We wanted to give you the most extensive, detailed guide of advanced flossing techniques – and tools available today for cleaning between your teeth.
Why? Because we consider cleaning between your teeth, the most important part of your daily oral care routine.
This article is chock full of ideas that you can use in your interdental plaque removal routine “aka flossing” — to start building a habit of good dental health.
Why is Cleaning Between Your Teeth Important?
Have you ever felt a slimy coating on the front of your teeth? That “fuzzy” feeling is bacteria building up on your teeth.
The “fuzz” is called plaque, and if you let it hang around for too long, it can damage your teeth and gums leading to drifting of your teeth and misalignment to your smile.
What can you do to stop plaque? Floss! Flossing removes about 40% of the work required to remove sticky bacteria, or plaque, from your teeth.
What is Plaque?
Plaque is forming on the tooth surface 24 hours a day. Plaque can cause things like stains on the teeth, and gum problems. Fighting plaque buildup on your teeth will be a life-long part of good dental care.
When plaque hardens it turns to tarter and then gum disease.
Gum disease can ruin the youthful aesthetics of your smile by eating away at gums and teeth.
The susceptibility to tartar buildup varies from person to person.
What Does Flossing Do?
Flossing helps remove particles and the plaque that collects between your teeth and gums. By breaking contact between two teeth, dental floss helps clean these hard-to-reach tooth surfaces. This lowers the likelihood of gum disease and tooth decay. Cleaning between teeth is essential to your daily oral hygiene routine.
Choosing the Right Floss
No matter what other teeth cleaning tools are on the market, we consider this numero uno when it comes to oral hygiene.
Levi Spear Parmly, a dentist from New Orleans, is credited with inventing the first form of dental floss. In 1819, he recommended running a waxen silk thread “through the interstices of the teeth, between their necks and the arches of the gum, to dislodge that irritating matter which no brush can remove and which is the real source of disease.”
Today, most floss is made of either nylon or Teflon, and both are effective for cleaning between your teeth. If you have larger spaces between your teeth or have gum recession can experience better results with a flat, wide dental tape.
If your teeth are close together, try a thin shred resistant floss.
The most important thing to is to choose a floss your are comfortable with using on a regular basis. Whether its mint flavored, waxed, not waxed or made of Gore-Tex.
Flossing Techniques and Tips
To receive maximum benefits from flossing, use the following proper technique:
- Starting with about 18 inches of floss, wind most of the floss around each middle finger, leaving an inch or two of floss to work with
- Holding the floss tautly between your thumbs and index fingers, slide it gently up-and-down between your teeth
- Gently curve the floss around the base of each tooth, making sure you go beneath the gumline. Don’t force floss, as this can cut or bruise sensitive gum tissue
- Use clean sections of floss as you move from tooth to tooth
- To remove the floss, use the same back-and-forth motion to bring the floss up and away from the teeth
Other Interdental Cleaning Tools
#1: Floss Picks / Wands
Floss picks are used to hold the floss. While wands do not pinch fingers like regular floss can, using a wand may be awkward and can also make it difficult to floss along the gum line like with regular floss.
#2: Electric Water Flossers & Piks
Electric toothbrushes aren’t the only popular electric-powered dental gear. Electric flossers, also known as water flossers or oral irrigators, are a popular alternative to string flossing. They mix water and air and forces it from the tip of the device.
#3: Interdental Brushes
Interdental brushes serve as an alternative to flossing; they can be used daily and can be effective at interdental plaque removal. Many people prefer interdental brushes as they found them simpler to handle.
Additional Flossing Aids
#1: Floss Threaders
A threader is a simple, disposable tool sold in the dental care section of nearly every grocery and pharmacy. It is easy to use with any kind of floss. Its primary use is to help people with braces floss more effectively by pulling through the gap of the tooth.
How to Use a Floss Threader
- Pull off 12 to 18 inches of your preferred dental floss.
- Insert one end of the dental floss about five inches into the loop of the threader.
- Pass the floss threader under or over any dental appliance such as braces, permanent retainer or bridge.
- Remove the threader from the floss and floss gently back and forth and up and down into the gumline between the teeth.
- Repeat the process.
What Time of the Day Should You Floss?
Since we concluded you should floss once a day, what time is the best? Most dentists recommend opting for after dinner, since you salivate less while sleeping. Since less saliva is present you have a higher chance of bacteria eating away at your teeth.
Anything you can do to prevent decay at night is your best bet.
So, how does your current routine compare with the ideal times to brush and floss your teeth? Share your thoughts in the comments section and let us know if you have any questions.
About Island Coast Dentistry
Island Coast Dentistry handles your oral health care from General Dentistry and Fillings to Cosmetic Dentistry, Dental Implants, Teeth Whitening, Bruxism Devices, Invisalign, and Veneers, Dr. Skupny is equipped to handle all your dental needs.
To help you understand your options, we’ve included descriptions of some of our leading oral health treatments on this page. Read our patient reviews on this page.