May 2010

Flogging toothpaste may be a dull business, but for once eyes must surely have shone brighter than teeth in the marketing department at Colgate this week. A gift of a study, published in the BMJ last Thursday, linked poor toothbrushing to heart disease. The media predictably flipped the message, with headlines certain to fix a smile on even the most jaded of Colgate lips. Auntie exhorted us to ‘Brush teeth to halt heart disease’, while the Daily Mail directed ‘Clean your teeth twice a day to keep a heart attack at bay’. The ping was at last back in the Colgate ring of confidence, for who needs advertising, when sparkling headlines (351 of them, according to google) say it all?

The research is not without interest. It kicks off with what we might call intuition bias, by echoing the old saw about an apple a day. And what could be more likely than scabby teeth means dodgy tickers, as plaque ridden teeth mirror plaque filled arteries (Dr No kids you not – one Mail commenter equates dental plaque with arterial plaque – and advises using floss to remove it!)? But what about the science?