Fiddle Dee-Dee

I absolutely love being a hygienist.  I love developing friendships with my patients and being the one they see every six months.  I'm not gonna lie though, everyday it is inevitable that someone will say one of the following.  These are the serious fun suckers of my job.

1.  I hate the dentist.
WOW!!  If I only had a dime for every time I've heard this I'd be saying Sallie Mae who?  I understand that some people have a genuine fear but unfortunately, growing up a dentist daughter, I can not relate to this fear.  When I hear this it knocks the air out of me every time.  I shouldn't take it personally but I do.  Let's not be rude okay guys.

2.  I am flossing
Attention all!  If you floss the day or week before having your cleaning it does not count.  Do not even bother fibbing because we can tell.  We may look like sweet naive little lambs but we do prevent disease every day so give a little credit.  Shameless plug: flossing once a day is ideal.  Watch this video to learn the correct way to floss.

3.  Do you have to scrape my teeth?

If brushing and flossing correctly, this portion of the cleaning will not be as long but it is necessary.  So brush and floss... Plaque is wack yo.  

4. I don't floss because it makes my gums bleed.

Insert exaggerated eye roll. Geeze louise have mercy on my simple soul.  Your gums are bleeding, folks, due to inflammation from not being properly cared for.  Brushing lightly on your gums and DAILY flossing will reduce the inflammation, thus nixing out the bleeding.  Hence consistency is the key here.  

5.  I don't have to have bitewing x-rays.

Oh you don't?  Yes patients can decline them but y'all we seriously do not do anything in the office that is not for the patients benefit.  Of course theres always a couple of screwballs in every profession but thats a story for another day.  These x-rays show us between your teeth (an area we can not see, clinically, when we look into the mouth) and help us to detect early signs of decay.  The radiation from these are very low so do not try to use that as an excuse on me.  No they aren't comfy (I understand... I have them taken too) but buck up, it seriously takes 1 minute.

Thanks for sitting through my little rant and don't forget... brush 2 minutes twice a day and floss!