By Dr. W. Scott Harrington
Look, we’ve been through this many times: brush your teeth in the morning and at night, don’t eat sugary foods and floss daily. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I can’t overstate how important these things are in your dental hygiene.
Flossing in particular fights plaque buildup, cavities and gingivitis, and it may even have prevented your inadvertent exposure to HIV during that root canal treatment you had in my clinic last month.
Listen, I’ve been practicing for over 36 years. I know my stuff. Brushing your teeth alone, no matter how thoroughly you think you do it, isn’t enough. A brush simply can’t get through all the nooks and crannies in your mouth, but dental floss does a damn good job. And anyway, had you flossed regularly, like I tell you during every visit, it’s possible I could have avoided drilling through your tooth with the same handpiece I used on 7000 patients before you. But, what’s done is done, and now you’re probably left with some version of hepatitis, all because you didn’t floss!
You read my motto every time you come by. It’s right on my door: “If you don’t floss, that’s your loss!” It’s a loss of time and money on superfluous dental visits, maybe even a loss of some teeth, and certainly the loss of a liver due to the cirrhosis you will inevitably develop from your infections.
Yes, I admit that some of my equipment may have been less than sterile and a few of my practices unsanitary. But sometimes you gotta play in the mud a bit, you know? It builds your immune system, and we all know that there will be moments when it’s just not possible to keep the dirt and communicable diseases out of your teeth. That’s just the way life is.
The official policy is that I see you twice a year for a cleaning, but both of us know it’s once at best. And that’s fine, as long as you are responsible and floss at home. I know that you’ll have other stuff to worry about, like getting your routine testing for hepatitis or HIV (make sure they use clean needles when taking your blood!), but I’m sure you can always find a few minutes in your schedule to clean between your teeth. I mean, it’s not like you’re cleaning a dental office.
