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We’ve all been there: frantically brushing, flossing, and gargling with mouthwash before going to a dentist appointment. And when asked the dreaded question, “Have you been flossing?”, most of us feel too embarrassed to say no. As it turns out, 73% of patients lie to their dentist.
People tend to stretch the truth when confronted about their oral care habits. The problem is, lying to your dentist hurts you, not them. Dentists can also see right through the fibs and excuses, shares Dr. Shervin Rahimi. Patients say they brush and floss daily, or that they quit smoking, but one quick look at their mouth will reveal otherwise.
If you want a closer working relationship with your dentist and receive the best possible dental care, stop saying what you think they want to hear. Here are the most common lies patients tell, how dentists recognize them, and why you need to tell the truth at your next visit.
No family dentist expects perfection. They do, however, expect honesty, especially if you want to avoid pain, complications, and extra costs later on.
Bleeding, swelling, and plaque between your teeth prove whether flossing is part of your routine or something you only did right before the appointment. There’s no need to feel embarrassed. In fact, most people floss inconsistently or skip it altogether, with the American Dental Association (ADA) reporting that only 16% of American adults floss daily.
Flossing removes plaque and food debris in areas a toothbrush can’t reach, including between your teeth and under the gumline. If you ignore those hard-to-reach areas and let plaque stick around (literally), it’ll harden into calculus in as little as 24 to 72 hours, leading to:
Once periodontal pockets form, regular cleanings won’t be enough to save your smile. You’ll need scaling, root planing, and, in some cases, surgical intervention. These consequences are preventable with regular flossing.
The ADA recommends flossing at least once a day. Guide the string between your teeth instead of snapping it into the gums. Use gentle up-and-down motions to dislodge food particles and loosen plaque. Read Flossing 101 for a step-by-step.
What to Say Instead
If you hate flossing, ask your dentist about alternatives to dental floss. Interdental brushes, soft picks, and oral irrigators are popular examples. Your dental team can only recommend the right tool if they know the truth about your habits and preferences.
No one benefits from brushing off pain. You might be tempted to lie to end your visit faster, but downplaying discomfort risks the following:
If these issues go unchecked, you may leave with ongoing pain, swelling, or bite problems that worsen over time.
What to Say Instead
Don’t be scared; pain during cleanings or procedures doesn’t always mean something’s wrong. Your teeth and gums might just be sensitive. But if anything stings or throbs, speak up. Your dentist can stop and check, numb the area, and address what’s causing it. You’re not expected to sit through pain.
Most smokers lie because they don’t want a lecture from their dentist. Don’t worry; most won’t scold you. While they’re concerned about your health, they’re more focused on how to keep your teeth and gums healthy between visits.
Even if you don’t admit it or say you’ve cut back, smoking leaves signs your dentist can see right away. Stained enamel, bad breath, dry mouth, gum recession, delayed healing, white patches in the oral cavity, and tobacco stomatitis (smoker’s palate) expose your smoking or vaping habits.
Cigarettes, vapes, pouches, and anything else with nicotine threaten your health, including your smile. If you need a tooth extraction, deep cleaning, or dental implant but don’t quit for at least 48 to 72 hours before and after the procedure, you delay healing and raise your risk of infection. Other related concerns include:
Although the signs are unmistakable to most dental providers, lying about your smoking history can defer the treatments your smile desperately needs.
What to Say Instead
It’s okay to tell a dentist about your smoking habits. You can also mention how much, how often, or if you’re trying to quit. Being honest provides your dentist with the necessary information to schedule more cleanings and monitor thoroughly for any tissue changes.
Too many patients refuse to believe the link between excessive drinking and poor oral health. In reality, alcohol causes dry mouth, corrodes tooth enamel, and irritates the gums. Some alcoholic beverages, like wine, beer, liquor, and mixed cocktails, are also acidic or high in sugar, making teeth vulnerable to cavities and decay.
Drinking too much, especially if you’re not brushing, flossing, or visiting Kyrene Family Dentistry regularly, can lead to:
According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), heavy alcohol use refers to binge drinking on five or more days within the past month. Furthermore, a study featured in Alcohol Research: Current Reviews found that 65% of oral and pharyngeal cancer cases in women and 80% in men are attributed to alcohol and tobacco use. If you’re struggling to quit drinking and smoking, seek professional help before these habits wreak havoc on your oral and overall health.
What to Say Instead
If your dentist asks, try to be transparent about how often you drink and the types of alcohol you consume. This information helps your dentist assess your risk for tooth erosion, dry mouth, and alcohol-related diseases of the mouth and throat.
Some patients claim they don’t grind their teeth to avoid wearing a night guard. However, when the enamel is worn or a molar suddenly cracks, the damage hints at something very obvious to dentists.
Teeth grinding in your sleep, also called nocturnal bruxism, wears down your teeth, strains your jaw joints, and inflames your facial muscles. Without treatment, it can lead to pain, fractures, and damage to crowns or veneers.
Grinding doesn’t always count as a lie, since most patients are unaware that they do it. Thankfully, it only takes one good look for the best dentists in Chandler to notice these signs of bruxism:
A dentist may recommend a night guard or another type of dental device to protect the enamel from further damage. If malocclusion (a misaligned bite) is the cause of involuntary clenching or grinding, treatment may involve dental interventions like traditional braces or Invisalign. Your dentist may also suggest addressing other possible contributing factors, such as stress and caffeine intake.
What to Say Instead
Mention if you frequently wake up with jaw pain, or if someone has told you that you clench or grind in your sleep. Headaches in the morning or trouble opening your mouth are other possible signs of nighttime teeth grinding.
