My mother is a dental hygienist, and there was an incident in the house where SOMEONE (not naming names) got a cavity and I’m pretty sure it almost tore our family apart. Teeth are a big deal in my household, and since most people aren’t blessed with the flossing rant every time they have a bad check-up, I feel that it’s my responsibility to share it.

Ever heard of plaque?

If not, then you obviously have never been to a dentist before and I’m concerned. Plaque is this sticky stuff that forms from the minerals in saliva. There’s good and bad bacteria in plaque, just like how there’s two sides to every coin, but the real bad part is when plaque gets in between your teeth and under your gums.

Teeth are built upon a foundation of bone and gum, just like how democracy is built upon fundamental human rights, and when both of these are ignored, things tend to go sideways real fast. Once the bad bacteria is between your teeth, it thrives there and starts attack plans on your teeth. How does it attack, you say?

It eats away at the gum attachment to your teeth, can form pockets between the tooth and gum, and just straight up eat away at your bone. This is called Periodontal disease, a word I have heard so much that I’m pretty sure it’s the first thing I ever said. The result of all this crap going down in your mouth is your teeth getting loose and start falling out. The worst part is you feel no pain as your teeth are basically being demolished, so there’s no way you can actually tell it is happening unless you go to your dental hygienist.

There’s one simple way that you can stop this massacre from happening in your teeth.

Floss.

Yes I know it hurts and you don’t like the blood coming out of your mouth, but if you actually listen to your dental hygienist, your gums will start to toughen up and grow stronger from the floss. It’s kind of like working out for your teeth. You only have to do it at least once a day (unlike brushing which is technically three times a day because you’re supposed to do it after every meal, but people in dental care are realistic and just say twice a day, trust me I was dragged to a seminar on this). It’s only way to remove plaque between teeth and under gums; no toothpicks, interdental brushes, air flossers, mouth wash, or toothbrushes can get under the gum and between the teeth like string floss can (which is a direct quote from a dental hygienist).

This part I have to put in due to a dental hygienist’s request, but the correct way to floss is to wrap the floss around your middle fingers, taking the floss between your index finger and thumb, go between teeth, wrap or “hug” the floss around the tooth and go all the way under until you feel resistance, and then move up and down two to three times, then proceed to do the other side. It’s usually good to work in a pattern while doing this and if you have fixed retainers or braces your can use threader floss (your orthodontist has probably already given this to you and explained how to use it and if not you need to get a better orthodontist). This is not to say that you shouldn’t brush your teeth, brushing removes plaque and food debris from above the gums, so you want to do the entire package to keep your mouth safe from plaque.

And that is the basics when it comes to why you should floss, so if you ever see that story that says something along the lines of “scientists say that you don’t have to floss,” that is complete BS and those scientists have obviously never gotten their phone taken away for a bad check-up to learn their lesson.