How many times hasn’t your dentist asked you whether you floss, and you answered “No” or “Well, I tried to do it for a while, but then gave up”? Dentists know that this is a way too common experience, however noble their clients’ intentions are to start and keep flossing their teeth. Somehow, there’s always something stopping them from continuing to floss as a normal part of their toothbrushing routine.

Obviously, knowing why flossing is important isn’t enough to make someone do it and stick to it – but it is a start. From there on, learning about the main reasons that people aren’t able to make flossing a habit, and how to do so, may be just what we need to make this self-care procedure an everyday part of our lives.

Why is Flossing Your Teeth Important?

The most important reason to floss regularly is that it helps to remove harmful substances. The more you use the tools that are provided to care for your teeth, the easier it will be for you to get rid of food particles, bacteria, and other harmful substances.

Some people might think that the only reason to floss is if they have plaque or tartar buildup on their tooth surfaces. This belief and subsequent consequences aren’t confined to any one country, but spans across borders. In a webinar at Din Tannlege i Jessheim, the Norwegian dental clinic Tannlegene i23 tells their clients that even if they don’t see any plaque at first glance, it is still important to clean and maintain their teeth. Healthline, a US health information office in San Francisco, echoes the same advice in one of their blog posts, saying that “By flossing and brushing your teeth, you’re removing plaque and the bacteria in it that feeds on sugar and particles of food that remain in your mouth after eating.”

Other reasons why we should all be flossing our teeth twice a day – whether we have any dental issues or not – are the health benefits of caring for our teeth regularly. Brushing our teeth has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by 41%, and although this may not entirely be a direct cause of clean teeth, the general habit of caring for our teeth will often result in more healthy habits overall.

Why Don’t People Floss Their Teeth?

People have a tendency to forget to floss their teeth. The reason why flossing doesn’t get done is that it’s a tedious and time-consuming task. It’s also not something you can see immediate results from, so people tend to quickly abandon the habit.

To change this, the American Dental Association recommends using an electronic flosser in place of manual flossing. This will make the process more convenient and less time-consuming, which in turn will make it more likely for people to do it.

Other people simply don’t know how to floss their teeth. They might have tried, but feel that there’s just too little space between some teeth to get the toothpick or floss to fit in there, so that it can perform its job of rinsing the gums of food particles. In this case, all that’s needed might be a few flossing tips.

How to Floss Your Teeth the Right Way

There are a bunch of different ways to floss your teeth. It is important to know which way is right for you and your teeth, so you can get the best results.

Some people find it painful to use a toothpick while others prefer flossing to get between their teeth. If you have sensitive teeth, then using a water flosser might be better for you because it uses pressurized water that massages the gums.

In order to have healthy gums and avoid gum disease, it’s important that you learn how to correctly floss your teeth with a toothpick or a piece of floss, and that you keep up the habit for the rest of your life. This is where most people fall off, but it’s also where the biggest benefits are to be gained. 

For over a year now, the world has been trying to find ways to battle the global pandemic, COVID-19. Everyone seems to count on the distribution of vaccines, and that they will be produced on such a massive scale that the virus will disappear completely. There have been different estimates about how long it will take to vaccinate enough people to bring COVID to a halt; some say we’ll be there by summer 2021, others say it will take a year – some say it will take five.

What we do know for sure, is that it will take time, and that we will need to do what we can where we are in order to prevent this virus from taking over. Many different industries are thus finding new ways of doing business.

Even though dentists and other oral hygienists do their best at preventing the virus from spreading and becoming more critical, COVID is now requiring an even higher degree of security measures for dentists as well as clients.

Dentists and oral hygienists, who are quite likely to get the virus because of their use of aerosols in their work, have teamed up and found new and lasting ways for how to tackle the extraordinary situation we all face.

Establishing a leader of hygiene in dental teams has been especially important; this person makes sure that everyone feels like they are being properly protected from the virus.

