• Archives
  • Products
  • Operative Dentistry
  • Dental Team Communication
  • Practice Management
  • News
  • Research
  • Dental Debates

DentalBuzz: a jolt of current

trends, innovations, and quirks of dentistry

  • Home – Latest Buzz
  • Bloglist
  • Indie Dental Showcase
  • Free Dental Timer
  • Practice printables
  • Podcasts

Patients: Floss Your $%#*^@# Teeth!

October 17, 2012 By Eva Watson 10 Comments

Now… don’t let the title of this piece make you cower into your stinky underpants drawer.

My intention is to simply explain the importance of why you lovely patients must floss your teeth.  After seven years of clinical experience and seeing the outcome of a non-flossing lifestyle, my hope is that those reading this highly important dental topic will gain the vital understanding of flossing and how gum disease will affect your life.

Let’s start by me asking for your full attention by you getting your crusty, Starbucks-stained teeth out of your $8.00 latte you really can’t afford but feel the urge to economically consume every, single morning before you go to your soon-to-be outsourced job that just increased your dental insurance premium for a minute because here’s what I have to tell you.

Are you ready?  Good.

If you don’t floss your gums will become a festering, disease-ridden, smorgasbord of unrelenting bacteria that will ultimately make your gingivae bleed in buckets every, single day of your life.  If you don’t floss your gums you will spend thousands (I’m not kidding) of dollars to simply control the incurable disease (and it is a disease) that you have let build up over years and years of utter neglect.

Exudate will ooze out from underneath your gums and after questioning by the clinical professional (How YOU doin’?) the finding(s) will be defined as ‘asymptomatic’.  That is, you will feel no pain.  What you will feel is the false sense of dental health with the perpetual lie you keep telling yourself when you think, “It doesn’t hurt,” while the blood-filled pus continues to bubble and percolate underneath your gums.

Allow me to continue.

Your social life will remain that of the lonely-lived bachelor/bachelorette whose breath completely, I mean, completely reeks so intensely, you will have no realistic chance of any dating prospects.  You will continue to waste money on the premium whitening kits at your local store to give off the illusion of a healthy mouth in the hopes of attracting a mate.  Your highly offensive, (Not  joking. It’s awful.) metallic-smelling breath from your lack of flossing is so oppressive no one will want to kiss you nor come within five feet of you.  (Yes.  The odor is that strong.)  And we can still smell it through the masks we wear.  Sorry.

Once your teeth become mobile, or loose, from the lack of flossing and the prolific bacteria eating away at your bone that supports your teeth, then, and only then, will you notice and mention the finding to your dentist and/or dental hygienist. (Hey, that’s me!)  You will hear the word ‘unsalvageable’.  You may even hear the word ‘hopeless’.  That means your loose tooth/teeth will have to be pulled out from your rotting mouth because you were lazy and didn’t floss.

You’ve just lost your tooth… which could have been prevented if you only had used that little piece of string.

Sleep tight.

 

Filed Under: Humor, Preventive Care Tagged With: dental humor, dental hygiene

Comments

  1. trish says

    October 17, 2012 at 3:53 pm

    Harsh. But at least you got it off your chest here so that you can be a little more PC with your patients so that they’ll listen to you. Or not. But at least they may pretend to listen. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Eva says

    October 17, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    You know me- potty mouth.

    Reply
  3. Eva says

    October 21, 2012 at 5:58 pm

    And, yes, I feel much better that’s off my chest. For readers who are new to the DB site I offer to you my disclaimer:

    I write parody pieces. Parody: a humorous or satirical imitation of a serious piece of literature or writing. I do not and have never spoken to any patients in the above fashion since the inception of my dental career. I get frustrated and stupid at times is all. I mean no one harm of any kind. I’m just that kind of writer.

    Reply
  4. Trish says

    October 26, 2012 at 4:05 pm

    So if you don’t actually talk to patients that way that means that I shouldn’t have gone off on that person with the icky mouth yesterday? Oopsmybad.

    Reply
  5. ponce says

    October 30, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    Great article about flossing! You really point out what can happen to people who don’t floss more often. 🙂

    Reply
  6. Joseph Tagliarini says

    January 30, 2013 at 10:53 am

    I don’t think this would go over well with my patients but I can understand how you feel! Flossing is such a simple task that can make your overall oral health so much better for years to come. It’s frustrating when you can’t convince your patients but all we can do is keep pushing the importance of flossing (minus the f bombs maybe).

    Reply
  7. Marielaina Perrone DDS says

    June 11, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    Very well written. It is a battle every day with some patients. They just do not get it. But in my opinion its far better than it used to be.

    Reply
  8. kd says

    July 1, 2014 at 7:35 pm

    I just wanted to say that I have been a notorious non-flosser my entire life. My dentists/ hygienists have always told me to floss, but I never fully comprehended why I needed to, plus I had this fear that I could rip off chunks of my gum or damage my teeth (stupid, I know, but it just seems so aggressive). Your article, combined with a super awesome hygienist I met yesterday, has helped me understand why it’s so important! Thank you and I promise I will floss from now on!

    Reply
  9. lawl says

    October 19, 2015 at 7:30 am

    Article has good information even If the op seems but hurt

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Top 10 Dental Blogs says:
    June 5, 2013 at 2:10 am

    […] The lovely ladies over at DentalBuzz.com continue to write witty yet extremely informative articles about the dental industry, healthcare in general, and musings from their time in the field. Additionally,  you can find helpful printable cheat sheets and an awesome little dental timer app. To get a feel for these ladies, check out: http://www.dentalbuzz.com/2012/10/17/patients-floss-your-teeth/ […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

About

DentalBuzz explores rising trends in dentistry with its own slant. The speed at which new products and ideas enter the dental field can often outpace our ability to understand just exactly the direction in which we are heading. But somehow, by being a little less serious about dentistry and dental care, we might get closer to making sense of it all.

So yeah, a tongue-in-cheek pun would fit really nicely here, but that would be in bad taste. Never mind, it just happened anyways. Stop reading sidebars already and click on some content instead.

Email Subscription

Still in the sidebar, huh? You must be really bored. Or a fan, which is awesome! Please fill out the form below to know whenever DentalBuzz is updated. We'll send out new posts as they happen, directly to your mailbox.
Loading

Recent Posts

  • It’s not OK for your dental practice to use free cloud-based communication
  • Patients ask, “Is it safe to go back to the dentist?”
  • Free “return to work guide” from the American Dental Association
  • Why COVID-19 increases your need for contactless payments
  • A virtual care package from worried dental hygienists
  • Lead Aprons feel so good! Here’s why.
  • What is this $&!% on my toothbrush?
  • The Prophy Jet Challenge
  • How to trick kids into brushing their teeth
  • These identical twins can both be your dentist
  • Why dental insurance makes good people do bad things
  • Amabrush (and all other mouthpiece toothbrushes) do NOT clean your teeth in ten seconds

Article Archives

Contact Us

Guest columnists are welcome to submit edgy stories that cover new ground (no regurgitations, please!) , or if there's a topic that you'd like to see explored please punch in your best stuff here and see if it ends up sticking to the website.

Follow DentalBuzz on Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

DentalBuzz Copyright ©2008-2021 • bluenotesoftware.com • All Rights Reserved