Essay On Brushing Your Teeth

A recent survey revealed that close to one-third of the survey participants tell their dentist that they floss when they really do not. This may mean that many people who wouldn't dream of not brushing their teeth skip flossing without worrying about anything other than displeasing their dentist. Flossing your teeth is important, and here are three reasons why just brushing your teeth is not enough.

Brushing Only Removes 60 Percent of Plaque from Teeth

You may think that brushing removes almost all of the plaque from your mouth and that flossing removes just a negligible amount of plaque that is leftover. The truth is that brushing removes about 60 percent of the tarter on your teeth, and flossing removes an additional 40 percent of it.

So, when brushing only, you are only getting your teeth a little over half as clean as you could when brushing and flossing. Remember
When gum tissue is exposed to too much plaque they become inflamed and separate slightly from your teeth. This inflammation and separation is what causes your gums to bleed when brushing or flossing. Flossing removes plaque from your gum line to keep your gum tissue healthy and free from gingivitis.

Flossing works so well at removing gum-line plaque that a study was conducted with many sets of twins to prove how flossing fights gingivitis. During the two-week long study, one twin flossed every day and the other didn't. The twins who flossed reduced gum-bleeding they had been experiencing by an average of 38 percent.

This is a good lesson if you are one of many people who actually avoid flossing, because it makes your gums bleed. Your bleeding gums are actually a sign that you need to floss more, and if you start flossing every day, your gums will stop bleeding when you do it. More importantly, you can stop the gingivitis you may be developing before it becomes much worse and leads to the more advanced gum disease called