Congratulations! If you floss your teeth properly and daily you are in the top 5% of the country. Maybe you did not graduate in the top 5% of your college class, but you are a top flosser in America. You should be very proud. If you are a great tooth flosser, then odds are you are also great at brushing your teeth properly on a daily basis as well.
If you are in the top Five Percent, then you do not need to read this blog. But, if you are in the majority, then you should read on. About 20% of you do make the effort to floss occasionally and not so thoroughly. The rest of you, the 80% group, and you know who you are, never really use floss on your teeth.
Well, you might floss that one night before you are about to see your dentist or dental hygienist for a cleaning. We call that “guilt flossing”. I’ll let you in on a secret: You might as well skip the guilt flossing. It doesn’t do any good and we can tell that you did not floss but that one day.
Even if you do not floss, you might keep a spool handy, though. Throughout time floss has been used for many things. It has been used to tie fly-fishing lines. It has been useful as temporary replacement for missing shoelaces. I’ve used it to tie my car trunk down on an over packed vacation trip.
I have seen floss used to cut cheesecake the Cooking Channel. And I have read reports of floss being used for prison escape (watch Austin Powers escape the mutant killer sea bass). In fact today prisoners are suing because they are not allowed to have floss in prison.
Well, if you are in the majority, and you do not floss well or regularly, do worry, at Artistic Dentistry of Atlanta we have a different home care option for you. I am not suggesting that you do not need to clean between your teeth. But if you hate
Flossing then you would benefit greatly from using the Rotadent home care brush.
If you do not brush the front, the back, the top and clean in-between your teeth then you will have a long battle with gum disease and cavities. Dentures are very uncomfortable and Implants cost quite a bit to replace missing teeth. So ask us about your options if you are in that 80% majority. We want you to keep your teeth for a lifetime.
Peter Vanstrom, DDS
