My dentist does this to me in the past and I would basically be a bloody mess. I just tried flossing regularly for 6 months straight and my next visit was not bloody at all.
Crazy how that works. It’s as if dentists actually know what they’re talking about. Can’t be, can it?
It’s not haveful enough. It needs an angry condescending soyjak in a dentist gear saying:
Okay, you tell me you flossed, but was that floss called <brand name> Ultra Whitening Plus? Let’s talk about your toothpaste! <brand name 1> Sensitive White is garbage, you need to use the much more expensive and harder to come by <brand name 2> Herbal with Chamomille! Let me guess, you also didn’t use the most expensive electric toothbrush! So now I can shame you into paying me the price of a flagship model smartphone each time I pull your teeth out, to be replaced with a proper option. You don’t have the money? Too bad, my elders have lobbied out that teeth should be seen by politicians as “something you smile with” and “something you 100% responsible for”, and otherwise you can always just eat pulpy food for the rest of your life. You’re literally worse than Hitler and Stalin combined for having your teeth eventually go bad, which I pretend is the fault of you not using the right brand of dental hygiene products the right way! Put Mao Ce Tung and Pol Pot into the mix if you have the genes that will make your teeth go bad much quicker.
I used to think the same, then I did thorough dental hygiene and the dental visit was remarkably bloodless.
It also bleeds when you floss yourself after not doing it for a long time
Floss holders are cheap and make it a lot easier to reach the teeth in the back:
Plus you use less floss, and save your fingers.
i use the ones by reach, no need to use your own floss, although it thins out, they come with replacements, and buying replaces on amazon is very cheap.
My dentist keeps telling me everything is bad. Don’t use floss holders, use your fingers. Don’t rely on a water pick, use your fingers. They absolutely refuse to believe that using my fingers is difficult for me and it’s not a skill issue.
I’m this 🤏 close to a radical sugar free diet because I cannot for the life of me floss to their expectations. It’s always wrong.
I’m with you. I’ve never been able to fit my entire both fists in my mouth. Try as I might.
At least there are some benefits to thick fingers.
You realize your dentist doesn’t actually have any authority over you, right? Dentists who are friends (heh) of assassins notwithstanding.
Of course, I’m just extremely hesitant to disregard opinions I’ve paid to hear.
Honestly, if the choice is between doing it regularly with a floss holder and struggling to do it with your fingers, the floss holder wins. Do whatever helps you to maintain the habit.
Just use whatever method works for you, and tell them how often you floss, but not what method you’re using. Or lie, as long as it works that’s all that matters. Or find a different dentist, I’ve had several dentists and none of them have been that picky.
Wow, I’ve seen the disposable ones, but these look much better. Always liked the form factor, but disposable felt wasteful
i use the ones by REACH, it has a long handle and it comes with the flosshead already, so no reaching into your mouth with a short handle.
Yeah with the disposable ones you throw away a lot of plastic handles. Also with the ones I’ve used the floss often pulls loose.
I just clean them and keep reusing them. I’m cheap like that.
i do that with the reach brand, reuse it until it frays too much, i switch to a replacement head.
Use a water pick. They are superior in every way including less waste. You can use salt water to help your gums as well.
it works on food, but it doesnt replace a floss though, i combine the backteeth floss with a water floss, sometimes alternating a different day.
Use both! Water picks are fine but are not a replacement for flossing. Also I lied they are awful and they are basically the thing that convinced me to floss regularly.
The floss holder is more compact, easily portable, and doesn’t require recharging.
My dental hygienist actually explained it to me one time.
It has nothing to do with “toughening up your gums” like I used to think. Food gets trapped, bacteria grows, and your gums become inflamed to combat the bacteria. So now your gums are constantly full of blood protecting you from infection and when you do floss (or someone flosses for you), they’re going to bleed a lot.
I started flossing habitually every night and wouldn’t you know it I’ve only ever bled or felt pain from flossing when I miss some stupid popcorn shell thats wedged itself down low (which also goes to show, you don’t event need to do a particularly good job flossing for it to work 99%)
A bonus tip for folks that don’t like garotting their fingertips every night by wrapping them in 6 loops of floss just to get some tension: tie a short piece into a loop, double knotted, and you just pull the loop tight between two fingers. No finger pain, no extra appliance, and it uses less floss.
Extra bonus tip: get proper butlerweave floss. The plastic ribbon bullshit is absolute nonsense. Like trying to wash dishes with a zip lock bag…
And make sure the floss you buy doesnt contain plastic.
