No, I haven’t been flossing

Why does the dental hygienist always ask if I have been flossing every day? Clearly she can see, as she picks tarter from between my teeth, I have not been flossing every day.

Why must she ask in that accusatory tone if I floss every day? (Do they teach that tone in dental hygienist school?) Now I feel guilty. For a split second, I think about saying, “Why, yes, I do floss every day.” But it’s no use — she can see with her tiny mirror and picky thingy I am not flossing on a daily basis. So, I respond with a: “Um, well, not EVERY day.”

And I leave the dentist’s office with a renewed resolve to floss every single day and maybe even twice a day. I’m sure my good intentions will last about two weeks. I’ll go back for a teeth cleaning in six months and the dental hygienist and I will find ourselves in the same situation: Have you been flossing every day?

“Um, well ….”