses to pay for dental floss on principle. He says it's ridiculous and it should be free and he just steals it.)
This recent study with the gum slime focuses on dementia and memory skills -- nothing about how proper dental care might affect depression, bipolar, and other mental conditions. I'd like to see more, because I suspect that the mental health benefits of brushing and flossing have to do not just with bacteria but with ritual.
Anybody who's ever been depressed knows that having something simple that you have to do on a regular basis can be a real help. Andrew Solomon talks in Noonday Demon --
-- about how no matter how dark he feels, he makes himself exercise in the morning. Exercise has been shown to help with depression on a chemical basis, but there is also some benefit in just doing something simple and satisfying. It gives you a sense of accomplishment, and that can bust you out of a bad set of days better than anything.
So, could flossing be similar? I don't know, but I bet if you took a set of patients with moderate to severe depression and just made sure that they brushed and flossed twice a day you'd see positive results. And of course this opens the market to all sorts of MENTAL/DENTAL HEALTH PRODUCTS.
Here's one, entrepreneurs!
Run with it. I'd rather floss than exercise anyway.
cbreakr pointed out this amazing public access show, "Invasion Earth and Beyond"![might load slow]
Wow, topical science coverage from a UFO-aware Noo Yawk retiree?! Fantastic. "I don' wanna hear bout Notradamus!!!"
FYI: While researching this blog entry I came across a list of the Top 10 Phobias in the World, and I felt compelled to depict them visually:
Enjoy!
