‘What the hell is this stuff?’: French people on the culture shock of flossing | Well actually

There are many cultural differences prescribed regularly between France and the United States: stylefor part Sizes, attitudes towards Capture After your dog.

But there is another – perhaps bloody – contrast: thread.

Sarah Delginity, coalition director Frances in Washington, did not hear the thread before moving to the United States in 1995. She grew up in the southwestern French city of Toulouse, she was not ignorant of dental care-her cousin was a surgeon of dental. But the thread? What is not.

“Be French, we did not know what the thread was,” remember Delignti. “Certainly, no one mentioned it – certainly not my cousin.” Some were mysteriously familiar with practice. Once, in the 1980s, she saw a French friend rubbing a chain between his teeth. But she thought, “What does heck do?”

In 1996, she and her husband – Mansoni with “really bad teeth” – went to the first American dental examination.

She said, “We looked at the dentist that we were strange offers.” Every time the couple returns to cleaning, the dentist tells them that they must thread. Finally, we said, “What do you mean? “

“Preventive care was not traditional priority in FranceDr. Adriana Akturi, a children’s dentist in Paris, says. It doubts that this is because dental care in France is largely covered with social security, so there is less concern about the financial cost of dental emergencies.

Agachi says that when she worked in Switzerland, where dental care tends to be more expensive than France, patients were keen to schedule checks and cleaning every six months. When Akturi asked them about the reason, they told her that due to the high costs, “they prefer to avoid major issues through regular prevention.”

Dr. Sally c. Karam, a gum specialist and a consumer speaker at the American Dental Association (ADA), that dentistry in the United States is “very focused” on preventive care.

“[US] “When people help to take care of their teeth at home, they have fewer cavities and less diseases of the gums,” says Karam.

Karam says that the thread cleans the areas between the toothpicks with a toothbrush. Clean the brush and floss by removing the plaque – a sticky accumulation of bacteria and food debris that begins to form on the teeth after 10 minutes of eating.

Karam says that the healthy person who removes all the plate from the surface of his teeth and under the players ’line every 24 hours is unlikely to suffer from many tooth problems. When the plaque falls on the teeth for more than 24 hours, the bacteria in the plaque begin to cancel the gums. “This is what makes the gums bleed and feel inflammation,” explains dignity.

The painting was left for a period longer than one day to two days, the Black hardening and it becomes impossible to remove it with a brush at home and thread-just cleaning professional teeth can start. She left bacteria from plaque for months or years, which can make its way to the jaw bone and begin to erode, which leads to gum disease.

In fairness for the French, there is already a little data to support the benefits of the thread.

In 2015, the departments of agriculture, humanitarian services and humanitarian services Causing A Medium Hop When they removed any male thread from the official food guidelines. The government later told Associated Press “The effectiveness of the thread has not been searched for.” In fact, 2015 review I found that “the majority of studies fail to prove that the thread is generally effective in removing the plaque.”

Karam admits that there were long -term studies limited on the thread. But this attributes this to the complexity and expenses of conducting long -term studies for anything.

“The bottom line is that the thread is a low -risk and low -cost method to clean parts of your teeth where your toothbrush cannot be reached,” says Karam. “So what is the harm in doing this?”

The French dental scene appears to change slowly with regard to the thread.

“This depends on where you exist and what is the age group’s age group,” says Julian Suudo, a lecturer in French studies and Frankovon and director of the Film Studies Program at Brain Maour College. “In big cities, it is something that has become more common.”

Suudo says he got acquainted with cleaning between the parties in his early twenties, when he was still living in France. The dentist at the time had traveled to the United States, and did not recommend the use of the thread, but small brushes between the ends.

When he came to the United States, Suaudeau dental specialist told him to give up brushes between followers and use the thread instead. It is now wondering if its use of the brushing is “unsatisfactory”.

Suautau has become a regular thread for the reason that many people do: “It is uncomfortable that someone would be reprimanded when you are adults.”

However, he says that when he travels home to Paris, some of his friends feel confused because of dental factors.

“I get questions from time to time, like,” says Sudo. He adds, “There is no word for thread in French. Or if there is, he does not know that. “I have to be a teacher.”

I asked my French colleague, Jessica Reed, who also could not think about a word of thread. (She also said that she is regularly on her dentist in the United States around the thread, and she believes that she is “another American imposition on her comfortable French lifestyle.”Passers are not only Dentir“, Which is almost translated into” passing the teeth silk between your teeth. “

Deligenti says she is a thread – sorry, teeth silk passes between her teeth – now. Well, most of the time. “Sometimes I go to bed without a thread because I return late from work,” she admits. “But otherwise, I do it.”

Très Bien.