Skip to main content

Does flossing really matter?

Recently, we came upon an article, 17 Health Advances Every Woman Deserves to Know released by the editors of the Harvard Woman's Health Watch.

One of the 17 concerns was: does flossing really matter? The simple answer: yes, it does. It reads as followed: A recent report has some people thinking there's no benefit to flossing. But before you toss your floss, consider this: flossing helps prevent periodontal disease, which is linked to higher risk of diabetes, heart disease and dementia. What's more, gum disease is also associated with a greater risk of serious degenerative diseases. To avoid periodontal disease make sure you brush your teeth at least twice a day AND floss before bedtime, eat a healthy diet and have regular dental check ups.

We often get patients that unfortunately don't floss or we get patients that say they do but their teeth tell different stories. Endodontists are known for being the heroes and heroines of saving teeth so we can't express enough how important flossing really is. Even if you don't like it, please floss at least once a day. It's helps remove plaque from the areas between your teeth. Plaque, combined with the sugars of the foods that we eat, case tooth decay. This leads to cavities, in worse situations it leads to root canal treatment, but if no treatment is done it ultimately leads to badly infected teeth that result in one losing a tooth. Also, as the article mentioned it could lead to gum disease and it increases your chance of developing heart disease and dementia.

All in all, as distasteful as it is to floss, it's very important to do so, at least once a day. Floss before going to bed or when you have a moment at work. It's just not worth losing your teeth, developing a habit of flossing will help with overall health and keep you smiling all day, everyday. 

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Opioid vs Nonopiod Drugs: Which is better?

We're truly dumbfounded with the amount of patients we treat in our office asking for opioids after treatment. Yes, we understand there will be discomfort! Patients will do and say anything to obtain them. Though we're very understanding of the situation, our goal is to inform patients that nonopioids work just as well or even better than opioids. Also, our goal doesn't only apply to patients but other doctors as well. In the past, we've had patients with opioid addictions. Most of the time, these patients are hard to work with because they won't consent to treatment unless we assure them they'd being get a prescription for opioids afterwards. We hate to see a patient leave our office in pain! In these cases, patients will argue until we come up with an agreement which is asking them to try nonopioids first, if pain escalates, we'll prescribe 6 tablets of opioids and no more. Majority of the time, they don't need them.   Unfortunately, there are som...

OSHA & HIPAA Seminar.

Every year, after the craziness of the Holidays, our office participates in the annual OSHA & HIPAA training seminar hosted by Harris Biomedical. Thankfully, we don’t have to travel too far as it usually takes place in the Maggiano’s in Tysons Corner, literally a 5-minute drive from our office. Harris Biomedical has this seminar every year in the Tysons Corner area. Look out for their flyers in the mail around the beginning of the year. Check out their website for more information: http://harrisbiomedical.net/ . The four-hour seminar consisted of a two-hour session dedicated to OSHA and another two hours dedicated to HIPAA. Breakfast was included! For those who don’t know what OSHA or HIPAA means, here’s the breakdown. The Occupational Safety and Health Act, aka OSHA, are a collection of regulations that are managed and required in most states, Virginia being one of them, to guarantee employee safety and good health. OSHA, or referred in Virginia as VOSH, instructs empl...

Brush (and floss) your teeth!

In the recent Mayo Clinic Health Letter , (Volume 37, Number 4) there was an interesting article on how tooth brushing reduces cardiovascular risks. The article states: Brushing your teeth twice daily is important for maintaining good oral hygiene. This daily routine can also benefit your heart. A study presented at the 2018 American Heart Association Scientific Sessions provides new evidence of this link. The study's 682 participants self-reported their tooth-brushing habits compared with the recommendation of twice a day for at least two minutes each time. Over an average of 28 months of follow-up, those who reported brushing their teeth less frequently and for a shorter duration had three times the risk of a first major cardiovascular event than did those who met the tooth-brushing guidelines. These cardiovascular events included heart attack, stroke, hospitalization for heart failure or dying of a cardiovascular cause. A separate study, published in the December 2018 i...