Have You Been Flossing?

If you’ve ever been to the dentist before, then I’m sure you have heard this question while you’re sitting there in the dentist chair. Not only are you in a really vulnerable position anyways, the last thing you want to do to your dentist is disappoint them by saying that you haven’t been flossing. Honestly, there is not a more shameful feeling than letting your dentist know that you have indeed not been flossing. Well, we’ve all been there before, and I personally got tired of telling my dentist that I haven’t been flossing. So in order to be able to come back to that dentist chair in 6 months with a changed heart and a changed answer, I began flossing every single day. Seriously, I never missed a day of flossing in that entire 6 months after that first appointment. You should have seen the look on my dentist’s face when he learned that I had been flossing. First he looked at me in disbelief - then, slowly, shock started to spread over his face like the fall tide of the Pacific ocean. His voice cracked as he spoke, unsure of what to say as he stared into my confident but understanding eyes. “It’s okay”, I tell him. My dentist got up from his chair, went to the front desk, and let the secretaries know that he will now be retiring and that the rest of his appointments will need to be canceled. That’s right, he was so proud of me that he just got up and left that dentist’s office. 

Sure, this story may have been exaggerated for dramatic effect, but it is true that your dentist will be shocked to see you start flossing every day. But I know that it would make him or her very happy - I know that it would make me happy too. So in this article, I am going to tell you about some of the main benefits of flossing on a day-to-day basis, so that you can hopefully find the motivation to follow in my flossing footsteps. The first reason is because you will find yourself with a much better smile after you’ve been flossing for a couple months.

Not only does it clear out the space between your teeth, but it also helps improve the overall brightness and appearance of your teeth, which will lead to you making more friends (because I know you struggle to make friends, you loser). In addition to this, flossing can reduce your risk of getting gum disease. What is gum disease? Well, I will tell you what it is. I will also tell you why you should be worried about getting gum disease, and hopefully it will cause you to start flossing. 

Plaque that tends to build up in between your teeth can actually hurt your gums in the long run and lead to disease. I don’t actually know the scientific causes of gum disease, but I know that you can get it if you don’t floss and I am in fact too lazy to google it for you right now. Anyways, if you floss your teeth once a day (I like to do it before I go to bed), you can prevent gum disease. It is also true that gum disease will raise your risk of developing heart disease, and you definitely don’t want that.