Did You Know? Dental Floss in the News Floss vs. Steel Bars In 2000, Antonio Lara, an inmate at a maximum-security prison in East Texas, allegedly used dental floss to saw through the metal bars of his cell. Lara spent weeks carefully abrading the steel bars of his cell using dental floss coated with toothpaste or other abrasive materials. The Minty Mountaineer In 1994, an inmate at a jail in Charleston, West Virginia, named Robert Dale Shepard braided dozens of strands of mint-flavoured, waxed dental floss—48 in total—into a thick cord resembling a telephone cable. According to a later account from Shepard himself, the finished product was as durable as climbing rope. Under the cover of darkness, he tied an AA battery to one end of the rope and threw it over the fence. After anchoring the line, he scaled the wall, using the floss rope like a mountaineer. Dubbed “Spiderman” by news outlets, Shepard roamed free for 41 days, surviving on berries, drinking from creeks, and bathing in rivers surrounding Charleston. $1 Billion Floss Sample In 2002, DNA from the discarded dental floss of Steve Bing, a successful film producer, was used in a paternity dispute involving MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian. According to Bing, the floss was stolen from his garbage by a private investigator allegedly hired by Kerkorian. Bing responded with a $1 billion lawsuit, accusing Kerkorian of invasion of privacy and trespassing. From daring prison escapes to billion-dollar lawsuits, the humble strand has proven it’s far more versatile than you think. A 17-Storey Descent In 2012, two convicts broke out of the high-security Metropolitan Correctional Center in Chicago using an improvised rope that included, you guessed it, dental floss. The two inmates braided together a 170-foot rope using bedsheets reinforced with strands of dental floss— prized for its tensile strength and availability in prison commissaries. They anchored the rope to a bunk bed and a heating pipe and rappelled 17 stories down the side of the jail. Shark Bite vs. Floss In 1997, veterinarian Wilbur Wood was severely bitten in the right arm by a shark while spearfishing near Spanish Key, Bahamas. His girlfriend, an OR nurse, stemmed his bleeding using dental floss as a makeshift tourniquet, saving his life. He was airlifted to Miami for treatment, and the incident garnered global attention for its unconventional and successful first‑aid. 33 Issue 4 | 2025 |
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTE5MTI=