Many patients are under the assumption that because their parents lost their teeth, they will too. Fortunately, that is not usually true thanks to advances in dental education. Dentistry has changed quite significantly in the past 50 years and we now know how to save teeth. Everyone has heard the phrase “only floss the teeth you want to keep” and that statement says a lot. But some may ask, “Why should I floss my teeth? or I can’t floss, what else can I do to save my teeth?” Once patients understands the answer to these questions, saving teeth is a cinch. Let’s start with the question, “Why should I floss my teeth?” Over 300 species of bacteria reside in the mouth at all times. Some of these bacteria thrive in-between the gums and the tooth and some thrive between teeth and in crevices within the tooth. In the early stages, these bacteria get together in colonies called plaque. These colonies are soft and can easily be physically disrupted with floss, tooth brush, or other dental cleaning devices. It is important to disrupt these plaque colonies early in their development or they may progress into a calcified plaque called tarter (also know as calculus). Daily flossing disrupts the early plaque colonies every 24 hours preventing the formation of the more destructive tarter. Tarter formed at the gum line can be compared to a splinter in the skin. The body sees tarter and says, “hey, that’s not supposed to be there.” The result is, just like the splinter in the skin, an inflammatory process begins aimed at removing a substance which is not welcome in the body. It just so happens that this unwanted substance is attached to a tooth. This is the beginning stage of periodontal disease called gingivitis. The good news is – it’s reversible. A professional dental cleaning is necessary at this point to remove the tarter. Tarter can only be removed with special dental instruments designed for removing these very stubborn deposits on the tooth surface. Once tarter is removed, it can be maintained through continuous disruption of the plaque utilizing tooth floss daily or other dental cleaning devices on a daily basis.

If a dental cleaning is not performed and inflammation around the tooth is allowed to continue the result is irreversible damage to the surrounding bone holding the tooth in the jaw bone. These early stages of damage to the bone surrounding the teeth are referred to as periodontitis. Periodontitis is divided into mild, moderate, and advanced forms and it can be localized (in one area) or generalized (located throughout an area of the mouth).

Recent research suggests that there is a link between gum disease and other systemic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. That is a short answer to, “why should you floss your teeth.” When plaque and tarter are allowed to build up between the teeth it results in inflamed gums that bleed when stimulated. When you eat your gums are stimulated more or less depending on sharp and crunch foods and the result is bleeding. The key to this is that when your gums bleed, not only does blood come out of the blood vessel, but bacteria from the mouth can get into the blood vessel! Remember, there are over 300 species of bacteria in the mouth and there are hundreds of thousands of each one. In a healthy mouth that has no bleeding, these bacteria are not able to penetrate the skin of the body. Once the bacteria get into the blood stream, it can travel throughout the body and potential invade other organs or infect the blood vessel.