What Holiday Comes After Thanksgiving?

Yes, this is a trick question. The day after Thanksgiving is National Flossing Day, and Drs. Wager and Evans encourage you to participate. It’s perfect planning, actually. What better day to schedule a national flossing event than Black Friday? Here are five prime reasons you need to floss on National Flossing Day.

1. You eat and eat and eat… and eat and eat and eat… then watch football… then eat and eat and eat on Thanksgiving. You’re going to have some food stuck between your teeth.
2. Whether you shop or hang out with the family, people are going to smell your breath the day after Thanksgiving.
3. With everything else you have scheduled between now and the end of the year, you probably don’t have time for a dental cleaning.
4. Santa is watching.
5. It’s cool to floss.

Is It Really Cool to Floss?

• Only if you want to be a trendsetter. Studies show, 10-40% of Americans report flossing every day – and remember, people lie. The real percentage is probably closer to 10%. Another report states, 73% of Americans prefer going to the grocery store over flossing their teeth.
• Only if you want to live longer. One study claims, daily flossing can increase your lifespan by 6.4 years. The CDC says, people with gum disease have a mortality rate that’s 23-46 higher than those who don’t.
• Only if you want to avoid gum disease and increased risk for heart attack, stroke, diabetes, problem pregnancies, Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, osteoporosis, and potentially, certain cancers. Studies link all of these conditions to gum disease, and gum disease usually stems from improper oral health.
• Only if you want to keep your teeth (don’t want to wear dentures). Gum disease is also the primary cause of adult tooth loss in our nation.

You should floss every evening, after brushing your teeth. Flossing will reduce your risk for halitosis (bad breath), cavities, and gum disease. The yellow, sticky plaque that naturally forms on your teeth hardens into tartar if it isn’t removed. Because your toothbrush can’t clean between your teeth, plaque tends to remain there and become tartar. Usually, tartar is removed at your dental cleaning visits, but those are only twice a year. So tartar sits between your teeth, smelling bad and harboring bacteria, unless you floss every day.

Choosing Dental Floss

Floss comes in many styles these days. You have your mint, your unflavored, your flat and your round, your waxed and your unwaxed. You even have dental tape, a non-fraying option. You can buy floss on a spool or pre-threaded on a small, handheld flosser. One floss is not better than the next. The best floss is the one you use!

How to Floss

If you need a demonstration on a quick, easy way to floss, ask your dental health care team. Dr. Wager, Dr. Evans, and everyone here at Wager Evans Dental can give you flossing tips. If you don’t floss, and you don’t plan to start, you sure better keep your dental cleaning appointments! Call 775-829-7700 today to schedule your visit in our Reno dentist office.