Flossing is more important than brushing, but people have lots of reasons why they don’t do it consistently. Some of these excuses are quite common.
“I don’t know how to floss. It takes too long.”
It’s challenging to learn how to properly floss your teeth, but you can do so. Once you’ve learned the correct technique, you’ll find it only takes 120 seconds (2 minutes). This isn’t much time when you consider how important your oral health is.
“I don’t get food stuck in my teeth because they’re too close together.”
There’s a common misconception that the reason you floss is to remove food from between your teeth. Actually, the reason you floss is to remove plaque from your teeth.
This is a bacterial film that forms where your teeth meet your gum line. If you don’t remove this plaque, it eventually causes gum disease, which causes you to lose teeth. When you’re struggling here, try using waxed floss or a threader.
“I feel pain when I floss.”
Flossing shouldn’t hurt or cause your gums to bleed unless you have some degree of gum disease. If this is true, you should have more of an incentive to floss and improve upon your habit here to improve your oral health.
About a week after you start flossing the pain and bleeding should subside. This is why it’s a good idea to just push through it, remembering, “No pain, no gain.”
Why These are Just Excuses
These are three of the most common excuses as to why people don’t floss, but they’re just that – excuses. Flossing is an important part of taking care of your oral health, which is why you need to include it in your daily regimen.
Since it won’t get all your plaque off though, you’ll need to maintain regularly scheduled appointments for us to clean your teeth. Call and schedule yours today.
