kilobug comments on Rational Toothpaste: A Case Study - Less Wrong
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Comments (58)
Interesting article, but it lacks one important issue to me : are there negative effects from the proposed solutions ? Like for fluoride toothpaste, does it have other (positive or negative) side-effects ? On cancer rate or anything else ?
More generally it's an important thing to do when rationally trying to analyze a problem and find solutions : check if the solutions found don't harm something unrelated to the initial problem (ie, checking all the consequences).
Good question. I looked, and--although electric toothbrushes do remove more plaque and tartar--they also remove 3x as much healthy tooth enamel.
3x sounds really scary, but I have no knowledge of whether a 4 micron extra loss of sound dentin is something to be concerned about or not.