Floss and Brush Your Teeth as If Your Life Depended on it. Because It Does
Dr. Barbara Tarnoski is a Dentist practicing in Drexel Hill, PA. Dr. Tarnoski specializes in preventing, diagnosing, and treating diseases and conditions associated with the mouth and overall dental health. Dentists are trained to carry out such treatment as professional cleaning, restorative, prosthodontic, and endodontic... more
The quality of the lives we'll have when we get older depends on the home care we are doing or not doing right now.
Our mouths perform complex services for us. Our mouths and teeth play a role in our social activities. Everyone wants straight white teeth. We pay large sums of money to straighten our teeth and much more to whiten them. With the latest whitening materials, teeth are whitened to the point that, if a tooth needs to be repaired, you have to find someone with the ability to match your "whitened" pearls.
After having all that treatment—five, ten years down the road—the condition of the mouths is disappointing. Poor home care, caries and gum disease are destroying your mouth and your body's health.
The person who will save your teeth is "YOU". Your teeth are in your mouth 24/7. We are constantly putting food into our mouths and drinking beverages. Eating food and drinking beverages is part of our social life and there is nothing wrong with that. Leaving food deposits on our teeth, between our teeth and below our gum line, along with bacteria and their waste products, creates an irritating mass of material. Combine this with plaque, the sticky substance that forms around our teeth and crystallizes. You have a mass of debris that, if not removed daily, will harm the precious tissue supporting your teeth and can make you nauseous just by swallowing it.
To remove this debris, you must floss. There is no toothbrush made that will take the place of flossing. Finger flossing is best. Those plastic devices you buy are good for your front teeth only. The floss is placed along side each tooth. You move the floss down along the side of the tooth as far down as you can go. You scrape up and down gently to remove all the debris. You move the floss to a clean area and floss the side of the adjacent tooth. You do not touch the pink pointed gum tissue. If your gums bleed, the tissue next to your tooth is infected or inflamed. If you see blood, you don't stop flossing or brushing. You keep flossing and brushing gently. All that debris that is left on your teeth is irritating to your tissues. It is a combination of rotting food, dead bacteria, living bacteria and their waste. Can it have an odor? Yes!
Your body has a band of tissue that sticks to the surface of your teeth. When you eat, you notice the food doesn't slip down to the roots of your teeth. That band of tissue is called the attached gingiva. By not flossing, that mass of bacteria and rotting food, can gradually destroy this attached tissue. This allows the debris to go down along the bone tooth area, so far where you can't remove it. Your bone is being destroyed by the bacteria and your gums are receding. Worse than that, the bacteria and their waste products can be absorbed by your blood vessels and circulate all over your body.
Remember, if you have not been flossing and brushing, your teeth in your mouth are still being attacked. You may have a mouth odor and/or loosened teeth. Gum disease is not cured, it is controlled. You wonder, something like teeth, and not removing the debris (rotting food, bacteria, toxic waste, and plaque) can do all this damage?
It is not too late. Taking a new approach to home care can make a world of difference.
Your home care starts with flossing. You floss each tooth. At first you may be surprised how much food and debris is in your teeth. Then, you take a soft tooth brush. Starting with the tooth farthest back (upper or lower). Place the toothbrush 1/2 tooth, 1/2 gum and brush back and forth gently. Make sure you go behind the last tooth and floss and brush the gum area. You brush all around to the other side. You do the tongue side gum line, back and forth to the other side. You do the upper, cheek side and go all around to the opposite side. The palatal tooth gum line area is brushed back and forth gently. The flat surfaces are brushed, upper and lower. You clean your tongue with a tongue cleaner. You can also take a spoon, turn the spoon so the round side is towards the palate. The spoon is placed in the middle of your tongue as far back in your mouth without gagging. Scrape gently while you move the spoon out of your mouth. That slimy mass is saliva, bacteria, and food particles that were hiding in the nooks and crannies of your tongue. Scrape the other two sides of your tongue.
Take 1/2 tsp of salt to an 8 oz. glass of warm water. Rinse your mouth and then gargle. Water irrigators can be used for people who have dexterity issues. I like water irrigators to go over and flush out the teeth. I am surprised at the tiny pieces of food that flushes out.
Gum disease is associated with other health problems, such as Alzheimer's disease,stroke, respiratory disease, breast cancer, heart disease, pregnancy complications, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, blood cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, blood cancer, diabetes, and osteoporosis.
Not practicing good home care gradually can affect the other parts of your body.
If we live a long life, we want to be able to be independent, healthy to enjoy our lives. Scientists in the last 30 years have linked the above diseases to gum disease.
Flossing, removing debris from around our teeth, is the most neglected part of mouth care. Flossing has been the missing link....now we all know!!
