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Show Religious Practice Harms Oral Health by Chris Jolley, DDS Ginger Vitus (her name has been changed to protect the innocent) visited her dentist den-tist for her regular check-up and cleaning. The dentist noticed no-ticed that Ginger's gums were ' red, swollen and bleeding. The dentist told her that she needed to floss more or her inflamed gums would lead to bone loss around her teeth. Exasperated, Ginger replied, re-plied, "But doc, I floss religiously! reli-giously! How can that be?" The dentist said, "I understand un-derstand you floss religiously, but every Christmas and Easter Eas-ter just isn't good enough." As bacterial plaque accumulate accu-mulate on teeth daily, removing remov-ing plaque with daily flossing helps maintain healthy gums. While the first Amendment Amend-ment to the US Constitution protects our freedom of religion reli-gion from government intrusion, intru-sion, one should not allow one's religion to interfere with maintaining good oral health. |