I had written an article in a local community magazine about how important it is to floss. The excerpt below is taken from that article:)
I will share with you the spiel about flossing that I
like to present to my patients! (I also let the patients know, that I usually only give this spiel once, as I wouldn't want any patient to feel like they would get a lecture everytime they came to the office for a visit)!
The mouth is full of bacteria (we tell the kids, the mouth is full of
sugar bugs) and the bacteria love to eat what we like to eat- SUGAR!
When we put sugar in our mouth, and this doesn't have to be candy or
ice cream, even orange juice has sugar in it. The bacteria will eat
the sugar, digest it, and convert it to acid and toxins. The bacteria
will secrete these acids/toxins in your mouth (we tell the kids that
the sugar bugs are pooping). When the acid sits on your tooth for a
long time without being removed, the acid will eat away at your tooth,
and that is how you get a tooth decay. A lot of people think that
bacteria eat our teeth, but this is not the case. Would
bacteria prefer to eat teeth or sugar? Bacteria eat sugar, however its the acid from the
bacteria that eats away at our teeth.
Most people brush their teeth, so the front, top (chewing surface) and
tongue side of the tooth may be protected from the bacterial acid.
However, if one doesn't floss, it is in between the teeth where the
bacteria are able to reside and are protected from the attacks of the
toothbrush. For as long as a patient doesn't floss, this bacterial
buildup can reside and continue to produce acids that create
cavities. Imagine the bacteria eating sugar and creating acid, and
secreting this acid in between your teeth and it just sits there causing harmful damage. This can go on for as long as an individual chooses not to floss.
The teeth are held in place by bone, and this bacterial acid will also
begin to eat away at the bone as well. Often times I see new patients
who have not flossed for years come in, and their teeth are mobile and
moving side to side. The supporting bone has been destroyed by the
bacterial acid and often times, the only option is to extract the
teeth. This is called periodontal disease (gum/bone disease).
The teeth are held in place by bone, and this bacterial acid will also
begin to eat away at the bone as well. Often times I see new patients
who have not flossed for years come in, and their teeth are mobile and
moving side to side. The supporting bone has been destroyed by the
bacterial acid and often times, the only option is to extract the
teeth. This is called periodontal disease (gum/bone disease).
I often like to show my patients an x-ray of what this bone loss looks
like, as the bone loss is readily visible and helps patients to see
what can happen after prolonged neglect of flossing. When the patient
sees the x-ray of the destroyed bone, the devastating effects of not flossing
are quite obvious.
I cannot tell you how many dentures and partial dentures I make for
patients who never knew about gum disease and lived for years without
flossing. I tell patients that I am on a crusade to stop people from
having to wear dentures. There are very few reason this day in age
for any young person to ever have to wear dentures when they get
older with the dental care and education that is available.
People will often tell me that they don't floss because their gums
bleed or that their gums hurt. They don't realize that their gums
bleed and hurt because they have all this acid and toxins underneath
their gums. Here is the example that I like to give. Imagine that
you have a fresh cut on your arm. If you clean the area and keep if
free from debris, the bleeding will stop and by the next day, a scab
will begin to form. On the other other hand, imagine if you have a
cut on your arm, and every hour, you take a bottle of acid and spray
the wound with acid every hour. What would the area look like? By
the next day, it would be so irritated, it would be swollen, red,
inflammed, painful to touch, and probably begin to bleed. It is the
same thing with gums. Bleeding and painful gums is one of the best
indicators that a patient is not flossing and has an accumulation of
bacterial acids and toxins under the gums. How do you stop the
bleeding and pain. If a patient begins flossing regularly,
immediately following a thorough cleaning, the bleeding will usually
stop with a day or two.
This quick patient education seems to work very effectively in my
office to motivate many patients to begin flossing!
One other thing to note is that many people floss but they are wasting their time as they are flossing incorrectly, I highly recommend that you ask your dental provider what the techniques are in flossing thoroughly so that you receive the maximum benefit of flossing. I also recommend flossing in the evening after the last meal of the day so that your teeth stay clean all during the night while you are sleeping. I also recommend to floss and then brush your teeth. This way, you remove the "gunk" out from in between your teeth, then you can brush/rinse and wash it all away!
As a kid, I had quite a few cavities. Since I've been flossing
regularly, I hardly get cavities any more and neither do my gums bleed
like they used to. You may have heard the adage, "Floss only the
teeth you want to keep" and this couldn't be more true!
I tell my patients that its like getting an oil change in your car.
Regular oil changes are inexpensive, but if you don't do them and the
engine blows up, it can be quite costly. This applies to your teeth.
Flossing daily and getting regular check ups are simple and inexpensive. But if a tooth
is neglected and by the time a tooth begins to ache, it is analogous
to a car engine that has blown up. As they say- "an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure", this could not be more true when
it comes to your teeth.
As a kid, I had quite a few cavities. Since I've been flossing
regularly, I hardly get cavities any more and neither do my gums bleed
like they used to. You may have heard the adage, "Floss only the
teeth you want to keep" and this couldn't be more true!
I tell my patients that its like getting an oil change in your car.
Regular oil changes are inexpensive, but if you don't do them and the
engine blows up, it can be quite costly. This applies to your teeth.
Flossing daily and getting regular check ups are simple and inexpensive. But if a tooth
is neglected and by the time a tooth begins to ache, it is analogous
to a car engine that has blown up. As they say- "an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure", this could not be more true when
it comes to your teeth.
Like yourself, I very much dislike having my teeth drilled on. My goal is to reduce the amount of work needed to be done on my teeth. Secondly, I like my teeth and I'd like to avoid wearing dentures if at all possible. Last of all, I'd prefer to spend my money on things other than dental work. If you can relate to any of these sentiments, then daily flossing once a day is the best thing that you can do for yourself!
