8 Things Your Dentist Knows About You Just By Looking In Your Mouth

You flossed right before your appointment—and that’s the only time.

Sorry, but you can’t fool your dentist into thinking you floss daily by doing it the night before or morning of your visit. 

“The gums of people who only floss right before a visit are bleeding or look damaged,” says Timothy Stirneman, D.D.S., of All Smiles Dental in Algonquin, Illinois. “Healthy gums are nice and tight and pink.”

Santa Monica-based dentist Kenneth Wong, D.D.S., is on to you, too. “When patients floss right before coming in for a cleaning, I can see the slices where the floss cut at the gum because they were overzealous,” he says.