You won’t believe what a dentist might find even if you brush twice a day and floss regularly. Doing those two daily activities are the bare minimum when it comes to your oral health. Flossing regularly is critical to ensuring your teeth and gums remain healthy. It prevents bad breath, cavities, infections, gum disease, and recession. Yet nearly one-third of American adults don’t floss daily. And just as bad, more than one-quarter of Americans lie to their dentists about how often they floss. Spoiler alert: your dentist can tell if you’re flossing or not. Dentists have seen it all. Here are some examples we’ll share today with the hope you’ll be motivated to floss daily.
It may surprise you, but we’ve had patients come into the office before complaining about a toothache. Upon examination part of an old food wrapper was lodged between back the molars of the patient. Making the situation worse, our patient admitted it had probably been a couple of weeks since they’d eaten that piece of food. We used dental floss to remove the impediment and reminded our patient of the necessity to floss on a daily basis.
We had a patient recently who admitted to never flossing. When this patient came for their regular appointment we began to floss their teeth and the patient stopped us after a minute to ask about a terrible smell they were encountering. We showed them the piece of floss littered with small chunks of food decay that was stuck between their teeth. At that moment, our patient committed to be a daily flosser from that point forward.
Another patient visited us for their regular appointment and we encountered a bit of leftover greens in their mouth. Jokingly, we asked about the spinach they ate for lunch earlier that day. Confused, our patient admitted they didn’t eat spinach today but did four days earlier. Yet another lesson in why you should floss each and every day.
Sometimes we think we’ve seen it all and you might think you know all about oral hygiene best practices. In reality, you won’t believe what a dentist might find. That’s why you should come visit First Street Smiles for all your dental hygiene needs!
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