The Tribune

By Dr Sparkman Ferguson

EACH day in my practice as a clinician in dentistry I put this question to all my adult patients. My patients are now so sensitised that they preempt me asking the question.

For clarity, we need a definition for flossing. It means using dental floss “daily” to clean between teeth.

When I ask the question, I invariably get many varied and complicated responses which all add up to the answer “no”. Every now and then I get a direct “yes” as the response.

I thought this was peculiar to my patients until I spoke to my colleagues in dentistry and discovered that we all have the same experiences with this question.

I took the matter a little further recently when I addressed a local mixed group of 30 professionals. Among them were bankers, businesspersons, blue collar workers and schoolteachers.

Before the lecture, I asked the question, “How many of you floss?”

In the replies I discovered that only two of the 30 persons present actually flossed. The two were dentists. I then concluded that we dentists know and trust a secret of dental health that we are not able to impart to others. I also concluded that we dentists do share that secret, but our patients are not convinced that something so simple as flossing could be holding the key to their dental health.

To stress the importance of flossing in the daily process of mouth cleansing, I’d like to propose the following analogy. Flossing is so fundamental to dental health that it is tantamount to needing the “landing gear” of an aircraft in order to land safely on a runway. From this analogy we hopefully grasp how important dental flossing is. A pilot deploys an aircraft’s landing gear every day for landing. He/she never considers landing without it. It is simply a must. This is exactly how persons ought to think of their dental health and the importance of flossing. It is simply a must.

Who must floss?

All persons with natural teeth should floss. Parents ought to floss, and then teach their children how to floss by the age of five.

What type of floss should be used?

The type of floss does not matter. You may use floss from a free spool or the new and convenient plastic pick flossers.

What happens if there is no practice of flossing?

Persons who choose not to floss or do not floss out of shear ignorance are likely to develop gum disease, or interproximal caries (cavities between teeth). In the majority of floss neglectors, both diseases are usually found to be present and both require treatment.

Can the two diseases be reversed with treatment?

Both diseases can be reversed with treatment. In the case of gum disease, needed treatment protocols are instituted to eliminate the disease, and the patient is once again encouraged to brush regularly and floss daily to prevent recurrence of the gum disease. If interproximal caries occurs, elimination of the caries is the goal, which is attained through one of the many ways to restore carious teeth.

Conclusion

It is inconceivable that daily flossing continues to be a major dental health issue in a modern Bahamas. It is hoped, however, that persons begin to take seriously the power of this dental health adjunct (floss) and really make using it a regular and permanent part of their daily oral health practice.