Do you floss between your teeth? How often do you do it?

I have always been very serious about doing mine. Once a day just before bedtime. And I would do it even if I had had my teeth cleaned that day at the dentist. The hygienist used to call me very dedicated.

I became even more anal about it when I had a real deep cleaning done on my bottom teeth.

What is deep cleaning?

When you go to the dentist for a regular cleaning it is called “scaling”. This is when dental tartar and plaque is scraped off the surface of the teeth. These are bacteria-filled deposits that collect; not all it can be removed by brushing.

A deep cleaning, on the other hand, is known as a “root planing”. The dentist or hygienist will “sand” the root surfaces and remove any infected areas. These result when pockets develop in the teeth and bacteria grows unchecked.

Why do people need to floss?

Brushing our teeth removes bacteria from the surfaces. One problem is, however, that the bacteria can build up between our teeth. Our toothbrushes cannot get in there to get all of this junk. The alternative is to floss.  This is the processes of scraping the sides of our teeth with a string to remove anything that is there.

Should everyone floss?

As far as children are concerned their dentists will let them know when they are old enough to start. Most adults should be flossing at least once a day. I’ve known some who do it after every meal.

I can’t say at what age an adult can stop but it reminds me of a story my mother once told me. She was out driving somewhere with my grandmother and realized she had food between her teeth. She stopped the car and pulled out her ever-ready floss. And, not wanting to be selfish, she passed some over to my grandmother as well.

As you know, to use floss you wrap one end around one finger on your left hand and the other around a right finger. You then slide the floss up and down between your teeth.

As Mom was flossing she glanced over at Grandma who also had the floss between her teeth. She was crying softly; my Mother realized that the floss had tightened up painfully on her fingers so she reached over and loosened it. It made her think, why should a 98 year old woman with great teeth have to floss? She never suggested it again and Gram never asked.

Recently I’ve noticed that I have been slacking off. As I mentioned earlier I was flossing once a day, 7 days a week. For awhile I started doing it once a week, then once a month. I don’t know how long the last time I had done it but after realizing last night that I had food buried between my back teeth I decided that it was time.

As I expected my gums had softened so while I flossed some blood appeared between my teeth. But on two occasions I came across two very soft areas that felt almost like bubbles. As I broke through them they burst like water-filled balloons. And like those balloons blood flew out and stopped as soon as they were empty.

My gums didn’t keep bleeding but I knew that I now had some open areas. After I finished flossing and brushing I rinsed with some medicated mouthwash. I will continue to do this for the next few days after flossing to make sure the areas are healed.

I’m still going to have to see my dentist to make sure that there aren’t any deep infections now that have to be taken care of.

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