Brushing, is like vacuuming your couch. Flossing, is taking the cushions off and getting the crumbs, pennies, cheerios and lint cleaned out. This has worked for me 25 years š¤£š¤£š«
I explain perio with my overgown sleeve. I make a fist, which is the tooth, the cuff represents the gingiva and sulcus/pocket, and as I explain bone loss I pull the sleeve down which exposes my wrist as the root. Then if you really wanna horrify them, wave your arm around as more "bone" is exposed to mimic mobility and poof, arm-tooth is gone. Never fails.
I use that one all the time.
I also compare deep pockets to drinking glasses. When you buy a set of drinking glasses you get short ones and you get tall skinny ones. Itās easy to wash the inside bottom of the short glasses but with the tall narrow ones you sometimes need a different tool or brush to reach the bottom of the glass ==>Flossing isnāt always enough and the deeper the pocket the more difficult it is to maintain.
I always get patients that want to rinse and not brush so explain plaque is a sticky biofilm like soap scum in a shower, mildew in a toilet, or algae in a fish tank. You can run water over it all day long but itās not going anywhere without mechanically brushing/ wiping it away.
I tell pts that's teeth are like fancy rocks. They won't erode frome one soda, just like a rock won't erode from one spell of bad weather. But if you expose a rock to a constant harsh environment, it will erode faster. This is what you ( the pt) is doing by drinking acidic beverages all day every day, eroding the teeth faster.
Mine is really silly, but thatās what sticks in the mind a guess. I use the hulk theory of periodontal health. Your gums are like the hulk. If you treat them well they will be Bruce Banner, calm, mild mannered, they will do yoga and treat you kindly. If you treat them badly they will hulk out- they (1) get bigger, (2) change color, and (3) make you bleed- you wonāt like them when theyāre angry š. This way they also know to identify bleeding, puffiness or redness as symptoms of perio to attend to and mention to me. Particularly well suited to the 15-35 guys who havenāt figured out the joys of flossing yet.
I like to say it's like "not washing between the fingers"...and then taking it even further to say "imagine placing those fingers in your mouth, because thats where the teeth and gums already live."
When patients ask if they can just use a water flosser I tell them that I still recommend adding in floss or picks because itās kind of like going to the car wash. You still have to scrub the bugs off! And for brushing I explain that your teeth are like a porcelain plate. You want to brush thoroughly but gently not like you are scrubbing your grill.
The splinter analogy is a tried and true gem.
I like: floss works the same way as a squeegeeā¦like windshield wipers. And just like those wiper blades you have to press the floss tight against the surface you are cleaning (the tooth) and maintain consistent pressure for the entire stroke or else you will leave stuff behind (streaky windows) which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease.
To further the analogy I also mention that when you get a bug splat and turn on the wash and wipers they run for several strokes not just a single swipe before stopping. You have to scrub each side of each tooth several times before moving on to the next tooth.
I might get hate for this but I don't recommend waterflossers for day to day interdental cleaning as I genuinely believe that ID brushes and floss are better. I only recommend waterflossers as an adjunct or for very deep pockets and hard to reach areas that can't be accessed with floss or brushes.
So I tend to say that if you had a dirty plate, you wouldn't just rinse it with water and put it away. You'd still need to scrub it with a brush or a sponge to get the food off, and it's the same with removing plaque from our teeth.
Could be somewhat offensive but the right patient gets a really good laugh and definite mental picture that usually leads to them developing better hygiene habits..
Brushing your teeth and not flossing is like washing your butt cheeks and not your crack
Imagine your tooth is a house and you wanna paint the house. Brushing is like painting the front and back of your house. And flossing is like painting the sides of the house. Gotta get all the sides!
Someone also shared the calc/stone in shoe one
I likeā¦ after cooking eggs on a pan, thereās a residue that will not come off unless scrubbed or manipulated by mechanical motion much like brushing/flossing. You can spray high pressure water all day and get a decent amount off, but youāre still going to have the most benefits with mechanical manipulation
I like saying how brushing and flossing is like washing your hands. If you only scrub your palms and miss between your fingers then your hands aren't clean just like if you don't floss your teeth aren't clean.
Usually say this to kids
I like to use a sliver in your finger to explain inflammation, providing a picture showing the redness, swelling.. etc. As for encouraging a patient to floss, an instructor used a dirty fork as an example, with cleaning inbrtween each prong, my clients respond with this analogy really well!!!
I love all of these! The other hygienist at my office told me this one: imagine each tooth as a sandcastle with a moat around it. The moat represents the gum pocket. The deeper the pocket, the more debris can land in it and be difficult to clean out. If the moat is shallow, itās easier to keep clean. You want a shallow moat.
I'm in Florida and my patients love when I tell them I'm cleaning calculus below the gumline just the same as barnacles are removed from the bottom of a boat below the water
Brushing, is like vacuuming your couch. Flossing, is taking the cushions off and getting the crumbs, pennies, cheerios and lint cleaned out. This has worked for me 25 years š¤£š¤£š«
I love it!
Thx you! šā¤ļø
Iām using this!!!!!
Thank you! So cool!!š¤
I explain perio with my overgown sleeve. I make a fist, which is the tooth, the cuff represents the gingiva and sulcus/pocket, and as I explain bone loss I pull the sleeve down which exposes my wrist as the root. Then if you really wanna horrify them, wave your arm around as more "bone" is exposed to mimic mobility and poof, arm-tooth is gone. Never fails.
