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Dental Tribune U.S. Edition | November 2016 a3 Publisher & Chairman Torsten Oemus t.oemus@dental-tribune.com President & Chief Executive Officer Eric Seid e.seid@dental-tribune.com Group Editor Kristine Colker k.colker@dental-tribune.com Editor in Chief Dental Tribune Dr. David L. Hoexter feedback@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor U.S. and Canada editions Robert Selleck r.selleck@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor Fred Michmershuizen f.michmershuizen@dental-tribune.com Managing Editor Sierra Rendon s.rendon@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Humberto Estrada h.estrada@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Will Kenyon w.kenyon@dental-tribune.com Product/Account Manager Maria Kaiser m.kaiser@dental-tribune.com CLIENT RELATIONS Manager Leerol Colquhoun l.colquhoun@dental-tribune.com Education Director Christiane Ferret c.ferret@dtstudyclub.com Accounting Coordinator Nirmala Singh n.singh@dental-tribune.com Tribune America LLC 116 West 23rd St., Ste. #500 New York, N.Y. 10011 (212) 244-7181 Published by Tribune America © 2016 Tribune America, LLC All rights reserved. Dental Tribune strives to maintain the utmost accu- racy in its news and clinical reports. If you find a fac- tual error or content that requires clarification, please contact Managing Editor Robert Selleck at r.selleck@ dental-tribune.com. Dental Tribune cannot assume responsibility for the validity of product claims or for typographical errors. The publisher also does not as- sume responsibility for product names or statements made by advertisers. Opinions expressed by authors are their own and may not reflect those of Tribune America. Editorial Board Dr. Joel Berg Dr. L. Stephen Buchanan Dr. Arnaldo Castellucci Dr. Gorden Christensen Dr. Rella Christensen Dr. William Dickerson Hugh Doherty Dr. James Doundoulakis Dr. David Garber Dr. Fay Goldstep Dr. Howard Glazer Dr. Harold Heymann Dr. Karl Leinfelder Dr. Roger Levin Dr. Carl E. Misch Dr. Dan Nathanson Dr. Chester Redhead Dr. Irwin Smigel Dr. Jon Suzuki Dr. Dennis Tartakow Dr. Dan Ward Tell us what you think! Do you have general comments or criti- cism you would like to share? Is there a particular topic you would like to see articles about in Dental Tribune? Let us know by sending an email to feedback@ dental-tribune.com. We look forward to hearing from you! If you would like to make any change to your subscription (name, address or to opt out) please send us an email at c.maragh@dental-tribune.com and be sure to include which publication you are referring to. Also, please note that subscription changes can take up to six weeks to process. DENTAL TRIBUNE The World’s Dental Newspaper · US Edition From page 1 nature and because a variety of factors can impact its progression, studies that examine the efficacy of daily flossing are best conducted over a number of years and among a large population. Much of the current evidence does not utilize a large sample size or examine gum health over a significant amount of time. Addi- tionally, many of the existing studies do not measure true markers of periodontal health, such as inflammation or clinical attachment loss. In the absence of quality research, patients should continue to in- clude flossing as a part of their daily oral hygiene habit.” Dental pros on radio, TV, online and front pages But the folks who may have benefited most from the sudden media attention were dental professionals positioned in their various markets as experts available to provide a local perspective on the story. Among the thousands of examples on ma- jor search engines within days of the AP article first appearing: • In an Aug. 3 article, Carol Kozma, staff writer with The Providence Journal in Providence, R.I., quoted Denise Shapiro, a periodontist in Providence: “Someone has got to do a study, I guess,” but then (Shapiro) added it would be dif- ficult to tell a group of people not to floss for five years, and another to floss. “I un- derstand that perhaps there is no specific scientific data to prove that point, but an- ecdotally, I will tell you that most dentists ... would find there is much less bleeding, much less inflammation,” when people floss, Shapiro said. “Anyone who is working in the field will say there is a difference.” • In an Aug. 4 article, Ameya Charnalia, with