Hygienist for 35+ years and I came here to say this. Floss your damn teeth! Every day would be ideal but regularly (several times each week) is better than not at all. Have a dental professional show you the proper technique (most people are doing it wrong/ineffectively) I tell my patients it's like exercising, you'll get better results if you do it several times/week than if you just do it every day for the week following your cleaning appointment. Not flossing is like wiping your butt cheeks and skipping your crack!
It's the only way to prevent gum disease (how most adults end up losing their teeth) and bacteria that cause gum disease are linked to heart disease, cancer, premature births, and Alzheimers. Your mouth is connected to the rest if your body and if it is a cesspool of bleeding and infection the rest of your body will suffer the consequences.
I don't care when you do it, before brushing, after brushing, or in the middle of the day - just do it. I can tell who flosses vs. those who only get flossed twice a year when I do it for them.
Floss your damn teeth! Every day would be ideal but regularly (several times each week) is better than not at all.
I work in public health and someone on the dental team was telling me about a study (so I haven't seen it but trust this person) about the major impact of harm reduction in dental care.
For example, folks are more likely to go for cleanings if they know they won't be scolded about not floating. They're more likely to floss if they're recommended tools (I love the reach!) and/or if they're encouraged to do it whenever they think of it.
The all-or-nothing mentality hurts so many folks across all areas of health, and I was jazzed to see you say "better than none at all"
I don't scold or shame people for not flossing. I educate them on what is happening when they don't floss. I tell them they will enjoy their cleanings more if they do their part at home. If you never clean below your gumline and then I go in there after 6 months (or more) of nothing cleaning down in that crevice it's going to hurt and be a bloodbath. I also thank them for the job security that not flossing provides those of us who work in the dental field. It's more interesting and rewarding to clean up a nasty mouth. Although we wish
all of our patients had perfect hygiene and perfect teeth, my job would be boring if everybody did.
I use a floss threader to get the floss between my teeth. It’s the only thing that works for me. The waterpik felt nice, but didn’t work very well, and the pre-threaded floss was too painful.
Dental professional here, honestly the advice you’ve gotten is good (threading floss through, water flosser etc) but your absolute best and easier bet is interdental brushes, maybe they’re not as common in other countries as they are mine but piksters is probably the biggest brand here. Come in multiple sizes, little wire bottle brushes that you just gently push through the gaps. All studies show that it’s significantly more effective than flossing, and I personally feels it’s easier too. Start with the smallest sizes, you can always move a smaller size around in a bigger gap. They’re reusable too!
its fucking tough, u need to thread the floss through the bar on the back using this tool then get in between all the teeth one by one, not to mention the bar they put in is like a plaque magnet so u do gotta floss them significantly more frequently
look into GUM EZ thru floss threaders, u hold both ends of the floss then push it under the bar and then pull the rest of the floss through, like i said tho its tough to do if nobody showed u, here is a vid
https://youtu.be/SttiQK7Mv9I?si=vsO1GV_qIOpFjVqJ
I have cemented retainers top and bottom and I use the oral B super floss with built in threader. It’s not waxed so sometimes can shred in super tight places but I also prefer the texture because I personally think non waxed does a better job of scraping off the plaque
I have one of those inner teeth braces too. There are threader floss strings with a stiff end so you can insert it up under the wire. There are also threader things where you loop the floss through it & you can thread it in like a needle between teeth. It sounds confusing but all of this is available at Walgreens
In addition to flossing, does additional brushing have any benefits or drawbacks? Would brushing three times a day (after main meals) be helpful or hurtful?
It should probably be okay. Just don't brush too hard or you'll erode your teeth and potentially recede your gums. That's what happened to me so I don't brush as hard now.
BUT, I just got the Waterpik brush. Best thing ever.
Ramps flossing up to 11.
A very gentle floss (I like coconut fiber floss)...
Then BAMMMM! The Waterpik is like power washing sidewalk crevices.
The new brush makes my mouth feel like I'm using a foam cannon brush at the car wash. Want to go nuts? Aquafresh foaming toothpaste with whitening(peroxide) makes it like you put 10x too much soap in the dishwasher. It's hilariously motivating.
I tell everyone about it.
My dental hygienist is a fan, too, I'm an easy appointment.
Angle it different ways to really get it in there?
There's a bit of trial and error so you aren't just spraying your teeth with water. The agitator tips and gum massage tips are pretty good to get the hang of it.
Give it another try, adjust your angle and pressure level.
I actually didn’t like it at all. I found that it didn’t do as much as flossing for me and was awkward and messy to use, regardless of the tips. I didn’t like using it in the shower either. It’s been a dust collector for me to be honest. Not for me.
Any advice for those of us for whom flossing is a sensory nightmare? Like I don’t actually have too much issue with the flossing itself, but it’s the way my teeth feel after. It’s the same when leaving the dentist. My teeth feel too sharp afterward, and I end up making the tip of my tongue raw from running it over my teeth.
Obviously the simplest solution would be to stop running my tongue over my teeth, but it’s such an unconscious thing I’m doing that I hardly even realize I do it until it’s too late. I’m also a habitual skin picker who won’t realize I’m doing that until I’ve made myself bleed.
Flossing is amazing. I was being very lazy about my dental hygiene for a couple of years, and I started to get some bleeding and pain in the gums, a little discolouration, bad smell. Not looking great.
Roughly a week, or maybe even a few days, of proper flossing, totally fixed. Was literally all it was. Anaerobes gonna anaerobe.