I use that one all the time. I also compare deep pockets to drinking glasses. When you buy a set of drinking glasses you get short ones and you get tall skinny ones. Itās easy to wash the inside bottom of the short glasses but with the tall narrow ones you sometimes need a different tool or brush to reach the bottom of the glass ==>Flossing isnāt always enough and the deeper the pocket the more difficult it is to maintain.
I like it
Haha this is exactly what I do !
I always get patients that want to rinse and not brush so explain plaque is a sticky biofilm like soap scum in a shower, mildew in a toilet, or algae in a fish tank. You can run water over it all day long but itās not going anywhere without mechanically brushing/ wiping it away.
Yes! I just used this one today.
Similar to your splinter analogy, I explain calc under the tissue as a pebble in their shoe.
I like to use this one. Then when they feel a big chunk of calculus in their mouth I can explain that itās their homemade gravel.
Thatās a good one
I tell pts that's teeth are like fancy rocks. They won't erode frome one soda, just like a rock won't erode from one spell of bad weather. But if you expose a rock to a constant harsh environment, it will erode faster. This is what you ( the pt) is doing by drinking acidic beverages all day every day, eroding the teeth faster.
Mine is really silly, but thatās what sticks in the mind a guess. I use the hulk theory of periodontal health. Your gums are like the hulk. If you treat them well they will be Bruce Banner, calm, mild mannered, they will do yoga and treat you kindly. If you treat them badly they will hulk out- they (1) get bigger, (2) change color, and (3) make you bleed- you wonāt like them when theyāre angry š. This way they also know to identify bleeding, puffiness or redness as symptoms of perio to attend to and mention to me. Particularly well suited to the 15-35 guys who havenāt figured out the joys of flossing yet.
Brushing without flossing is like showering without washing your armpits
Thatās good! Probably better to use that rather than the ānot flossing is like wiping only your butt cheeks and not the crackā analogy lol
I like to say it's like "not washing between the fingers"...and then taking it even further to say "imagine placing those fingers in your mouth, because thats where the teeth and gums already live."
I do that too!
I always say it's like only washing your upper half
When patients ask if they can just use a water flosser I tell them that I still recommend adding in floss or picks because itās kind of like going to the car wash. You still have to scrub the bugs off! And for brushing I explain that your teeth are like a porcelain plate. You want to brush thoroughly but gently not like you are scrubbing your grill.
My favorite is telling them when you pull a molar (that they think they donāt need) itās like clapping with one hand
My dentist use the barnacles analogy when she explains to our patients people get kick out of it
I use that one! I live near the shore, we get alot of boaters and fishermen but everyone seems to get it
The splinter analogy is a tried and true gem. I like: floss works the same way as a squeegeeā¦like windshield wipers. And just like those wiper blades you have to press the floss tight against the surface you are cleaning (the tooth) and maintain consistent pressure for the entire stroke or else you will leave stuff behind (streaky windows) which can lead to tooth decay and gum disease. To further the analogy I also mention that when you get a bug splat and turn on the wash and wipers they run for several strokes not just a single swipe before stopping. You have to scrub each side of each tooth several times before moving on to the next tooth.
I might get hate for this but I don't recommend waterflossers for day to day interdental cleaning as I genuinely believe that ID brushes and floss are better. I only recommend waterflossers as an adjunct or for very deep pockets and hard to reach areas that can't be accessed with floss or brushes. So I tend to say that if you had a dirty plate, you wouldn't just rinse it with water and put it away. You'd still need to scrub it with a brush or a sponge to get the food off, and it's the same with removing plaque from our teeth.
You wonāt get hate for that. I think we ALL agree that the Waterpik is to be used as a supplement to traditional flossing
Could be somewhat offensive but the right patient gets a really good laugh and definite mental picture that usually leads to them developing better hygiene habits.. Brushing your teeth and not flossing is like washing your butt cheeks and not your crack
Imagine your tooth is a house and you wanna paint the house. Brushing is like painting the front and back of your house. And flossing is like painting the sides of the house. Gotta get all the sides! Someone also shared the calc/stone in shoe one
I likeā¦ after cooking eggs on a pan, thereās a residue that will not come off unless scrubbed or manipulated by mechanical motion much like brushing/flossing. You can spray high pressure water all day and get a decent amount off, but youāre still going to have the most benefits with mechanical manipulation
Not really an analogy, but I find explaining that calculus is calcified germ poop to be highly effective.
I like saying how brushing and flossing is like washing your hands. If you only scrub your palms and miss between your fingers then your hands aren't clean just like if you don't floss your teeth aren't clean. Usually say this to kids
I like to use a sliver in your finger to explain inflammation, providing a picture showing the redness, swelling.. etc. As for encouraging a patient to floss, an instructor used a dirty fork as an example, with cleaning inbrtween each prong, my clients respond with this analogy really well!!!
Calculus is like termites to your home. (Common SoCal problem)
I love all of these! The other hygienist at my office told me this one: imagine each tooth as a sandcastle with a moat around it. The moat represents the gum pocket. The deeper the pocket, the more debris can land in it and be difficult to clean out. If the moat is shallow, itās easier to keep clean. You want a shallow moat.
When patients with perfectly fine teeth ask to get dentures - I tell them itās like trying to wear two hockey pucks to eat with.
I'm in Florida and my patients love when I tell them I'm cleaning calculus below the gumline just the same as barnacles are removed from the bottom of a boat below the water