Friday, April 6, 2012

Not Without Its Floss

Evidently some natural disaster, perhaps the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, has struck dental floss weaving facilities, making it impossible to find the Johnson & Johnson Reach woven floss. Other flosses are available, but the woven one is nowhere to be found. This is a deep setback for dental health, and for overall productivity. I don't usually spend a lot of time thinking about floss, but this scarcity has diverted my attention from other, more pressing matters, such as the location of my nail clippers.

Floss, for those unfamiliar with the concept, is a fibrous substance designed to dislodge matter from between the teeth and fling it onto the bathroom mirror. I like the fact that floss can be both a noun and a verb. You can floss with floss. You can also brush with a brush, and rinse with rinse. Oral hygiene seems to be spearheading the movement towards multipurpose words. Of course, you can also paint with paint or phone with a phone or google with Google, but these don't capture a whole enterprise like dental care.

The other side effect of this floss crisis is the necessity of spending more than the usual amount of time searching in drug stores, and seeking alternatives. Matchbook covers used to serve as impromptu toothpicks, but where can you even find matchbooks anymore?

So come November, I'll be looking for the candidate who can keep floss plentiful and cheap.

4 comments:

Catherine Post said...

Geez...I've been searching and searching (seriously!) for my favorite floss for some time now, and cannot find it in the usual retail locations. So the tsunami has hit California residents, too? Sheesh. Peter, you cracked me up! Thanks for bringing some smiles & levity to my day!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Catherine. It's great that you can laugh in the face of a floss disaster like this. That's a good survival skill in these trying times.

Unknown said...

I find it a bit disturbing that dental floss manufacturing companies were hit hard by that catastrophe in Japan because I've always neglected things like that from my brentwood cosmetic dentistry. I never realized their value until now. Thanks for sharing anyway. It's such an eye-opener in more ways than one. Cheers!

Unknown said...

Thanks, Patrick. I'll let you slip in a plug for your dental practice, since all bloggers should promote good dental hygiene.