YSK: Flossing your teeth is only uncomfortable when your gums are unhealthy

bkmps3@aussie.zone to You Should Know@lemmy.world – 906 points –

Healthy gums don’t bleed, and are not painful to floss at all.

I’m in my 30s and only recently learned flossing technique and got my gums healthy. Flossing used to take so long and always involved a lot of bleeding no matter how delicate I was.

These days I’m absolute savage with floss and interdental brushes and never have any blood or pain.

Once you get your gums healthy you’ll be disgusted at yourself for ever not flossing. The amount of disgusting I can floss out on an almost daily basis is insane.

Plus you’re breath will not smell gross anymore.

It’s worth committing to the habit of flossing. Trust me.

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Flossing is not done to prevent cavaties, but is done to remove plague. If you never floss, plague will build, your gums will become inflamed, your gums will pull away from your teeth and your jaw bone will deteriorate and at some point your teeth will become loose, painful and ugly. So if you want good teeth until old age you need to floss. Brushing only takes away 80% of the plague. Flossing removes the other 20%.

if only they knew that in the 14th century, millions of lives would have been saved

Everything you wrote is true, and I endorse it 100%, but there is a typo that definitely changes the meaning of your comment. The primary purpose of flossing is to remove plaque, not the plague.

That said, flossing will ultimately result in a healthier oral microbiome and thus can prevent future illness, so preventing plague is technically still possible.

Thank you for sharing this important detail.

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