by Andrea Harris
A few years ago I had a co-worker who had the most beautiful teeth I had ever seen. (Yeah, I notice people’s teeth... I probably should have been a hygienist, but I don’t really like the idea of getting bitten on accident!) They were perfectly white and completely straight. I admit, I was a little jealous of the gene code that produced such a flawless smile.
I wandered by her desk after lunch one afternoon and found her furiously flossing away.
“Want some?” she asked, a piece of minty, waxed string still hanging from between her teeth.
“Uh, I’m good...” I stammered. I was sort of horrified and impressed that she would just sit there flossing right at work.
“Are you sure?” she asked, pilfering through her purse and producing those little loopy plastic threaders I’d seen my dad use a hundred times.
“Here,” she said, “take a couple. I don’t mind. I just can’t STAND not flossing!” She made a face and went back to fishing the remnants of her lunch salad out of her molars while I sheepishly went back to my desk. I flossed after popcorn or a particularly stringy roast, but I was by no means regular. No wonder she had such a perfect smile. She was one of THOSE people: a hardcore flosser!
Fast forward a few years and (count ‘em) five crowns later, I’m realizing the expense and frustration I could have saved myself. Now, I’m not saying I could have solved all my problems by just flossing. I have an autoimmune disorder that makes my teeth more fragile than the average American’s. But let’s be honest, that’s all the more reason to have taken the extra few minutes each day to really properly take care of my teeth!
According to WebMD, there are eight common excuses for why most people still don’t floss. Here are just the first four:
Excuse #1: Food doesn’t get caught between my teeth, so I don’t need to floss.
Flossing isn’t so much about removing food debris as it is about removing dental plaque, the complex bacterial ecosystem that forms on tooth surfaces between cleanings. Plaque is what causes tooth decay, inflamed gums (gingivitis), periodontal disease, and eventually tooth loss. Flossing or using an interdental cleaner is the only effective way to remove plaque between teeth.
Excuse #2: I don’t know how to floss.
Flossing isn’t easy. Low calls it “the most difficult personal grooming activity there is.” But practice makes perfect.
Here’s how the American Dental Association describes the process:
- Start with about 18 inches of floss. Wrap most of it around the middle finger of one hand, the rest around the other middle finger.
- Grasp the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers, and use a gentle shoeshine motion to guide it between teeth.
- When the floss reaches the gum line, form a C shape to follow the contours of the tooth.
- Hold the floss firmly against the tooth, and move the floss gently up and down.
- Repeat with the other tooth, and then repeat the entire process with the rest of your teeth, “unspooling” fresh sections of floss as you go along.
Don’t forget to floss the backs of your last molars. “By far, most gum disease and most decay occurs in the back teeth,” Low says.
Excuse #3: I’m not coordinated enough to floss.
Many tooth-cleaning options exist for people whose manual dexterity is compromised by poor coordination, hand pain, paralysis, and amputations -- or simply by fingers that are too big to fit inside the mouth.
One option is to use floss holders. These disposable plastic Y-shaped devices (some equipped with a spool of floss) hold a span of floss between two prongs to allow one-handed use.
Another option is to forgo floss and clean between teeth using disposable toothpick-like dental stimulators (Stim-U-Dents, Soft-Picks, and so on); narrow spiral brushes (interproximal brushes); or the conical rubber nubs (tip stimulators) found at the end of many toothbrushes or mounted on their own handles.
Excuse #4: I don’t have time to floss.
Effective flossing does take a while -- once a day for a “good three to five minutes” according to Low. But even 60 seconds of flossing is of enormous benefit. As with exercise, grooming, and other daily activities, the key is to make flossing a habit.
“If you make time for your personal hygiene, you can find time to make for flossing,” says Maria Lopez Howell, DDS, a dentist in private practice in San Antonio.
She recommends keeping floss in plain view, alongside your toothbrush and toothpaste. If you’re too tired to floss before bed, floss in the morning or afternoon. Or keep floss on hand and use it when you find the time.
Mark S. Wolff, DDS, PhD, chairman of the department of cardiology and preventive medicine at New York University School of Dentistry in New York City, keeps a stash of dental stimulators in his car. “I use them when I am stuck in traffic,” he says.
Do any of those excuses sound like you?
Photo Credit: Studio City Cosmetic Dentist.com
