Recently I had to go through a lot of ultrasound teeth cleaning because my gums suffered inflammations in the past. I am doing the dental cleaning every 3 to 4 months and every time the dentist says that the gum is getting better and better because I am flossing thoroughly. Before the inflammation, I never flossed so this is kind of a novel procedure for me.
So I empirically assumed that flossing is really the thing that helps to heal, as also acknowledged by the dentist.
The thing is... there are actually no studies to prove this statement. I have looked for articles and I found for instance this and this and this. I understand from the articles that there is not sufficient proof to endorse the procedure. Despite this, the dentists still recommend flossing.
From one of the articles:
The evidence for flossing is “weak, very unreliable,” of “very low” quality, and carries “a moderate to large potential for bias.”
What should one understand from this? Is there someone here that works in this field or did some research on this issue?
The reason why I ask this is that I want to eliminate using the floss and replace it with WaterPik, which I find more comfortable, fast and less abrasive. But I have also seen articles in which they write that floss is better than WaterPik. So then I come back to the same issue...
I would also like to know if the dental ultrasound cleaning is actually the one healing me or is the flossing? Can anyone help me with this?