One good thing about flossing your teeth is that you can help prevent 'caries'.
Caries is a Latin word meaning 'rot' or 'rotten'.
Dental caries is not a new disease - it has been with us in all known societies. But in Europe and in North America in the 1700s, a very different type of caries developed - because of changes in peoples' diet. This was because the development of the sugar cane industry in America, which led to the marketing of sugar as a food additive. Today we know that dental caries is a disease where the tooth gradually loses its mineral content. This is then followed by bacteria invading their way into the demineralised areas of the tooth.