Do you think brushing twice a day is enough to stay your pearly white healthy?
If yes, then I am afraid, you are mistaken.
As per the world’s dental health association, along with brushing twice a day, flossing once in 24-hours too is important to keep your fangs healthy.
In case you don’t take flossing seriously, and think it a gross, there are many consequences you may have to face. Visit Paragon Dental Centre if you are facing any issues with teeths.
Maybe you think flossing takes time, or you just don’t do it because you have never done it, or maybe your gums are sensitive, there can be more than one lame excuse for not doing flossing.
But in the end, flossing is important, and if you don’t floss, maybe the consequences of not flossing force you to start it over, it’s never too late to start flossing.
Why Flossing is important?
What brushing means to you? Cleaning your teeth, and removing the plaque build-up right?
But, our teeth have five surfaces that need to be cleaned regularly. The front and back, two sides, and chewing surface.
With brushing we only target three surfaces, that’s when you follow the best brushing techniques and brushes twice a day. What about the other two surfaces?
When you are not flossing, in other words, you are not cleaning the two surfaces of your teeth which means the bacteria build-up due to plaque will increase the risk of developing dental problems. With time, you will start to witness cavities, the tiny holes in your tooth enamel that forms due to plaque buildup when not sufficiently removed or cleaned.
Most people have at least get one cavity in their lifetime, but if you don’t floss, you are going to get lots of cavities, and cavities formed due to not flossing are hard to fill.
If the cavities formed due to not flossing left untreated, it leads to tooth decay.
So if you don’t floss at all, or only floss when something is stuck in your teeth, or floss once a week, you should start it flossing every 24 hours.
What happens if you don’t floss?
Whenever you start flossing, you start to get a clearer picture of why flossing is important and what you were missing. You see the food particles or plaque buildup removed from your teeth. But, if you don’t floss on regular basis or don’t floss at all, these are some consequences you may have to face in your lifetime.
1. Gums Bleeding
Flossing removes the plaque build-up in your teeth and gums. When you don’t floss, that build-up stays there, and with time it starts irritating your gums, which leads to gingivitis. It is an early stage of gum disease, this is when your gums start bleeding, stay swollen, irritated, or become red.
If after experiencing the early symptom of gingivitis, you still don’t floss, this disease or symptom can aggravate and lead to infecting the bone that supports your tooth or gum tissues, the final stage of gingivitis is tooth decay.
2. Bad breath
The food particles stuck in between the teeth and gum stink within 24 hours. When these particles are not removed, they lead to bad breath, an embarrassing result of not flossing.
If you don’t floss, and your mouth is throwing bad breath, the food particles stuck in your teeth are rotted, which leads to the build-up of potentially dangerous bacteria in your mouth.
3. Disfigured smile
Neglecting to floss not only affects your oral hygiene but the way you smile. Neglecting to floss can temporarily yellow your teeth, and affect the brightness of your smile. Removing the plaque buildup, and food particles stuck in between your tooth improves the brightness of your smile and clean your teeth too.
And in the worst cases, not flossing your teeth can cause your teeth to move in your mouth. If plaque is left untreated or unremoved from the teeth, it causes the teeth to move gradually. The moved or shifted teeth can only be fixed by wearing braces. I think flossing is way easier to go through than getting teeth fixed after their movement or gradual shifting.
4. PNEUMONIA
Your mouth is filled with dangerous bacteria, and the food stuck in your teeth is rotten, embarrassing you everywhere. But, the other dangerous consequences of not flossing can be those bacteria in the end reaching throughout your body. You inhale bacteria, and those pathogens also reach your lungs and can bring infection to your lungs.
That lung infection could lead to pneumonia or other respiratory diseases.
Experts also associate not flossing with various other conditions and diseases such as kidney disease, ulcers, diabetes, brain abscess, and many others.
Is it too late to start flossing?
Suppose you are experiencing bad dental health, it is the irritation, gingivitis and many other conditions you are experiencing, is it too late to start flossing?
No, it is never too late to start flossing. If you start it today and follow all health regimens for your dental health, not only you can reverse gingivitis but can enjoy supreme oral hygiene.
The winning combination for your dental health is, brushing twice a day for two minutes, and flossing once in 24-hours. It is the best formula or combination to prevent various dental complications or issues.
For those suffering from tooth sensitivity, you can consult your dentist, to get your sensitivity issue fixed too.
If using a traditional thread is challenging and critical for you, due to age or many other reasons, plastic floss holders are there too to help you.
Keep in mind, our dental health becomes more important to us when we age. For senior citizens flossing is even more critical and essential for improved oral and dental health.
How often should you floss?
Flossing once a day is more than enough. The American Dental Association recommends flossing once a day, you can do it any time of the day, there is nothing like flossing before bedtime, or after dinner.
Follow proper flossing techniques, don’t go hard on your gums, and be gentle, the process should not be painful at all, if your gums are sensitive, and you can consult your dentist.
In starting you may feel uncomfortable, or your gum might bleed, but that should not stop you from flossing, and with time when flossing becomes a habit, you will start feeling good.