Flossing was a little more challenging.  You had to stick your fingers way in your mouth.  The gums hurt when you snapped in between your teeth, and the floss cut the corners of your mouth when you had to reach for the back teeth, but you did it faithfully.  The tips of your fingers sometimes turned blue because the floss was so tight around them.  When you unwrapped the floss from your fingertips the color came back, so you were okay.

Then you rinsed your mouth and spit out in the sink.  You did your duty and finished the job.  Right?  Wrong!  You thought you cleaned out the bacteria and toxins with brushing and flossing, but really just rearranged much of it.  Just because it’s loose from your teeth doesn’t mean it disappears.  It’s still there.  Only now it’s just floating around, waiting to stick on another surface of your tooth, your gums, or your tongue.  You moved the bacteria around in your mouth, like rearranging furniture, instead of moving the bacteria and toxins out of your mouth.

Rinsing isn’t enough.  Swish as hard as you can and you still will leave hundreds of thousands of bacteria hiding under your gums, even after you brushed and flossed.  Many people can’t understand why they develop plaque so quickly.  One answer is that they never cleaned it out of their mouth in the first place.  They just rearranged it.  If the bacteria are still there, within hours they cling to teeth and begin forming colonies.

It’s like planting a garden.  It takes much longer to grow a plant from a seed than it does from a seedling.  The seedling has a jump start on the seed; just like the bacteria left behind has a jump start on any new bacteria.  By giving bacteria this jump start, we’ve drastically decreased the effectiveness of our brushing and flossing.

Here’s how to finish the job of cleaning your teeth.  Brush and floss like you did, only this time complete the job with directed water irrigation.  This is a very simple technique that directs a warm water stream in between your teeth for a minimum of five full seconds.  There are several directed water irrigation devices on the market.  Pick the one that you will actually use.

Follow these simple five steps:  1. Use as warm of water as you can comfortably tolerate.  2.  Put the pressure all the way on high.  3.  Direct the water jet in between your teeth, not at the gums.  4.  Hold it still for a minimum of five full seconds.  5.  Move on to the next space.  You only need to go one direction, from the cheek side to the tongue side.  Don’t forget the back of the last tooth or both sides of a tooth standing alone.

Using directed water irrigation you’ve cleaned out the bacteria and toxins, not just rearranged them.  Your gums will be healthier, your breath fresher, you’ll have fewer cavities, and your expenses at the dentist will be cut dramatically.

You’re almost there.  Use directed water irrigation and Finish The Job!

You’re in denial. Your dentist’s attempts to help you understand your problem, for the most part, is a waste of time. You don’t believe him. Maybe it will happen to someone else, but not me. Trying to teach a solution to someone who doesn’t believe they have a problem is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

There’s even a bigger problem. The solution to your problem isn’t fun. It’s painful, annoying, and inconvenient. When the cure hurts worse than the disease, there’s a big problem. The solution doesn’t have to hurt.

Let’s see if we understand the facts. There is a serious dental problem which doesn’t hurt, that can be solved with a solution that does hurt. And we, as dentists, can’t understand why people aren’t jumping to fix the problem they don’t believe they have. It’s crazy. Dentists, like me, need lessons in human nature and communication. Then we need to discover a simple, easy, comfortable solution. Here it is.

The first step is to help you understand you really do have a problem. Yes, I’m talking to you. The problem is bacteria and toxins building in between your teeth and under your gums. That part of the problem you may already know. You probably even know that this causes cavities and gum disease, and that it could destroy your teeth and ruin your beautiful crowns, bridges, veneers, or other dentistry.

But you probably didn’t know that it also affects your heart, strokes, diabetes, and more. This is serious. This can be life threatening, especially if you have other factors, which most of us do. So the first step is to accept the fact that you have a problem.

The second step is to find the simple, easy, and comfortable solution. The remedy dentists have preached for years has involved brushing and flossing. The brushing isn’t too bad, but the flossing is painful, the floss frays, the teeth are too tight, you can’t get under your bridges, you don’t like putting your fingers in your mouth, you cut the corners of your mouth, your gums bleed, and you just hate to do it. I hear you. I’m just like you.

I think it’s crazy that dentists keep trying to get people to floss, when we know very well you aren’t going to. And those few people who floss regularly rarely do it correctly. I see what debris you leave behind every check-up. It’s very technique sensitive. So what’s the solution?

There’s a method for removing the bacteria and toxins from in between your teeth called Directed Water Irrigation. It’s not just rinsing your teeth with a water jet. It involves aiming a warm water jet in between your teeth and holding the stream for a minimum of five full seconds. You can lean over your sink or do it in the shower. There’s an amazing improvement when you brush and use directed water irrigation, instead of brush and floss.

As a practicing dentist, I see the difference every week. If you want fresher breath, more confidence, better check-ups, and better health, start using directed water irrigation daily. You won’t believe how clean you feel.

Flossing, on the other hand, can be much more challenging. People are inconsistent and quite frankly, it’s very technique sensitive and less forgiving than water irrigation. People don’t like putting their fingers in their mouth, the floss shreds, the gums bleed, your fingers get sore, and you can cut the corners of your mouth. To properly floss, it’s necessary to place the floss in between your teeth, wrap the floss 180 degrees around one tooth, slide it up and down a few times, then wrap it around the next tooth and do the same thing, then move on to the next space. Most people don’t take the time to do this.

There are very convenient water jet appliances you can buy for your sink or your shower. If your daily routine already includes a shower, it’s easy to incorporate directed water irrigation into your existing routine. In fact, why not brush your teeth in the shower as well. Personally, I use an electric toothbrush in the shower. They’re made to get wet. It’s okay. When I’m finished brushing, I go directly to the shower water irrigator. It’s convenient. When I step out of the shower my dental hygiene is complete.

If you take a bath instead of a shower, the sink water irrigator will be perfect. Use it immediately after you’ve brushed your teeth, just like in the shower.  Brushing will help loosen the bacteria and toxins, but the directed water irrigation will remove the debris from your mouth.

Either way, you’ll be amazed at how healthy your mouth will feel in just a few days. You’ll even have fresher breath.