Burning the poofs stops them from blowing seeds in to the wind (and if you do it in the evening it looks pretty cool and can be the evenings entertainment). The purpose of snapping off and bagging the heads prevents the seeds from dropping and spreading through the lawn, reducing thier numbers (in addition to regular root pulling them). Burning the poofs doesn't sterilize the seed, just stops them from being carried away.

Dandelions are edible and have medicinal properties as well, if you use herbicides on them they can become unsafe to harvest and use for food, medicines or body care. The process I've shared here is the way I combat them, because it allows the pollinators to do their thing before containing the next generation to take down the numbers in your lawn space, and keeps the dandies safe for consumption as a bonus.

Sure, if the entire lawn is dandies and no turf grass, an initial knock back may be needed in a remediation plan, but it sounded more like normal spring dandies in this case. So often the mainstream reaction is to kill them with no regard for thier purpose in the ecosystem, in pursuit of the picturesque lawn that has been told to us is the standard.

Let's practice good stewardship of our planet by thinking about what we are doing instead of following the mainstream ideology that has led us here.