We’ve all been there: Stranded on a sun-drenched island, needing to dry your wet clothes as quickly as humanly possible, with nary a branch or flat surface to be found.

Luckily, you do have plenty of dental floss. And it makes a perfect clothesline. You saved the day, MacGyver.

If you’re saying to yourself right now, ‘of course that’s a thoroughly reasonable scenario,’ you are probably the sort of person who walks around with plenty of dental floss at all times, just in case.

And that means you might have been upset to see widespread reports that the science is still inconclusive on whether it actually improves your health.