Brush and Floss....Why?

Greetings! Dr Marks here, hoping to help shed light on the mysteries of dentistry!

Why?  Every dentist, hygienist and mother tells you to do this, but why?  Why do we need to do this?

You may think the reason is to remove small pieces of food.  The fact is that your mouth is FULL of bacteria, little germs….LOTS of them.  There’s nothing you or I can do about this, so we have to fight them on a daily basis, twice a day for the rest of our lives.  What is the best way to defeat an enemy?  Well, I don’t know much about military maneuvering, but if you were able to prevent the enemy from building a base and fortifying themselves in a bunker you would have a great advantage.  This is what brushing and flossing does.  All bacteria in each of our mouth’s spend their lives trying to build bunkers for themselves.  You may know the word that what we in the dental field call it: Plaque.  You may notice that if you don’t brush for a few days your teeth will feel “furry”.  This furry feeling is the plaque that is built by the germs.  It is this plaque that acts as the germs bunker.  But it does not stop there!  Plaque, if left undisturbed will begin to get hard by a process called: Calcification. Once this process starts there is nothing you or I can do about it on our own.  This is the time we need our friend the hygienist to go in there and blow away this enemy with a special instrument that only harms the germs and their newly built fortress.  Even when we do brush and floss twice a day we all need to see our friendly dentist and hygienist at least every 6 months because there are areas that we will just plain miss, no matter how good we are. (Even dentist’s need cleanings on a regular basis.)

“But when I floss my gums bleed!”  This is a very common concern made by people just like yourself.  Don’t worry, bleeding gums are a sign to you that the germs are fighting back, and what do you know we have a name for this too: Gum Disease (and yes it is a disease).  There is a simple way to stop the bleeding…floss every day.  After about a week of daily flossing your gums will no longer bleed.  (If they continue to bleed go see your dentist because you may have a more serious underlying condition.)

So be encouraged to brush and floss regularly (at least twice a day) and see your dentist and hygienist at least every 6 months and you are well on your way to winning the battle against gum disease!