This is the biggest fallacy going today.

Flossing once per day is certainly required for dental health. But, as a person who constantly battles gum inflammation, I can tell you that it's insufficient.

For people over 40 years of age, the capability of the pockets to fight inflammation is not as good as when we were younger. Furthermore, the deeper the pocket, the more potential for inflammation and recession of the pockets.

I've fought the battle on a multitude of fronts:

1) Daily flossing.
2) Daily use of clorohexidine.......a chemical which fights the bacteria that form in the pockets.
3) Daily use of hydrogen peroxide to stop the anarobic bacteria from forming in the pockets.
4) Having the teeth cleaned every 90 days, without fail, with the cavitron.

The cavitron is the high pressure water jet that can get all the plaque removed from the pocket, if the pocket is not too deep.

If it is, then the procedure outlined above.......root planing and teeth scaling......in a more involved version.......and much more costly. It's done in quadrants and takes a bit over 90 minutes per quadrant. Fortunately, so far, I've avoided this procedure.

As far as I'm concerned, the behavior of dentists is bodering on malpractice when they simply tell you to come in for a "cleaning" every six months. For most people, it's a guarantee of major periodontal work down the road.

Don't let this happen to you!!