askyermom

One of the many things you’ll find if you live long enough is that teeth people are weird and wildly opinionated and most pros seem to agree that flossing is important.

The tendency to believe whoever the last tooth person you spoke with was, is, well, confusing. Some say using a water-pick is fine, others say that floss is the only way to really clean the teeth you want to keep. Then again, brushing very well several times a day and rinsing with chemicals comes up from others.

Don’t be like me. I am a certified dental idiot. When I’m in the chair, I am in thrall. I find their disapproval intoxicating. When they say things like, “You’re a plaque builder,” I feel a sense of accomplishment and shame at the very same time. Nothing they say seems to really stay with me, but I always leave with a sense of having a new mission to fail.

It’s expensive to be a dental idiot. Best case, even if you care for your teeth in a basic way, once your teeth are about 45 years old they will turn on you. I’m not sure why there isn’t more emphasis on saving for your dental crisis the way you save for college or retirement. It’s a thing that happens.

Do it for science!! Try flossing really well on just one side between professional cleanings. Don’t tell them what you’ve done and see if it doesn’t help minimize all the scraping (and bleeding) on that side.

I don’t mean to scare you (except that possibly I do) but you could just be minding your business, whistling in a department store when suddenly the very air is painful to your teeth. You stop whistling (of course) and then you panic and then you find out that you will need five thousand dollars to solve the mystery inside your mouth.

If you have a full set of teeth, they could end up costing you as much as a small house. Worse, you cannot collect rent from the microbes in your mouth. They are creeps. They don’t hate you, but they will just squat there and ruin everything, which is just as bad.

Flossing will stir the creeps in your mouth so that they can’t build their plaque tents and then start mining operations that will extend under your gums and eventually wreck your smile and your ability to enjoy cold desserts.

Try keeping floss in your bag, in your car and in the shower. It’s cheap, and if you have it handy when you have a spacey moment, you can swipe it around a couple of teeth and contemplate evicting some tiny jerks from getting cozy.

Some days every tiny victory counts!!

Love,
yermom