Tuesday, August 11, 2015

Dental Floss: It's Not For Tying Up Your Turkey


We’ve seen dental floss used in all kinds of creative ways. Of all the personal hygiene products we use, dental floss offers the most options for practical use outside of its intended function.

Here are some of the ways we’ve seen dental floss used:

  • Clothesline
  • Fishing line
  • String popcorn
  • Fixing eyeglasses
  • Shoestring replacement
  • Support for young plants
  • Hanging small paintings
  • Removing sticky photos
  • Removing cookies from tray
  • Cutting cheese
  • Starting a fire
  • Sewing
  • Cooking twine
  • Removing stuck rings

And the list goes on. Do you know what we don’t see dental flossed used for often enough? The actual flossing of teeth!

Benefits of Flossing


Flossing is a necessary part of any solid dental hygiene routine, but you already know that. (We’ve only told you every time you come visit us.) However, sometimes we all need a little reminder, so here’s a list of the top benefits that you gain from flossing:

  1. Flossing keeps your teeth from falling out
  2. Flossing prevents gum disease, which can lead to heart disease, stroke, and low-birth babies
  3. Flossing can prevent and treat dry mouth
  4. Flossing saves you money by preventing future dental procedures

Flossing is a habit, just like any other, but it’s one that doesn’t come naturally to most of us. That means you are going to have to put forth some effort to make it a habit for yourself.

Research has shown that it takes 28 days to form a habit, but to be safe let’s round it up to 30. Can you commit to flossing your teeth every day for only one month? If so, by the end of the month you should be able to floss daily without thinking twice about it because you will have formed the habit.

Can’t bring yourself to commit to a full month of flossing? Be honest with yourself. How about just one tooth, can you manage that?

Behavioral research out of Stanford University found that the most effective way to help people start a new habit was to make it as small and easy as possible. They found that if participants committed to flossing only one tooth a day, that they were more likely to not only build the habit of flossing all of their teeth, but they would stick with it much longer than those who try to go all out at once.

Just think about it -- if you’re already taking the time to floss one tooth, you might as well floss them all, right? We’re looking forward to seeing those beautiful, healthy gums at your next cleaning appointment!

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