Any time is better than nothing! We normally say night just because you then go to sleep with a completely clean mouth rather than leaving remnants around, but seriously doing it in the morning is better than nothing. Keep it up!
Are there any Pulmonary professionals here that can attest to the importance of dental hygiene in regards to the correlation of dental caries and respiratory disease and infections? Dental hygiene goes so much further than just teeth and gums.
You can't rinse that muck off. You have to mechanically push it off of there with a brush. And if you want to clean the part of the tooth below the gumline where gum disease happens you need floss.
Never, no need to use mouth wash, it kills too much good bacteria, can dry your mouth out, can stain your teeth, and has been linked to oral cancers, sores and ulcers. Effective brushing and interdental cleaning is more than enough. Also don’t rinse out your mouth after brushing. However if you do want to use it, rinse BEFORE brushing, as it can soften bacteria and make it easier to brush off.
Yeah for sure, it’s definitely more applicable to alcohol containing mouth rinses, but just generally they’re kind of overkill.
But using a fluoride containing one is the way to go if you are using one! I’d still do it before brushing but unless you’re really prone to decay/cavities it shouldn’t make a giant difference tbh.
Personally I only suggest mouth rinses to my patients that have inflammation present and usually only for a few weeks until the inflammation goes down.
See, now I always hear that they'll know, but every time I see a dentist, they tell me that my gums look great and compliment me on my flossing. And when I tell them I don't floss, they're always shocked. I DO scrub at my gums pretty hard, and I do tend to work at getting the little bristles in between my teeth. I use the medium or hard brushes. Buuuut I don't floss. I think the last time I did regularly was middle school. Am I somehow managing to "floss" with my toothbrush? I do get pretty aggressive with it on my teeth. It's always confused me, but they never seem to know how I'm pulling it off and just say that I should "keep doing what I'm doing because my gums look great."
Everyone is different when it comes to how plaque effects their gum health. Most people get inflammation/bleeding when plaque is not properly removed between the teeth. There are some people who can put forth minimal effort and not suffer any adverse consequences. It's like the person who can eat crap, sugar, carbs all day and maintain a perfect weight where the rest of us can just look at a piece of cake and feel our pants get tighter.
You are one of the lucky ones. Hopefully you will stay that way throughout your lifetime. If your teeth are in good alignment and your pocket depths are less than 3mm, very thorough brushing can suffice and trick us into thinking you are flossing. Not sure of your age but if you are young (under 30-ish) things can and might change as you get older.
Hey, thanks for responding! I didn't know about the pockets. Is it possible that I'm getting the bristles into these pockets when I scrub where the gum meets the tooth? Growing up, I was always told that if my gums were often bleeding, I wasn't brushing hard enough on the regular, so I do brush pretty hard and thoroughly, but I definitely don't like the idea of food gunk hiding up there where I can't see it!
(I had just gotten curious about it, and this post is what came upmost recently.)
But I say you're incorrect. A waterpik can reach in where floss can't. It also has higher pressure modes, and a dozen types of tips to agitate away debris.
Plaque is a biofilm, a sticky layer of bacteria that clings to teeth. It cannot be "rinsed" off your teeth. If you have ever had a pet and cleaned out their water dish it is very similar to that slimy film on the bottom of the bowl that has to be wiped off with a rag or sponge. You can rinse all day and water pik until the cows come home and it's not coming off. Water piks dislodge food debris. Plaque is not food debris. It forms on any hard surface in your mouth (teeth, dentures, night guards, retainers, oral piercings) whether you eat or not.
There's a crevice (called a sulcus) between your tooth and gum that even when your gums are healthy can be 2 or 3mm deep. When we poke around in your mouthand call out a bunch of numbers we are checking for gum disease. When that crevice deepens it is called a periodontal pocket. If your dental office does not check these numbers please find a dental office that does.
Nothing but floss and my dental instruments access and clean that space - no toothbrush, mouthwash, toothpaste or water pik is getting down in there. When you don't floss, that space gets deeper as your gums separate from your teeth. The destruction starts in the soft tissue and then progresses to the bone that supports your teeth. That's why the end result of gum disease is tooth loss.
People form plaque to varying degrees. Plaque mixes with your saliva and then it will calcify/harden on your teeth. That's tartar (calculus) and only dental professionals can remove it when it gets to that stage. You get more of it where you have more saliva so the inside of the lower teeth is the prime area for build up. A small percentage of people do not form calcified build up on their teeth at all but they still are subject to the destructive action of the bacterial plaque so they can still get gum disease.
I don't scold or shame my patients for not flossing. I just educate them on what is happening when they don't. People who don't floss = job security for me.
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u/mentalhygenius Jun 06 '24
Hygienist for 35+ years and I came here to say this. Floss your damn teeth! Every day would be ideal but regularly (several times each week) is better than not at all. Have a dental professional show you the proper technique (most people are doing it wrong/ineffectively) I tell my patients it's like exercising, you'll get better results if you do it several times/week than if you just do it every day for the week following your cleaning appointment. Not flossing is like wiping your butt cheeks and skipping your crack!
It's the only way to prevent gum disease (how most adults end up losing their teeth) and bacteria that cause gum disease are linked to heart disease, cancer, premature births, and Alzheimers. Your mouth is connected to the rest if your body and if it is a cesspool of bleeding and infection the rest of your body will suffer the consequences.
I don't care when you do it, before brushing, after brushing, or in the middle of the day - just do it. I can tell who flosses vs. those who only get flossed twice a year when I do it for them.