I'd like to have a silver round (forget dollars) for every time I have heard or read, "I wish I'd found your site (fill in the blank) years ago!" and "I wish I knew about irrigating back when..." 

It seems so strange to me that you have to 'sell' people on irrigating the teeth and gums, especially when they know how they'll benefit from the process. But then, I guess that some people won't bother to keep oil in their cars' engines either - even when they know that not doing so will destroy the engine. I suppose that some don't know, or will just hope someone else will deal with it.

I look at it like this: The average person is eventually going to have 32 teeth. Each tooth has 5 surfaces and those 160 surfaces must be cleaned at least daily. If not, we know that we are setting the stage for harmful bacterial colonization in/on the uncleaned tooth surfaces and where that colonization takes place and food gets trapped, decay will almost always follow. When that happens, we lose tooth enamel from demineralization and cavities form.

Now, if you could see the colonization, see the decay taking place or maybe feel pain in the process you might be more prone to doing something immediately to clean it up. If this process was happening on your face and you saw it in the mirror every day it certainly wouldn't take long for you to do something about it.

Most people will suffer from some form of periodontal or gum disease as well, which is when certain other anaerobic bacteria settle into the perfect environment between the teeth and supporting gum tissue. Again, if left alone, the disease process begins, spreads and creates all sorts of problems. Under the gum line, it also is painless - to a point, but once you feel pain and see blood (and perhaps become aware of an awful, emanating stench) then we are looking at a disease which has progressed quite a bit.

Now we have the disease process in a nutshell. It simply does not have to happen. Dr. Robert Nara has told me numerous times that the dental profession continues to treat a disease they could have been curing all along. Well, sure, I understand that, but let's put the ball in YOUR court. Do you want to have to keep 'treating' a disease you could have avoided all along?

Back to that 160 surfaces thing... Do you really think that you are thoroughly hitting all of those surfaces in the 37 seconds that you spend on brushing? Even if you brush a full 2 minutes, which is the minimum recommended, you are not able to get in between the teeth. OK, so you floss to clean those areas you can't get with the brush. That leaves the areas below the gum line which you cannot get to with either the brush or the floss.

The answer, then, is to irrigate. I am a firm believer of whole mouth irrigation, as opposed to just hitting a couple of deep pockets here and there. Get your brushing done, follow with the flossing or taping, then wrap it all up with a healthy tooth bath from a good oral irrigator. Hit the inside and outside tooth surfaces, do the crowns and in between the teeth then wrap it up with a stream along the gum line and down in between the teeth and gums. I guarantee that with a proper hygiene session like that, you can leave the house with the highest degree of confidence that you have done all you could do to keep the mouth clean, fresh and disease-free... and you will know it because you can feel it. Do it for a few weeks, then skip a few days - you will feel the difference and you won't like it.

You know, it doesn't take that much longer to add this little step to your morning and evening routine BUT that extra 5 or 10 minutes will keep your mouth healthy, keep you out of the dentist's (periodontist's, endodontist's) office and keep a lot of your money tucked away for something you WANT it for. (I've never considered saving for a root canal I MIGHT need some day...)

Get an irrigator and get to it.  Do you want to have to 'treat' a disease you could be preventing all along?

Tom