Floss Your Teeth Twice Daily For Better Overall Health

As the old adage says, "You don't need to floss all of your teeth, just the ones you want to keep".  Some see flossing teeth as annoying, but it is an integral part of your overall health.  Flossing regularly not only helps the goings-on in your mouth, but throughout your entire body.  That is why it is so important to visit your dentist twice a year.

Your mouth is the gateway to your body.  There are many bad bacteria entering your body and the mouth is a great place to stop them.  Brushing alone cannot remove all of these bacteria, which can be hidden in dental plaque.  This plaque is a soft and white accumulation of micro-organisms.  It contains about 400 different species of bacteria, and billions of individual germs in each milligram of plaque.  They can be damaging to both your teeth, gums and potentially other areas of your body.

Flossing is one of the most important things you can do for your health because it can help with the following:

• preventing tooth decay - only flossing can remove the plaque that is hiding between your teeth. Also it's this bacteria along with sugar that cause cavities.
• preventing gum disease - an accumulation of plaque around your gums and teeth can cause gingivitis, which is inflammation of the gums.
• helping against tartar buildup - tartar is dental plaque that has become hard from the saliva’s calcifying action. Flossing and brushing can slow down the accumulation of tartar, but does not actually remove it. During your semi-annual dentist visits your dentist removes tartar on your teeth.
• helping to prevent halitosis - dental plaque is one of the causes of halitosis, and if it’s left between your teeth, it will generate a bad smell in your mouth. Bad breath can also be caused by gum disease and tooth decay which are also primarily caused by plaque.
• reducing the risk of heart disease - as discussed earlier, the mouth is the gateway for harmful bacteria that may eventually reach the body organs, including cardiac tissue. Dental plaque, which contains dangerous bacteria, must be therefore eliminated to prevent those micro-organisms to reach the heart through the blood stream and cause heart disease complications.
• reduce complications of diabetes - diabetics can have their condition complicated by gum disease. Diabetics usually have a weaker immune system and take more time to fight inflammations and infections, including the ones that start in the mouth

What is the best way to floss? Below is from the American Dental Hygienists' Association website:

Wind 18" of floss around middle fingers of each hand. Pinch floss between thumbs and index fingers, leaving a 1"- 2" length in between. Use thumbs to direct floss between upper teeth.
Keep a 1" - 2" length of floss taut between fingers. Use index fingers to guide floss between contacts of the lower teeth.
Gently guide floss between the teeth by using a zig-zag motion. DO NOT SNAP FLOSS BETWEEN YOUR TEETH. Contour floss around the side of the tooth.
Slide floss up and down against the tooth surface and under the gumline. Floss each tooth thoroughly with a clean section of floss.
--Illustrations adapted by and used courtesy of the John O. Butler Company--

Taking good care of your teeth is a great way to take care of yourself. Don't forget to eat a healthy diet with less sugar. You'll feel better in more ways than one and you'll have better dentist visits.

How often do you floss every day?  How are your dentist visits?

What's Your Real Age?: Find Out On RealAge.com

On Dr. Roizen and Dr. Oz's website, RealAge.com there is a health quiz you can take which will help you along to reach your healh goals.  The quiz focuses in on your health numbers, habits, relationships, diet and fitness. 

This RealAge health quiz is pretty comprehensive and the results and advice are very informative.  Sample questions are: "On a typical day, about how many hours do you sleep?", "What is your total cholesterol level in mg/dL?", "What is your HDL cholesterol level in mg/dL?", "How often do you floss?", "How many close friends and relatives do you have including your spouse and children?", "How often do you eat breakfast in a typical week?", "How many servings of VEGETABLES do you eat per DAY? and "On average, how often do you do AEROBIC EXERCISE?".

Once you have finished the quiz, your 'Real Age' will be calculated. Obviously, the younger (lower) your Real Age, the better it seems for your overall health.   No one is perfect, so detailed information will be given on how to improve and lower your Real Age. This is called 'My Grow Younger Plan'. 

My results? Well, my calendar age is 36.8 and my Real Age of 35.6.  That OK, I guess, but I want to lower that number some more.  Among the items in my grow younger plan I'm told that I need to raise my HDL (good cholesterol), like my dentist it tells me that I need to floss EVERY day {OK, OK!} and I need to eat more grains and work more on strenth training.  I can't argue with any of that.

I will now keep my account upated and maybe I can lower my Real Age even more.  We all have things we need to work on to be healthier.  This is a great tool to help you do that.  I recommend that everyone creates an account with RealAge.com and takes the quiz and keeps up with their health information.

To take the RealAge Test, go here.

Have you filled out the RealAge test?  What is your RealAge?