There are some pretty good studies showing flooding might actually not do all that much and that fluoride is like only really important thing. It’s kind of wild. Some show that swishing mouth was is just as good or water picks too. Long of why you always get different opinions from different dentists.
Science VS did an episode on the same subject too.
I didn’t slack off after the research but it was interesting none the less. Its in my routine so whatever.
you don’t event need to do a particularly good job flossing for it to work 99%
Quote for visibility. Even a 1-minute runthrough is 99% there.
Truth. 3 years ago my “New Years Resolution” was to floss every day.
I knew I was going to have to make it obscenely easy to do in order for me to stick with it.
I do a suuuuuper quick run through every morning with a disposable pick BEFORE I brush, and my annual dental visits since have been night and day. I really don’t even have to try very hard and my gums don’t bleed anymore either!
Its about taking better care of your mouth - not perfect care.
They also don’t really explain growing up that the floss is supposed to go slightly under your gums, between the tooth and gums where brushes don’t get, NOT just getting food from between teeth, but literally under the gum edge.
Another tip is to use interdental brushes, never thought I was able to use them properly until I watched a video about it. Was a pain for the first two weeks and got bleeding gums every time, since then no problems at all, I use them in the morning and evening and floss once a day.
Ugh, I’m 40 now and finally having this problem I have big gaps in my teeth so nothing ever get stuck there thanks to my divorced parents fighting over who pays for braces and it just never getting done.
Now I bleed from this one spot under my gums all the time. It’s not even in a hard to reach place. My body just decided one day “the one, right there, blow it”.
Dentist doesn’t see an infection or anything, I’ve never had a cavity before and still don’t. But time gets us all I guess.
I am so sick of tasting metal all the time!
Get a waterpik and use it daily. Use a 50/50 ratio of water and mouth wash. Also, brush your gums as well.
You can’t have braces anymore?
I never got them. Blood tastes metallic.
dentists telling adults to floss be like … bro cmon
When I was a kid mom and I went to a new dentist. I was a kid and didn’t floss like I should, but this guy kept hitting my gums with the picks and tore up the inside of my mouth. When he was finished, he blamed all the blood on my lack of flossing. Thankfully, when we were driving home mom said, “well we won’t be going back there.” Apparently she also was not impressed with that guy.
Edit: spelling. Dentist did not fart in my mouth. That I know of.
He was doing a perodontal screening and that’s normal. https://pocketdentistry.com/17-periodontal-screening/
If you’re referring to the probing of the gums around the teeth, that’s not what this guy did. The blood came from him catching my gums while he was scraping excess tarter off the backs of my teeth. Also never had this amount of blood on a bib after a visit before or after this guy, so I’m sticking with him sucking.
I would go back to the dentist either if they were farting in my mouth
Ducking autocorrect.
Autocorrect striking a comment making fun of an autocorrect. Poetic.
Ffs I get back from school to find this out. I’ll live up to it: dentist farting in my mouth is such a power move I’d be scared not to go back
farts in your mouth
“Do you have a problem with that, miss?”
“N-no, Mr. Dentist, sir. See you in six months!”
I would be absolutely living if my dentist farted in my mouth! I’d make sure everyone heard about it!
Livid? Is autocorrect just wreaking havoc on this thread?
Exactly, my bad. If the dentist farted in my mouth I’d really be pissed on.
That was the laughing gas
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Does that mean you’re dead the rest of the time?
I wonder if that’s covered by insurance or if it’s an upcharge
Also dentists: “That’ll be $1200. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Monday!”
“oh wait my instruments gave you an infection from a cut, here get a prescription from the pharmacy, good luck”
US citizen detected.
It’s like this in Australia as well. Teeth are luxury bones and don’t deserve to be covered by Medicare it seems.
Dent-icaid is covered in some states(medi-caid,care), but it really depends how much they cover. they dont cover anything outside of cavity fillings, root canals, other luxury bone preserving procedure are all out of pocket. i dont think most states are that extensive as california.
It’s getting to be that way in the UK too.
It used to be that everyone could get an NHS dentist and get a lot of work done for free but not anymore. I think that we’re still all entitled to an NHS dentist but there aren’t enough of them so only kids have easy access.
isnt the conservatives trying to ruin NHS currently, defunding and privatizing it?
I get a cleaning every 4 months but my insurance only covers every 6 months, so I pay for one out of pocket. I go to a very good dentist, and they only charge $170 for a cleaning
i doubt they cover root canals, if you needed it.
you are supposed to clean your teeth 2 times a day
I do clean my teeth two times a day, and floss regularly. That doesn’t totally stop the plaque from building up though. Everybody’s biology is a bit different
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I was on a 4-month schedule before 2020, but they switched me to a 6-month schedule once I was comfortable going back. My gums are in a much better shape now.
