Close your eyes, clear your mind, and take a deep breath. Put yourself in a place of absolute happiness. Somewhere that you feel safe, comfortable, and secure. Now, if you're still reading at this point then you clearly don't know how to follow directions because I said to close your eyes...but whatever. So now that you're in a place of happiness, I want you to put yourself in the two worst places in the world. Obviously, the first place you thought of was Captain D's because, yeah...enough said. I'd be willing to bet my left...overs that the second place you thought of was the dentist's office. I mean, what's more awesome than a stranger asking you questions with their hands in your mouth while simultaneously drilling away at your pearly yellowish-whites with the finest Craftsman tools on the market? If you said "nothing," then your sarcasm is not welcome here. But, what if I told you that dentists may be preventing cancer prevention with the so called "advice" that they give us?
I recently read an article from mashable.com that said that dental cavities may reduce the risk for certain types of cancer (http://mashable.com/2013/09/16/dental-cavity-cancer). The article mentions a study conducted by researchers from the State University of New York at Buffalo involving 620 participants with cavities. Participants in the study showed a significantly reduced rate of developing types of head an neck cancers compared to a control group. However, the results are inconclusive because the study did not take into account different variables such as socioeconomic status and diet. So, the results just show a correlation, not a cause and effect relationship. And, as we have heard in every statistics class we have ever taken ever, correlation does not prove causation.
Why does this story mean so much to me? Well, since you inadvertently asked me by reading the question out loud in your head, I'll tell you. Last year I had the worst dentist visit of my life. It was my first visit to our new dentist, so naturally I had to get x-rays done. The x-rays revealed horrible news. I had eight cavities. Eight freaking cavities. Before you judge me on my dental hygiene, I'll let you know I brush my teeth multiple times a day every day. Yeah, I used to eat my fair share of skittles, but rainbows taste awesome and you know it. Eight cavities though? That's ridiculous. Little did I know though that you can have cavities in between your teeth, which happened to be where all my cavities were located. Now, I mentioned earlier that I brushed my teeth multiple times a day, but I never said anything about flossing. Ahead of working out and going on a diet, flossing is the number one thing people say they do but actually don't.
Needless to say, I got all my cavities filled and I am currently cavity free. I now floss my teeth every single day (Source: third paragraph, last sentence). However, if ever again a dentist tells me I have a cavity I will have one response for them. "Yeah, and I'm also cancer free." Checkmate dentists.
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