Dentist, Ellie Phillips, has written a tell-all oral health book, Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye, where she shares her oral care expertise and how anyone can achieve a “truly healthy mouth.”

And Phillips shares one controversial tip: She insists that flossing your teeth will do nothing to reduce the risk of tooth decay.

In 2004, a long-term study found that rinsing twice daily with an Antiseptic mouth-rinse like Listerine was as effective at reducing plaque and gingivitis as flossing once daily.

The results were published in the Journal of the American Dental Association (JADA).

Dr. Phillips supports this finding, arguing that rather than flossing, all dental patients need to do is use 3 different types of mouth rinses every day.

“As a liquid solution, Listerine Antiseptic easily flows into these hard to reach areas between teeth and with a microbial action kills the germs that cause plaque and gingivitis.” says Christine Charles, RDH Associate Director, Oral Care Clinical Research at Pfizer Consumer Healthcare and one of the leads for two studies comparing the effectiveness of Listerine Antiseptic and flossing.

Dr. Phillips specialty is preventive dental care and her life’s passion is to bring honest oral health education to dental patients. She is a member of the American Dental Association, the New York State Dental Association and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentists. She is a graduate of Eastman Dental Center, Rochester, NY with qualifications in pediatric and general dentistry. She is an honorary member of the Eastman Academy, University of London, England. Recently Dr. Phillips was the pediatric outpatient clinic director at the Eastman Dental Center and a faculty member at the University of Rochester.

She states, “I want patients to be able to access the truth about teeth. Health professionals should be tested (like a CPR test) on evidence-based study results that indicate many diagnostic methods are ineffective and that patients can actually “clean” their own teeth with the correct o-t-c- products and avoid treatments.”

“Today we are talking about National Health Care – be careful what you wish for! The UK has had free dental services for over sixty years – and the British are known for the worst teeth in the world. Why? The reason unfortunately lies in the fact that you will receive whatever treatment dentists are paid for.” Dr. Phillips continues, “In the UK, when I graduated, dentists were paid more to take out teeth and heavily fill them than do any preventive work. Many teenagers had dentures given to them as “wedding gifts”. Sadly there are serious general health complications from dental disease and tooth loss.” (Amazon)

Hmm… have you read Dr. Phillips book? What are your thoughts? Do you feel flossing is unnecessary? Could this somehow be a marketing play… for Big Pharma?

Here’s a video with Dr. Phillips explaining her technique —