One time, a few years ago I went to the dentist and I had a very mild case of gingivitis. In order to teach me of the dangers and perils that come from gingivitis, the technician showed me a picture of decaying teeth along with a chart explaining how gingivitis works. The image that she showed me of a rotten mouth looked a little something like this:
And let me tell you, it was horrifying! That one moment in time is burned into my brain. I even remember the weather that day, and what I was wearing. I used to have, not nightmares, but very vivid dreams of my teeth one day turning like this. After that, I started flossing every single day. Probably every day for 6 months, which was when my next check up was. And the next time I went, I was proclaimed disease-free!
Well, after my brush with 'the ginge', I started cutting back on the flossing. Still a couple of times a week, but not nearly as often as when I was scared shitless of what was to become of my teeth.
So I vowed to floss my teeth every day for a month. It has actually been going on 3 months now that I have been flossing every day. I even have a chart that I fill out every day, to make sure I don't slack.
A wise dentist once told my mother, if you are going to choose between brushing and flossing, choose flossing. Although, this was 40 years ago, while my mother lived in Africa... where they brushed their teeth with sugar cane...
