8 Reasons Why You Should Be Flossing Daily
Flossing is a part of oral hygiene. Unfortunately, oral care isn’t taken very seriously these days. According to WebMD, in a 2014 survey, it was found that only 39% of Americans floss daily and about 15% people never floss.
Flossing Is Good For Your Teeth
Flossing carries immense benefits and doesn’t require much time or effort on your part. Your teeth are one of the most important parts of your face and your body. Without strong teeth, you won’t be able to chew properly, and without clean teeth, your smile will always be incomplete.
A lot of people feel that proper brushing is sufficient to maintain good health and hygiene of their teeth. But this is not true. A study was carried out on 51 twins and published in American Journal of Periodontology. In this research, one of the twins was asked to brush while the other was asked to brush and floss. Later on, their oral hygiene was tested, and the results showed that 38% of the twins who brushed and flossed had less bleeding gum sites. Brushing without flossing is like cleaning only 65% of your teeth leaving the rest of 35% still dirty. Imagine your house being left 35% dirty every day, a day will come when it will become absolutely unbearable!
What Are The Benefits of Flossing?
Dentists will always stress upon the various advantages of flossing when you visit them and they do so for a number of reasons, some of them given below:
- Prevent Teeth Diseases
Flossing helps prevent a variety of teeth diseases such as periodontal disease and gingivitis. Since dentists are extremely expensive these days, it is quite economical to save yourself all those extra dollars. Also, teeth treatments are very painful, and you can get away from all that pain by flossing every day. It is also proven that men with periodontitis had a 70% risk of developing a coronary disease and a 40% risk if they had gingivitis. Considering the fact that two- thirds of the U.S. population is infected with Gingivitis, it’s necessary that we prevent it by flossing regularly.
- Remove Bacteria
According to a research by Harvard University students, flossing removes bacteria and plague from your teeth and gums. This is exceptionally beneficial because plague can penetrate in your blood streams causing arteries and veins to clog. “The root of all evil, when it comes to periodontal disease, is the plaque that forms on your teeth every 24 hours,” says Dr. Kimberly Harms, consumer adviser for the American Dental Association. The plague is the most dangerous enemy of your teeth; therefore remove the evil of this enemy by flossing every night.
- Clean Residue After Meals
Flossing cleans your teeth and removes the leftovers after meals. This gives your teeth a brighter look and a beautiful smile. Not only will it clean your teeth, it will also remove any other taste left in your teeth of the food you just ate. So you won’t be left with any more urges of eating again. Flossing gets the little particles of food stuck between your teeth, which can’t be easily removed through brushing. If food is still there in your teeth, it will give you a bad breath which won’t be easy to remove in the morning.
- Prevent Teeth Loss
If you ever had to take in food without chewing it, you would better know what I am talking about! Teeth loss is the worst that can happen to any person. Artificial teeth never make up for natural teeth. Proper flossing will make your teeth strong, and when you reach old age, you won’t have to bear the pain of removing them.
- Avoid Toothaches
Flossing can help prevent painful tooth aches, anyway who has had frequent tooth aches knows how it feels, it can literally go to your head and destroy the entire day! Flossing cleans your teeth and prevents toothaches from originating!
- Prevent Heart Attack
Flossing can reduce the risk of heart attacks. This is so because gum disease can lead to heart attacks, and if you prevent gum disease by flossing properly, it automatically reduces the risk of heart attacks. Another astonishing benefit of flossing is that people who floss live 6 years longer than those who don’t.
- Protect Your Arteries
Flossing reduces bacteria in the mouth which may otherwise enter the bloodstream and contribute to inflammation and artery clogging.
- Reduce Risk Of Diabetes
Flossing reduces periodontal diseases, which appear to make insulin resistance worse. When blood sugar levels rise, it leads to increase in blood insulin, which has undesirable effects such as the development of type 2 diabetes. Flossing may seem a difficult habit to develop at first, but once you get the hang of it, it will become part of your routine.
The fact is – when you get to know about the many benefits of flossing and about the dangers to your oral health if you don’t do flossing, then you realize how important it is. It’s worth the trouble. So go ahead, get that floss out of your drawer and start flossing your teeth today!
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References:
http://www.webmd.com/oral-health/healthy-teeth-10/flossing-floss-sticks http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/21374.php http://www.dentalhealthsite.com/importance-flossing/ http://www.dentalplans.com/articles/53580/how-flossing-teeth-benefits-a-person-s-health.html http://www.truebalancefitness.net/Articles/Flossing.html http://health.msn.com/health-topics/oral-care/flossing http://www.livestrong.com/article/190164-what-are-the-benefits-of-flossing-teeth-gums/