the Edmonton Sun in Edmonton, Alberta, turned to Dr. Liran Levin, head of periodontology at the University of Al- berta: “From here, people took it to ‘OK we don’t need to floss anymore,’ but it’s exactly the opposite,” (Levin) said. “Flossing is very difficult to do effectively and most people don’t do it correctly, and this is why the re- sult showed that the evidence is rather lim- ited. ... It’s not an Albertan or Edmontonian problem,” he said. “It’s a worldwide prob- lem. People don’t like to floss and if they do then they don’t do that correctly.” • In the Tahlequah Daily Press in Tahle- quah, Okla., reporter Sean Rowley in an Aug. 11 article quoted Dr. Tom McConnell of McConnell Family Dentistry: “It’s common sense,” (McConnell said). “I like to eat meat, and I pull tons of meat out of my teeth when I floss. When you chew on steak, it gets between teeth, and if you leave it even overnight, it can fester and leave a little boil next to your gums. … If you no- tice that your gums bleed easily, you might have built up some tartar, which acts as an irritant,” McConnell said. “Over time, you get a situation where your gums peel back and you can see the roots of the teeth.” • On Aug. 11, the University of New England website posted an article sum- marizing comments made by Jon Ryder, DDS, MS, dean of the College of Dental Medicine, in interviews with the press across Maine, including the Maine Public Broadcasting Network, the Bangor Daily News, the Journal Tribune (Biddeford/York County) and WMTW TV in Portland: “Most people actually have missing or tilted or crooked teeth, and we need to have these (flossing) instruments at our disposal to help prevent further disease and reduce the amount of plaque on the teeth,” Ryder said. • In a segment airing on Aug. 2, NPR’s All Things Considered quoted Los Angeles periodontist Joan Otomo-Corgel, a mem- ber of the American Academy of Periodon- tology: (Otomo-Corgel) says. “I mean, you look at it under a microscope, you have swim- mers. You have different types of bacteria that form, and the longer they stay, the more virulent they become.” And that does not bode well for a person’s overall health, says Otomo-Corgel. It may be, she says, that studies on flossing just haven’t followed subjects for long enough to notice long- term benefits. • The Greeley Tribune in Greeley, Colo., quoted local dentist Dr. Richard Water- man on the front page of its Aug. 12 edition in an article by staff reporter Mary-Kate Newton: “It might be kind of dangerous to report that there are no benefits to flossing,” he said. “It would be at least somewhat neg- ligent not to recommend it,” (Waterman) said. “Dentists agree that proper technique is key to the success of flossing, and they say it may not have been considered in studies. Sometimes if you are not using the proper technique, you could be causing trauma to the gum tissue. ... If you’re using that saw- ing motion, it’s kind of like brushing too hard. You mean well, but you can cause re- cession of the gum tissue.” • It wasn’t just the traditional popular media grabbing the “is-flossing-optional?” hook. The AP article was covered from an investor perspective in a MarketWatch item on www.marketwatch.com, with Ma- ria LaMagna reporting: Although sales of floss grew about 4.4 percent from 2010 to 2015, they’re projected to slow to 2.2 percent from 2015 through 2020, but don’t blame the AP’s report, said Eleanor Dwyer, a research associate at Eu- romonitor. Instead, it’s likely to happen because more households are (more) well- stocked with floss than they were in the past, and they don’t need to keep buying it, she said. “I don’t expect this new report to impact floss sales dramatically in the short term, as there is no compelling new evi- dence that it is harmful,” Dwyer said in an email. “People can physically see the plaque and food particles removed by floss, giving them personal confidence in its efficacy.” The AP’s report shouldn’t discourage peo- ple from flossing, said Marcelo Araujo, the vice president of the American Dental As- sociation Science Institute. “This will trigger a great conversation between the patients and dentists,” Araujo said. “It could lead to people looking back at what they are do- ing every day and what kinds of products they’re using and asking the dentists how to use the products and what the best ones are.” Ad “ FLOSSING, page A1