Why Flossing is So Important to Your Overall Oral Health

If you are like most adults, you do not floss as often or as well as you should. You may miss doing it here and there, or not do it every single day as you should. This doesn’t really hurt your overall oral health that much, right? Well, unfortunately, that is not accurate. When you neglect to floss, even now and again, you are leaving your mouth open to a myriad of problems.

What Happens When You Forget to Floss?

When you forget to floss, you miss cleaning a very good portion of your teeth. In fact, you miss approximately 40% of the surface of your tooth when you do not floss. This leaves a large portion of your tooth in contact with the bacteria that cause both cavities and decay. While you may have shiny teeth at first glance, you may be developing cavities between your teeth, which are harder to detect.

Another thing that happens when you neglect to floss is that the chances of gum disease increase. Each time you forget to floss, your gums take damage from the bacteria left behind. This damage lowers the gums ability to fight off inflammation and possible infection. The more you forget to floss, the more likely you are to suffer from gum disease. On top of that, as your gum health declines, the chances of your breath becoming quite unpleasant drastically increase as well.

Long-Term Effects of Not Flossing Regularly

When you neglect flossing long enough, you start to fall into some dangerous territory. First, your gum health will continue to decline. This can cause a lot of problems in your mouth, such as tooth sensitivity, gum recession, and even early tooth loss. As you go a while without flossing, the tartar and bacteria between your teeth will begin to harden, becoming plaque. This is something you are no longer able to remove on your own. We would need to help you remove this from your teeth.

The sooner you begin flossing each and every day, the less of these effects you will go through. Reach out to us here at Cooper Family Dentistry. We would love to help you get into a flossing routine. We can get your mouth nice and clean, then show you how to floss to ensure you are getting your teeth as clean as possible.