Your dentist can tell when that’s not true.
As discussed, a night guard prevents wear due to involuntary grinding and clenching. If you stop using it, your restorations, enamel, and joints take the impact. Your dentist may notice:
Your dentist needs the truth to determine whether the damage resulted from inconsistent use or something the night guard couldn’t fix.
What to Say Instead
Tell your dentist how often you use your night guard, including if and why you stopped wearing it. Say if it’s uncomfortable, painful, too tight, or too difficult to clean. Your dentist can adjust it, replace it, or give you better options. Skipping the truth only risks more damage.
No one’s ever really happy or excited to see a dentist. Research suggests that between 50 and 80% of American adults have mild to severe dental anxiety. However, lying about it prevents your dentist from working around your fears instead of against them.
If you sit through an appointment in a state of panic, your body may react in ways that interfere with your treatment. You may breathe irregularly, clench your jaw, or feel pain from pressure that wouldn’t bother you otherwise. You may also rush through questions and leave with the wrong instructions.
When your dentist doesn’t know that you need time to calm down or medication to get through a visit, your anxiety may worsen, and the procedure may take longer than it should. Unaddressed dental fears can also lead to:
These outcomes are preventable, especially if you choose a practice that’s on a mission to help patients overcome their anxieties, like Kyrene Family Dentistry.
What to Say Instead
Don’t be ashamed to say you’re nervous or scared. As mentioned, adults of all ages have some degree of dental anxiety. You may qualify for sedation dentistry in Chander, AZ, but your dentist can only recommend it if you communicate your emotions. That part is up to you.
Sugar can infiltrate your diet in ways you might not realize. When you say you avoid sugar, you might mean you don’t eat candy and drink soda. But if you prefer fruit juice over water, snack on granola, or dip your food in ketchup, you’re still feeding the bacteria that lead to tooth decay.
When bacteria in your mouth digest sugar, they produce acids. That acid softens and wears your enamel, raising your risk for cavities. Even slow-dissolving sugar, like the kind in cough drops or lozenges, coats your teeth long enough to cause damage.
The surprising sources aside, sugar has many names, including but not limited to:
Next time you go grocery shopping and check a product’s nutrition label, don’t stop at the word “sugar.” If you spot anything ending in “-ose” or words like syrup, nectar, or concentrate, it’s not sugar-free. Even “natural” or “organic” options may contain hidden sugars. Granola bars, sauces, salad dressings, cereals, protein shakes, and sports drinks are common culprits. The more sugar you consume, the more you feed cavity-causing bacteria. Being aware of these aliases helps you make better choices for your teeth.
What to Say Instead
Being candid about your diet helps your dentist assess your risk for cavities, erosion, and gum problems. If they know how much sugar you consume, they can recommend dental sealants or fluoride treatments, explain how different types of diets impact oral health, schedule cleanings more frequently, or suggest ways to overcome sugar cravings.
If you’re like 63% of the U.S. adult population, chances are you’ve had a sugary drink today, and it might’ve been cola. Carbonated sugary drinks have ill effects on your smile, potentially resulting in cavities, decay, and discoloration. Ginger ale, root beer, cream soda, lemon-lime sodas (such as Sprite or 7UP), and fruit-flavored sodas can have similar repercussions.
Soda contains sugar and acid. Sugar feeds bacteria, which produce even more acid. The carbonation and phosphoric acid then erode enamel. The result is a constant acid bath that weakens your teeth.
Your dentist can tell whether you drink soda by looking for:
Even if you only drink soda once a week, or occasionally, your mouth stays in an acidic state for up to 20 minutes after each sip. That’s enough time for enamel to soften and for bacteria to attack the surface.
What to Say Instead
Be open about how much soda you drink, whether it’s daily, weekly, or only when eating out. Your dentist can then recommend rinsing with water after drinking, waiting at least 30 minutes before brushing, getting fluoride treatments, and scheduling frequent cleanings. Even so, cutting back on soda is the best way to reduce your risk of enamel loss and cavities.
Certain medical conditions can affect how your body heals, tolerates anesthesia, or responds to painkillers following an invasive dental treatment. Lying about being 100% healthy even though you have a medical condition can also make you more prone to infection, dry mouth, bleeding, or jaw pain after a procedure.
You don’t need to mention every symptom or lab result, but you must be upfront about what you were diagnosed with and when. This includes:
Knowing about your complete medical history helps your dentist minimize the risk of allergic reactions, infections, and other side effects. It also helps them decide whether to use local anesthesia or to space out treatments into shorter, safer appointments.
What to Say Instead
If anything might affect your dental care, let your dentist know. Your safety depends on your honesty.
Dentists hear lies all the time. You’re not the first person to downplay soda, skip flossing, or hide a habit you think might get judged. But none of that benefits your smile.
For your dentist to take better care of your teeth and gums, meet them halfway. If something hurts, mention it. If you stopped wearing your night guard, say so. If you’re nervous, admit it. You don’t need to explain everything in detail; just be truthful. The sooner your dentist understands what’s going on, the easier it’ll be to prevent, manage, or reverse the damage.
At Kyrene Family Dentistry, Dr. Shervin Rahimi is happy to help families throughout Chandler, AZ, protect their beautiful smiles. He and his team specialize in a variety of dental treatments, from cosmetic and emergency procedures to preventive care. If you have aching teeth, swollen gums, issues with your bite, or maybe you’re just long overdue for a checkup, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Send us your details or call us at 480-705-9005 to schedule an appointment for an exam, teeth cleaning, whitening, or any other treatment.