This is the same as doctors calling people fat. They’re serious. You’re fat and have to lose weight to be healthy.
Dentists aren’t doing this to antagonize you. It has nothing to do with the “toughness” of your gums. They’re telling you that your gums are nasty and you have to actually floss them. Gums bleed during dental visits primarily because of gingivitis and decaying food trapped along the gum lines. Brushing alone is not sufficient for oral hygiene.
tl;dr you’re gross and dentists are being nice
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Water flossing for life
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.
Yeah gotta build up them calusses
