Turning the Light on in the Room- Oral Hygiene 101

  I use analogies  to teach anatomy and physiology of the mouth.
  Anatomy...your gums fit your teeth like turtleneck collars..picture every tooth sitting there with a turtleneck on! When we measure your gums we are measuring the depth of the turtleneck collar.  The teeth touch each other like wine glasses with a small contact point.
  Physiology...our mouth is like a forest it has plants(yeast and fungus) and animals(bacteria).  Gum disease is caused by one type of bacteria that lives in our mouth.  We need to disable the bad bacteria without harming the beneficial bacteria.  The bad bacteria are anaerobic...you and I are aerobic...we need oxygen to function...the bad bacteria need the absence of oxygen to function.  So they find a hiding place where hopefully you won't disturb them(inside the turtleneck collar, between the teeth and the back of the tongue).  It takes about 24 hours to create an oxygen free bubble around themselves..they start converting sugar to acid.  The acid dissolves  our teeth causing decay and eats away at our gums causing gum infection, loss of gum attachment  and bone loss.
  So when the hygienist points out bleeding gums....she is pointing out where the  bad bacteria are not being disturbed.