Have you heard from your dentist that flossing is more important than brushing to have healthy teeth? This idea has been floating around my head for awhile and I had to try and find some hard scientific evidence to prove or disprove this theory that I am pretty sure my dentist laid on me.
Turns out there was some small study of twins that showed flossing AND brushing was definitely better than brushing alone.
Huh, well that doesn’t mean flossing by itself is better, but that flossing and brushing is a really good combo.
The first part of developing any habit is the why. If you don’t have a good reason to floss why waste your time? You barely have time to brush right, and now you need to floss! Pure craziness!
I think the main reason for me to floss is that epic battle against halitosis that we all have to fight every day. Who cares if our teeth fall out if we have such bad breath that no one wants to come near us?
The second part of developing a habit often comes down to social reasons rather than personal reasons.
I recently read that the best way to get started flossing was to try and floss one tooth at a time and work your way up from there. If flossing really seems like that big a deal why not break it down even smaller till it’s a small deal.
The third part of developing a habit is making it a muscle reflex.
Brushing is pretty much automatic for you in the morning, and possibly evening too, right? Right?
A habit is something you automatically do that doesn’t require much thought. It is ingrained, it is a daily pattern you follow. You have a ton of daily habits such as brushing your teeth and putting clothes on for the day. To even function in society you need a certain set of daily habits that you follow. Why not add flossing to it?
Speaking of daily habits I have two more that I am trying to add besides flossing my teeth. The first one is to drink as much water as I can. I remind myself to drink a glass of water immediately when I wake up, with every meal, and before I go to bed at night. Every time I feel a little hungry I also go drink water first because it has been shown that most of our hunger pangs are actually thirst in disguise.
My other daily habit I am trying to form is to eat a salad a day. It is a straight up fact that we don’t get the amount of vegetables we need in our diet, and if we did, we would all be way healthier. So that is what I try to do. Always get a salad when I can on a daily basis. If anything, I make sure to eat vegetables with any meal I can.
If you want to learn more about flossing go check out the WebMD article Top Excuses for Not Flossing and How To Conquer Them.
Pingback: The Personal Health Challenge Series | Insight Writer