Floss!

The recent news that America’s dentists had dropped the recommendation to floss due to a lack of evidence that it prevented gum disease didn’t make me throw my dental floss in the trash in vindication. It actually reminded me to floss more.

Even if there are no high-quality studies that support the benefits of flossing, I think it’s still beneficial. If nothing else, flossing removes food particles from your teeth. Even if that doesn’t prevent periodontal complications, you’re still cleaner and your gums won’t bleed whenever you touch them. I really doubt flossing would leave you worse off.

No, I don’t floss every day but I do try to do it. I learned a hard lesson years ago. After avoiding dentists for years (mostly out of pure laziness), I had some problems and started going again. Things had been quiet in my mouth for years but all of a sudden, I needed a root canal (the surgery wasn’t bad but the pain before it was blinding) and ended up having a tooth pulled for reasons I barely remember. I also found out I had problems with my gums and needed a gum graft. This cost a not-insignificant amount of money, not all of which was covered.

My teeth look OK now but they have had a checkered history. I went to an orthodontist for eight years and had braces for two separate terms (like Grover Cleveland’s presidential administrations) plus retainers, headgear, rubber bands and everything else you could think of. I had my wisdom teeth out in high school.

After all that, my mouth is still jacked up. My mouth is just too small for all my teeth and tongue. My entire jaw kind of shifts around: sometimes my teeth on one side will meet and sometimes they won’t. (My dentist seemed sort of incredulous at this but I told him it was that was for as long as I could remember.) Still, it’s a vast improvement on my teeth as a child.

I guess I had just been through so much orthodontia as a child that I became lax as an adult and skipped the dentist for an embarrassing amount of time. Still, I’m going to keep flossing, evidence or not. Don’t neglect your teeth, kids.