{"id":6719,"date":"2017-03-01T15:04:54","date_gmt":"2017-03-01T23:04:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeandhealth.wordifysites.com\/?p=6719"},"modified":"2019-08-19T13:44:22","modified_gmt":"2019-08-19T20:44:22","slug":"why-you-should-floss-and-how-pooping-sugar-bugs-lead-to-tooth-decay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/lifestyle\/ask-the-doctor\/why-you-should-floss-and-how-pooping-sugar-bugs-lead-to-tooth-decay\/156719.html","title":{"rendered":"Why You Should Floss, And How Pooping Sugar Bugs Lead To Tooth Decay"},"content":{"rendered":"

My Flossing Story<\/strong><\/h3>\n

To be honest, it wasn\u2019t until I went to dental school that I started flossing my teeth. I can recall flossing and brushing my teeth rigorously on the day of a dental checkup, hoping my dentist wouldn\u2019t notice how poor my oral hygiene habits were.<\/p>\n

In fact, there was a time in my early 20s that I\u2019d just had my teeth scaled and cleaned by a male hygienist. My gums were bleeding profusely and I was upset with the hygienist, because I was certain that he had torn my gums with his sharp dental instruments. Embarrassingly, what I failed to realize was that the bleeding was due to the severe gingivitis (inflammation of the gums) that I had.<\/p>\n

My dentist\u00a0used to tell me that I needed to floss and brush my teeth, and to be fair; I did\u2026 a few times after the visit. Then, I would go back to my usual routine of brushing twice a day.<\/p>\n

Now that I\u2019ve been practicing dentistry for the past 16 years, I find this to be all-too-common concern with the majority of the population. When I ask a new patient if they floss, the most common response (and you may be guilty of this response, too) is:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. A brief pause.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cNot as often as I should.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Sound familiar?<\/p>\n

    My flossing habits changed when I started to learn how much damage I was allowing to happen in my mouth, simply by neglecting to floss. Now, I can honestly and proudly say that hardly a day goes by that I don\u2019t floss before going to bed.<\/p>\n

    In the same way, I\u2019ve discovered the importance of people understanding the relationship between great dental health and flossing. It\u2019s only then that I can effectively motivate my patients to begin flossing.<\/p>\n

    So, I\u2019d like to give you the same \u201cflossing spiel\u201d that I present to my patients in my office. You\u2019ll probably only read this article once, and in the same way, I also only give my patients the spiel only once. That way, they won\u2019t feel like they\u2019re getting a lecture every time they come to my office. But because you\u2019ll only be hearing this once, I encourage you to take it to heart.<\/p>\n

    Part 1: How Pooping Sugar Bugs Lead to Tooth Decay<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The mouth is full of bacteria, or as I tell my kid patients, \u201csugar bugs\u201d. These \u201csugar bugs\u201d love to eat what we like to eat: sugar. When we put sugar in our mouths, the bacteria eats the sugar, digests it, and converts it to acids and toxins. The bacteria then secrete these acids and toxins into your mouth. (I tell the kids the sugar bugs are pooping.) And then, as the acid sits on your tooth for a long time without being removed, it eats away at your tooth, and that\u2019s how tooth decay forms.<\/p>\n

    A lot of people think that bacteria eat away at our teeth, but this isn\u2019t the case. Think about it: would bacteria rather eat teeth or sugar? Bacteria eat sugar, but it\u2019s the acid from the bacteria that eats away at our teeth.<\/p>\n

    Part 2: The Un-brushed Space Between Your Teeth<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Most people brush their teeth every day, which protects the chewing surfaces (the front, top, and tongue sides of the tooth) from bacterial acids. However, if one doesn\u2019t floss, between the teeth <\/em>is where the bacteria are able to reside safely from toothbrush \u201cattacks\u201d. As long as you don\u2019t floss, bacterial buildup remains, producing acids that eventually create cavities.<\/p>\n

    Imagine the bacteria eating sugar, then creating acid, secreting this acid between your teeth, and then remaining there, gradually causing continual damage. This could go on day after day and, in some cases, month after month, or even longer.<\/p>\n

    This is why between-tooth decay is so common for people who don\u2019t floss. But there are even greater problems involved.<\/p>\n

    Part 3: Bacterial Acids Eat Bones, Too <\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Teeth are held in place by bone, and the bacterial acid that eats away at your teeth begin to eat away at the bone too. Oftentimes, I see new patients who haven\u2019t flossed for years. Their teeth are mobile, even moving from side to side! The reason for this is that the supporting bone has been destroyed by bacterial acid. At this point, the only option is usually to extract the tooth. This is called periodontal disease (gum\/bone disease), and not only does it usually end with tooth extraction, but it also leads to the receding of the gums.<\/p>\n

    I often like to show my patients an x-ray of what this kind of bone loss looks like. The bone loss is readily visible, and it helps for patients to visualize what can happen after neglecting to floss for a long time. When the patients see the x-ray with destroyed bone, the devastating effects usually hit them hard.<\/p>\n

