The Healthiest Habit for 2020!

The most important habit you can develop in 2020 is FLOSSING.

It is the New Year!  A new decade!  This is a great time to set a new goal for your health.  At Complete Health Dentistry the office of Dr. Ann N. Hebda, we are focused on our patients complete health because the health of your body is linked with the health of your teeth and gum tissues.  I frequently speak about how unhealthy gum tissue puts an individual at increased risk for heart attack, stroke, preterm low birth weight infants, there is a link between gum disease and incresed risk of Alzheimer's, type II diabetes, an increased risk of pancreatic cancer.  This is an incomplete list ot the diseases impacted by unhealthy gum tissue.

Flossing your teeth once a day can help reduce the risk of all of the previoulsy discussed diseases.  Did you know that only 60% of the tooth surface is cleaned with brushing?  Flossing is necessary to clean the remaining 40% of tooth structure.

You deserve to be healthy and this is an easy and inexpensive habit to incorporate.  If you focus on this one habit you will be healthier in 2020 and beyond.

Tips to forming habits:

1. Choose one habit:  In this case flossing.

2. Connect habits:  Floss after or before brushing before bedtime.

3. Focus on small wins:  Changing from not flossing at all to flossing every day is a big leap and can be a daunting goal.  Begin flossing consistently two days a week and increase flossing by one day every week.  The gum tissues are not healthy if they are bleeding and the more you floss the healthier the gum tissues will become and the less likely they will bleed.  

4. Commit:  It actually takes and average of 66 days to establish a new habit.  Please do not become frustrated if you did not reaach your flossing goal after two months.  Congratulate yourself on making it a goal and that you are making progress toward reaching your goal.  Reevaluate and begin the process again and you will achieve your flossing goal.

At Complete Health Dentistry, my team and myself are here to help you achieve complete dental health.  We will work with you to help coach you to achieve a healthier mouth.  In addition to brushing twice a day for two minutes and flossing once a day it is important to schedule an appointment with your dentist for a professional cleaning and exam twice a year.  For some of our patients we recommend a more frequent cleaning schedule to help them achieve complete dental health.  If you are not a current patient but would like brushing and flossing instructions you are welcome to schedule a complimentary office visit and one of our clinical team members will be happy to review this with you.

Here is to a healthier 2020!