I hope you continue to get the care your body needs, if that stays 4-month cleanings or changes.
Weird flex but okay
It’s not that hard to floss and brush your own teeth mate, why do you need to get it done by a dentist every 4 months
You have zero plaque when you go to the dentist?
tartar also builds up just under the gums too, which is plaque that hardens. cant really brush below it, and flossing wont touch tartar.
Not enough to pay $170 out of pocket for, whatever my insurance covers is enough, the rest of the time I’ve got a water floos and regular flossing and cleaning to get the job done
That sounds great for you. I switched to 3/year last year after trying everything else to reduce the amount of plaque developing between visits without success. I don’t get why you feel the need to shit on someone for that
Yeah my bad everyone’s bodies are unique
edit: Ok, downvote me for stating healthcare is expensive in the US and wondering if this is linked to the flossing habit…
no, flossing only delays/prevent tartar between the teeth, doesnt stop the caries from forming on the biting surfaces. you have to combine that with toothbrushing, perfrabally electric toothbrush or sonic toothbrush, because they are better at cleaning than manually, and mouthwash(peferabally with FLouride).
whitening agents, toothpaste are advised against because they degrade your teeth.
No, healthcare being expensive and people not flossing are not related.
Water flossing for life
This was the thing that got me consistently flossing. I started using the water flosser and after I found normal flossing easier to implement.
When I started actually taking care of me teeth there was a night and day difference between dental appointments where I’d not flossed much or at all since the last appointment and just flossing maybe weekly. Upgrading to daily further improved the experience. Flossing really makes the entire dental process suck so much less and is totally worth it. Also setting a timer to make sure you actually brush for 2 minutes can also be helpful, since you might not realize you’ve been under-brushing
When I did keto I didn’t change anything with my routine, but suddenly my dentist is like “You’re doing amazing” and I had my first “no notes” checkup. That all went away when I started eating sugar again… really made me realize we go to all this work scraping shit off our teeth that wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place and is killing us. But also, frosting.
That was a big change I made when I started taking care of my teeth too was reducing my sugar intake. I now pretty consistently stay below the “recommended daily value” listed on the back of every package every day
Yeah gotta build up them calusses
My weakest gums are weak precisely because I floss there more often.
Those locations happen to be where there’s a natural gap between teeth, they’re the first place food gets stuck and the first place I have to take a toothpick or floss to. Gentle as I am, that still takes a toll on the gum between them.
There’s also been a feedback loop of food getting stuck there making those gaps wider over time, meaning larger food getting stuck and more flossing. Over the course of a few decades, tiny movements add up.
The dentists I’ve seen are clueless what to suggest; suggesting I floss less would make their heads explode.
i have one area with a gap, but its due to a root canaled tooth, i use the floss picks instead of the strings. it gets food more stuck often.
I’ve heard good things about water picks.
ive used it, they are very strong jet of water even for the lowest setting, so becareful they can “cut” you. also its messy if you dont close your mouth. i would slide water pik across your teeth, close to the gums(dont put directly on the gums because it can irritate it). close your mouth when your using the water jet.
they arnt a replacement for a floss though, i use floss picks, REACH BRAND has a really long handle for the backteeth flosses, the flosshead is orientated to work on the back teeth, rather than on the side for the front teeth. the long handle means you dont need put your dirty hands into the mouth like with the shorter picks, or the floss strings. (these do fray, and becomes thinner and it can potentially irritate the gums) i would slide it gently.
for the water pik, i bought off-brand water pik with 250-300ml water storage, with more settings than the more expensive sonicare/waterpik brands.
I like mine. Use warm water or it hurts.
Also add salt to the water particularly at the beginning when you are bleeding. It helps a lot.
mouthwash helps to, it soothes it. CPC mouthwash i think its best for the gum area, but flouride was works too.
That what my dentist recommended for similar problems, along with a fix to a filling there that was causing food to get stuck more than expected.
It sounds like either genetics or user error. I have a permanent retainer and I have to floss hard around those teeth to prevent calculus buildup, and their gum line is the strongest in my mouth.
It’s hard to be sure on the genetics front. There’s evidence to suggest there might be some weaknesses there, but then most of my ancestors and relatives who have had severe problems have all been smokers, and I’m not.
I had a similar situation, then they gave me a cavity filling on one of the teeth and the gap went away. Maybe they can fake a filling to fill the gap? 🤣
Epic comic
