Brush, Floss and Rinse; it’s Only a Dream!
I am not only a Dental Geek, I am a Dental Hypocrite: Twice a day I brush; once a day I rinse; and twice a week I floss. Flossing is truly a cross to bear. There is nothing fun about it. Floss is not sexy; there is nothing stimulating about flossing. I dread the thread.
As a Dental Geek, I fully understand the importance of flossing daily. I have bought every contraption ever put out: handheld flossers, electric flossers, floss grippers, etc. NOTHING has kept my interest for more than a three-day period. I have had the opportunity to moderate hundreds of focus groups with dentists and hygienists and sometimes I throw in a question just for giggles: If you could tell a patient to perform only one of the three following oral care rituals, brushing, flossing or rinsing daily, which would it be? Overwhelmingly, the answer is always flossing from hygienists and dentists alike. So why is not flossing such a problem? Maybe if Hannah Montana or Ellen DeGeneres talked about flossing, I might be more inclined.
What’s it going to take to get me to floss daily? Help me get out of my own way!
I love to floss! I know I’m in the minority, but I can’t start the day without it. It’s not that flossing is some great fun thing to do, but it’s become such a part of my daily routine over the years that I can’t imagine NOT doing it. My teeth just don’t feel clean enough if I skip the floss.
If I tell you that flossing is more important than brushing, will you believe it?
When you brush your teeth, you only clean the tooth surface that you see, which would have bacteria that could be killed by the mouth rinse; yet neither the mouth rinse nor the brushing will remove the junk that is between the teeth and under the gum. In other words, it is as if you cleaned the floor and left all of the dust under the carpet.
Flossing is mostly recommended before bed time before brushing as the bacteria needs at least 24h to start causing gingivitis then periodontal disease that start destructing your gum tissue and then to the bone which is not reversible at that point; Overtime, the tooth would lose the bony support and become mobile until you get to a point of loosing the tooth or the teeth. SO would you like to have a denture or use a minute to floss your teeth with the thread without the holder?
I use an InterPlak WaterJet every day in the morning and at night before bed. I think it’s great and it makes my teeth feel extra-clean, too. Is using an waterjet device just as effective as flossing with regular floss? Because for me it’s a whole lot simpler than flossing and I actually like to use it.