Recently, there has been a lot of discussion on the significance of flossing for both dental and overall health. Recently, we also spoke about why we don’t like flosser picks and a thorough review of the top flosses available.
However, flossing might not be the ideal course of action for you in some situations.
Therefore, let’s quickly examine the reasons flossing is such a beneficial component of the road to excellent dental health before deciding if it’s suitable for you.
Gum disease-causing microbes, sometimes known as “thug bugs,” are opportunistic. In essence, the gum tissue and underlying bone tissue that make up the mouth are broken down by the thug bugs.
Because they may and do exist in the mouths of people who do not exhibit symptoms of gum disease, but their numbers are insufficient to cause harm, we refer to these bugs as opportunistic. Only when the host immune system—that is, us—is compromised enough for thug bugs to proliferate and invade the gum line can they become a problem.
Our immune systems are essentially responsible for controlling the thug bugs and ensuring that our immunity is expressed at a level that prevents them from invading our lips. (Check out our free video instructional series, The 5 Steps to a Healthy Mouth,
to discover more about the fundamental role that our immune system plays in protecting us against gum disease, tooth decay, and many other “non-mouth” problems.)
Given the significance of the immune response, there are several things we can do “in the mouth” to lessen the possibility that hooligan bugs will infiltrate our gum lines.
Disrupting and disorganizing the bad bug’s attempt to form and colonize the gum line is the “in the mouth” method of thug bug prevention, as established by Dr. CC Bass a century ago.
As a significant aside, this is the reason calculus and tartar are so harmful. Thug bugs accumulate calculus over time as a defense mechanism to prevent humans from interfering with their health and undermining their efforts, allowing them to ruin the health of the entire body without our “bothering” them.
Alright, thus far we have shown that the immune response’s important expression is essential. Regularly disrupting and disorganizing them is another technique we’ve found to help halt thug bugs in their tracks.
Because it quickly disturbs and disarrays thug bugs, flossing is really beneficial.
Thug bugs along AND beneath the gum line may be easily disturbed and disorganized on a regular basis by flossing.
Unlike mouthwash, which only penetrates 1 mm below the gum line, and toothbrushes, which only penetrate 2 mm, floss allows you to easily remove tiny bugs up to 4 mm below the gum line. Additionally, we may increase the benefits of this simple dental hygiene technique by putting the techniques we teach—conscious flossing—into practice.
When is flossing not the best course of action, then?
There are three primary situations in which flossing might not be the most effective way to disturb and disarray the bugs. The issue with flossing is that it takes a lot of physical skill to do it well.
The last thing any of us wants is to believe that we are taking good care of our bodies (in this example, by flossing) and not know that the work we do on a daily basis isn’t producing the desired outcomes.
When someone lacks the physical dexterity to floss efficiently, there are two scenarios in which they may not be able to do it adequately. After all, flossing does need for a great deal of precise hand abilities. In the third scenario, braces are involved.
Who should think about alternatives to flossing?
- Physically disabled or impaired person: Using floss is generally not in our best interests as we run the risk of doing more harm than good if we lack the manual coordination or control necessary to hold our hands steadily and execute flossing efficiently.
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Young children: We do wish to educate our youngsters good flossing techniques. We also don’t want kids to believe that the flossing they do when they are three years old is “enough” to use the best flossing method.
To help them form the habit, consider letting any kids in your vicinity practice while you floss. For children and those with physical disabilities, we prefer the following approach.
- Anyone wearing braces: You can floss while wearing braces, however if you find flossing boring in general, try working the floss between your teeth with metal everywhere.
The Way to Avoid Flossing
Numerous studies have demonstrated for decades that a water flow has the ability to disturb and disarray thug bugs. The majority of us refer to these gadgets by their popular brand names, Hydrofloss or Waterpik, even though the correct word is an oral irrigator.
For those with braces, small children, and those with physical disabilities, an oral irrigator is a great option. For any youngster, we think regular oral irrigation is a very great idea. It is extremely, very useful, enjoyable, and doesn’t need a lot of dexterity.
But a word of caution…
The water pressure on every oral irrigator we’ve used over the years might be adjusted much too high for our comfort or, for that matter, our health. The issue is as follows:
When we learn about thug bugs, we become alarmed because we think we have a tiny battleground within our mouths.
We’ve heard that the thug bugs may be disorganized and disrupted by using a Waterpik.
Therefore, we believe that blasting the thug bugs out of our gum pockets will be much more effective if we use the Waterpik on high pressure (this is the deadly assumption).
It isn’t. Using Waterpiks at high pressure is blatantly bad for our entire body. The bad news is that utilizing oral irrigators on high settings might actually drive the nasty bacteria into our bloodstream, leading to bacteremia.
Instead of pressure washing dirt off our driveways, we are attempting to disturb microscopic bacterial colonies.
Thus, maintaining the setting at LOW is the answer. Please don’t go over a 3 or 4 on your dial if it has a 1–10 scale.
“What happens if my oral irrigator isn’t with me?”
The simple act of vigorously swishing water in your mouth may accomplish a great deal. Here, energy is crucial. Spend 30 seconds aggressively swishing water around your mouth to work out your jaw, face, throat, and neck muscles.
Swish your saliva about your mouth—it’s much better than water! With all the minerals included in saliva, you are also giving your teeth a great “REmineralizing bath” that can help restore any lost surface enamel.
Ultimately, use whatever tactics you decide to use to disturb and disarray the thug bugs in your mouth on a daily basis. Taking a few minutes to practice good dental hygiene practices not only improves our smiles and breath, but it also boosts our immune system as a whole.