Prevention

One of the major ways that dental treatments intersects with COVID-19 prevention, is the focus on preventing infections in people’s gums or teeth. This is because infections can weaken people’s immune system. And a weaker immune system in turn makes it more likely that the patient will contract diseases like the coronavirus. Naturally, a stronger immune system will help protect the patient from getting the disease.

The objective for dental workers should be to limit the risk of these oral infections, since this should also limit the number of people who get sick with COVID-19. In addition to this, the patient will also simply feel better. This should be the standard at all times, but it’s especially important now that it can help control the spread of disease.

How Patients Respond

Fredrikstad Tannlege says that communicating these changes to patients is a completely different thing. Keeping in mind that many people are having a hard time with their finances because of temporary or final layoffs, many dentists wondered if their clients would stop coming to get treatments, despite how important it might be. Also, after hearing a lot about the advice of staying home and staying away from other people, the wish to go receive treatment might be even lower. Surprisingly, though, a lot of patients still came.

The reason for this might well be that many of these already people knew the importance of caring for their oral hygiene. But it seems that a lot of them might also have become more enlightened about their health in general, as a result of the coronavirus – which is natural, considering that most every media outlet is talking about the pandemic, giving advice on how to prevent the spread of infection.

Who doesn’t like a set of pearly white teeth? They are the number one thing people desire when they talk about beauty goals. Nothing feels better than having a white, bright smile. You may have heard od so many things that you should do to make your teeth shine bright and white. But have you heard of things that you should never do if you want to preserve that white smile? Well, don’t you worry, we are here to educate you about the three things that you should never do. These are a few of many things that can ruin your natural pearly white smile.

Hard and Rough Brushing:

Most of the population thinks that when you brush hard, you get rid of more bacteria, making your teeth clean, but that’s not the case. Gentle brushing is the way to go; rough brushing damages your teeth faster than anything else. Most toothpaste has chemicals such as soda or whitening chemicals that add to the damage as well. Hard brushing can make matters worse. A long gentle massage is all you need to make your teeth whiter and brighter. Dental experts ask their patients again and again not to brush your teeth hard and rough. This damages the enamel shield that the teeth naturally have, making your teeth yellow and prone to decay. Along with brushing you should always floss your teeth daily as well.

Avoid Certain Drinks:

There are certain drinks like coffee, Red wine, and tea. They are a few of the many beverages that stain your teeth very severely. Many people have been consuming smoothies and such as dinner or lunch replacements. Like green smoothies and colorful shakes. The best way to avoid this is to skip these drinks altogether nut if you can’t do that make sure you rinse your mouth with water after drinking such beverages. A lot of people are addicted to soda or wine and such drinks, if you can’t avoid these, use a straw. Straws are one way of avoiding contact with teeth, no contact no stain. If possible you should always brush after drinking coffee or tea; this practice will also keep stains are their minimum.

Be careful with DIYs:

There are many DIY that is circulating the internet; many people claim that they have used these and they work a hundred percent to whiten and brighten your teeth, but please be careful when you are going for such DIYs. The lead dentist over at Tannlege Trondheim – Velkommen til Tannklinikken Dent, Lars Husby stated that “We know that certain whitening procedures can be expensive, so you would love to try some natural DIYs that have been breaking the internet to make your teeth white the natural way.  Foods like strawberries and lemon have acids; these may have an adverse effect on your teeth. They may cause permanent damage as well. There is no harm in trying it, but to be doing it daily would be a huge mistake. Experts wouldn’t recommend these in a hurry. These foods, as well as charcoal, is a big no for whitening your teeth.”

For one thing, charcoal will stain your lips, making them darker. The second this is coal compounds are abrasive, they can make your teeth weaker and stain easy as it may damage the enamel shield your teeth naturally has. Another substance that you can cut off from your list of DIY whitening method is baking soda. Baking soda is used to make the meat tender, imagine what It would do to your gums, if not washed properly.

Conclusion:

Adult teeth are hard to replace, they do not grow back. Please practice caution when it comes to your teeth. Always take advice from a professional to keep the pearly whites healthy and shiny.