Where does the “9/10 dentists recommend this toothpaste” claim come from?
In: 2
This is something that goes back a long time, as far as the 1960’s. The surveys were real. When they started running these ads in the 1970’s, they would say “Four out of five dentists…” because it was around 80%.
The other 20% recommended not chewing any gum at all. No dentist recommended regular gum.
If they are now saying 9 out of 10, that means the number recommending no gum has gone down. I gather there is new data showing that gum, if sugarless, has some benefits to one’s dental care.
My source for this is a writer in Chicago named Cecil Adams who had a regular column called “The Straight Dope”. He got these kinds of questions, researched them, and wrote the answers in a very funny way. (This is well before the internet.)
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