Flossing Your Way To Healthy Teeth

The Secrets to a Beautiful Smile

“Learn how flossing can give you a beautiful smile and help prevent gum disease from  occurring”

Did You Know…?
Brushing your teeth IS NOT enough to fight gum disease and surprisingly more than half of society does not floss! Researchers went around, did an intensive survey, and found that only 49% flossed regularly and 10% did not floss at all - even though a study conducted proved that flossing twice a day in addition to brushing reduced bleeding gums - a sign of gum disease - by about 40%.

Why you should floss?
The main purpose of flossing is not to remove the tiny food remaining in your mouth stuck in between your teeth. Flossing is about removing dental plaque, the bacterium that forms on tooth surfaces between brushing and flossing. Plaque is the cause of tooth decay, inflamed gums known as gingivitis, periodontal disease -- and, eventually leads to tooth loss. Flossing is the only effective way to remove plaque between teeth.

The Right Way to Floss
Learn the right way to floss to maintain a beautiful smile and to keep tooth decay and gum disease far, far away…

1. Start with about 18 inches of floss. Wrap most of it around the middle finger of one hand, the rest around the other middle finger.
2. Grasp the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers, and use a gentle shoeshine motion to guide it between teeth.
3. When the floss reaches the gum line, make a C shape with your floss to follow the curves of the tooth.
4. Hold the floss firmly against the tooth, and move the floss gently up and down.
5. Do it again with the other tooth, and then go over the entire process with the rest of your teeth.
6. Most important, do not forget to floss the backs of your last molars. The most gum disease and most decay occur in the back teeth.

Good floss cleaning does take a little bit of time, but it is worth it. You need to do it at least once a day for at least three to five minutes. Think of flossing like an everyday task. You get up, brush your teeth, eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, brush your teeth and go to bed. If you can do those tasks each day then you can floss each day. What’s three to five minutes? It’s nothing and those 3 to five minutes can make a huge impact on your dental health.

If you are too tired to floss before bed, then try flossing in the morning or afternoon. You should even keep floss on hand (in your pocket book, briefcase or car) and use it when you find a few extra minutes in the day.

Remember a few minutes a day will keep the decay and gum disease away, so be smart and do not wait a lot because if you wait you may be too late and then you will have a big pain that doesn’t feel so great...