    I can\u2019t tell you how many dentures and partial dentures I\u2019ve made for patients who never knew about gum disease and consequently lived for years without flossing. I like to tell my patients that I\u2019m on a crusade to stop people from having to wear dentures. In this day and age, there are very few reasons for any young person to ever have to wear dentures, especially with the kind of dental care and education that is available.<\/p>\n

    Part 4: \u201cBut My Gums Hurt\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    People often tell me that they don\u2019t floss because their gums hurt or bleed. What they\u2019re failing to realize is that their gums hurt and bleed because they have acids and toxins beneath their gums!<\/p>\n

    Here\u2019s an illustration: Imagine you have a fresh cut on your arm. If you clean the area and keep it free from debris, the bleeding will stop and, by the next day, a scab will have begun to form. On the other hand, imagine if you have a cut on your arm and every hour, you take a bottle of acid and spray the wound with acid every hour. What would it look like then? By the time the next day rolls around, your arm would be so irritated, inflamed, swollen, painful to touch, and probably bleed easily.<\/p>\n

    It\u2019s the same thing with your gums. Bleeding and painful gums are one of the highest indicators that a patient hasn\u2019t been flossing, and has accumulated bacterial acids and toxins under their gums. How do you stop the bleeding and pain? By flossing regularly. If a patient begins flossing regularly immediately after a thorough cleaning, the bleeding will usually stop within a day or two.<\/p>\n

    Part 5: Flossing Tips<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    The above patient education works quite effectively in my office to motivate many patients to begin flossing. So then, how does one floss well, and the most effectively?<\/p>\n

    There are many people who do floss, but they\u2019re honestly wasting their time by doing it incorrectly. My tips?<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Ask your dental provider what the proper flossing techniques<\/strong> are, so you can receive the maximum benefits of flossing.<\/li>\n
    2. Floss in the evening<\/strong>, after the last meal of the day, so that your teeth stay clean throughout the night while you\u2019re sleeping.<\/li>\n
    3. Floss, and then brush your teeth.<\/strong> It\u2019s my personal recommendation, because you can first remove the \u201cgunk\u201d out from in between your teeth, then brush, and rinse it all away.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      As a kid, I had quite a few cavities. But, ever since I\u2019ve been flossing regularly, I hardly get cavities and my gums don\u2019t bleed like they used to. You may have heard the adage, \u201cFloss only the teeth you want to keep,\u201d<\/em> and this couldn\u2019t be a truer statement.<\/p>\n

      I tell my parents that it\u2019s like getting an oil change in their car. Regular oil changes are inexpensive, but if you don\u2019t do them and then engine blows up, it can be quite costly. The same applies to your teeth. Flossing daily and getting regular checkups are simple and inexpensive. But if a tooth is neglected to the point that it begins to ache, it\u2019s analogous to a car engine that has exploded. As they say, \u201can ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      Part 6: How About Mouth Rinses?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      People often ask me what I think about mouth rinses. I think they\u2019re great, but never in lieu of brushing and flossing. Here\u2019s my last analogy. If you go off-roading with a truck and your car is covered in mud\u2014sure, you can spray expensive soap and wax all over your truck. But what you really need to do first is take a rag and warm water, and physically remove the mud. Otherwise, the best soaps and waxes would be no good. It\u2019s the same with brushing. You have to remove the bacterial gunk or plaque (comprised of bacteria, saliva, and food), and then a mouth rinse can be added as an additional benefit. Think of a mouth rinse as a method to enhance your oral hygiene, but not something that can be done to replace brushing and flossing.<\/p>\n

      Part 7: Why All Of This Matters<\/strong><\/h3>\n

      Like you, I don\u2019t like getting my teeth drilled on. So, I do what it takes to reduce the amount of dental treatments my teeth need. Secondly, I like my teeth\u2014I have a good relationship with them\u2014and I\u2019d like to avoid wearing dentures as much as possible. Finally, I\u2019d rather spend my money on things that aren\u2019t <\/em>dental work.<\/p>\n

      If you can relate to any of these sentiments, then flossing every day, once a day, is the best dental care that you can give yourself and your teeth. As the saying goes, \u201cBe true to your tooth, and they won\u2019t be false to you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      My Flossing Story To be honest, it wasn\u2019t until I went to dental school that I started flossing my teeth. I can recall flossing and brushing my teeth rigorously on the day of a dental checkup, hoping my dentist wouldn\u2019t notice how poor my oral hygiene habits were. In fact, there was a time in…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1252,"featured_media":6720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[335,334,218],"thb-sponsors":[],"yst_prominent_words":[1098,1217,1112,1307,1302,1108,1304,1110,1104,1116,1114,1119,1306,744,1301,1103,1303,1106,1101,1305],"class_list":["post-6719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ask-the-doctor","tag-dental-health","tag-flossing","tag-healthy-habits","post_format-post-format-image"],"acf":[],"views":4037,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1252"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6719"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6722,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6719\/revisions\/6722"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6719"},{"taxonomy":"thb-sponsors","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/thb-sponsors?post=6719"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeandhealth.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=6719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}