I'm not a conscientious flosser. I was reminded of this during my dentist appointment yesterday. Numerous times. Not that I never floss, just I have a hard time keeping up the routine on a daily basis.
Here, in no particular order, are my issues with flossing.
- It takes too long. Between brushing, flossing, mouth-rinse, etc. I estimate that people are expected to spend over ten minutes per day taking care of their teeth. Why should that one body part require so much personal hygiene? I'd argue that no other individual body part requires as much time spent on hygiene on a daily basis.
- Self-inflicted bleeding. Let's just leave it at that.
- It makes me drool. Yeah, I'm leaning over the sink, but still.
- Popping the floss out from between two teeth and spattering the mirror with spittle/food particles. You know what I'm talking about. Then you have to clean the mirror.
- The environment. Yeah, that's right, I'm playing that card. It's the only part of the oral hygiene routine that creates additional trash. I don't throw out my toothbrush every day. Be the end of the year there must be literally hundreds of pounds of floss in our nation's landfills. And doesn't it get wrapped around the necks of seagulls or something?
- It's antiquated. Every other personal hygiene routine has grown more efficient through the use of technology - sonic toothbrushes, modern deoderant, etc. But flossing is still done the old-fashioned way. Why can't someone come up with something more efficient? I mean, can you imagine how George Jetson's personal hygiene conveyor-belt-machine-thing would have been slowed down if it had to floss his teeth??
9 comments:
Philip, I'm totally with you on this one. There's only a fixed amount of time during the day, and it seems that every "expert" is trying to get you to do that which they promote. I mean how are we supposed to floss, brush, get the kids ready, go to work all day, exercise, drink our red wine... Where does it end? WHERE DOES IT END?????
I'd be very surprised if Stephanie doesn't have some pro-flossing argument here. Stephanie?
I'm reluctant to point out that as a kid you had the same aversion to brushing your teeth but that you eventually came around. I'm reluctant to point this out because it could embarrass you, but if you can't critique your brother's hygeine on his own blog, then where can you do it? (I recognize that this tactic may end up costing me any chance at another Flippish Hen, but unlike some journalists I'm not gonna pander for awards.)
Mike asks an interesting question: "WHERE DOES IT END?" But you realize that you've already been sucked in by the hygeine monster. Compared to all the showering, shaving, nail-cutting, ear-cleaning, nostril-trimming, tooth-brushing, deodorant-applying, hair-conditioning and back-waxing that we each do every day, flossing isn't such a huge chore. Besides, the more you do it, the more proficient you become. I can now floss very quickly and without bleeding. I have also memorized where each of my teeth is located so I can turn away from the mirror, thus catapulting the between-the-teeth projectiles into space, instead of the mirror. Now, I don't have your drooling problem, so I can't help with that, but you're a creative guy. Does Seth have any exceptionally large bibs you could borrow?
Finally, I will tell you that my lazy years before my dental awakening resulted in a build-up of tartar beneath my gums, and that I now have to have "scaling" done beneath my gums as part of my routine cleaning. "Scaling" is just as unpleasant as it sounds.
Even more finally, I recommend that you overcome your environmental concerns by either recycling old strings to act as floss (you can wash and re-use string), or just rinsing off the floss when you're done each night and re-use it the next day.
Recycling floss? Ewwwww!!! What's next? Recycling toilet paper? Recycling plastic and aluminum??? When does it end?!?!?
They actually do make battery operated flossers. You'd know that if you ever visited the floss aisle.
I'm well aware of the electric flossers, but they still work on the same basic principle, and they still have a disposable single-use flosser that gets thrown away every day.
Ilan had the suggestion of a Waterpik. Their website suggests that their products are an "alternative to traditional dental floss", but the product manuals (also available on their website) says to use the Waterpik "combined with regular brushing and flossing."
Hmmm.
Since I've been especially requested to comment (both via this blog and in person), and I have the day off and therefore no excuses, so here are my comments:
Firstly, if you'd gotten a clean bill of dental health, I'd say more power to you, but since your dentist/hygienist seems to think you need improvement, I'd say you should seriously think about giving flossing a second chance.
Secondly, I'm pretty sure you're not using proper flossing technique Philip. If you were, you'd be bleeding and drooling less and not flicking anything anywhere. You should be wrapping the floss around each tooth and using the floss to essentially scrub the surface of the tooth both above and below the gum line. You can see an "animated" demonstration at: http://www.dental-picture-show.com/tooth-flossing/a1-dental-floss-technique.html#flossing.instructions
Also, the more regularly you floss, the less time it will take and the less chance of any bleeding or inflammation.
Next, what makes you think there hasn't been any floss advancement? There are new flosses all the time made of new materials. They come different flavors, with whiteners and even on vibrating wands! My personal favorite is Glide by Crest: http://www.glidefloss.com
Worried about the environmental impact of a thin strand of floss? What about the precious freshwater you waste taking a shower? How about the amount of toilet paper you use in a week? Paper napkins? Disposable contacts? You're a walking environmental hazard anyway.
But hey, if you want to let your teeth and gums decay, who am I to stop you.
Vibrating wands, huh? I may have to try...
"Worried about the environmental impact of a thin strand of floss? What about the precious freshwater you waste taking a shower? How about the amount of toilet paper you use in a week?"
Stephanie, let's not risk waking Philip's inner-Gore any more than has already been done, ok?
Hey, if we REALLY want to talk environment - what about all those Pampers - you really should be using cloth diapers - flushing Seth's deposits and then washing the diapers and hanging them on the line to dry!!!!!!!!!! I'm sure that's what the Gore and Edwards families did. Right?????????
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