The Importance of Flossing:-

In general with floss or/as well as with flosspicks, plays a very important part in caring for your smile. Not only does it make your gums healthy, but also helps prevent:

• Cavities in between the teeth
• Bad Breath
• Periodontal Disease

To keep your gums and teeth healthy you must remove the plaque buildup between your teeth at least once a day, ideally before brushing at night, but to be honest, any time of the day will do!

I find the most common reason for a patient, either not flossing enough or not flossing at all, is a lack of time, gums bleeding or simply forgetting, so it’s important to find a routine and set flossing into your busy schedule!

Flossing with Floss

Take a minute and follow the simple instructions.

Take about 18 inches of floss. Wrap it around your middle fingers leaving about 5 inches between your hands, pinch the floss with your thumb and index fingers and leave about 1 inch to work with. Gently guide the floss either side of the tooth and pull tightly into a C shape around the individual tooth, then slide it under the gumline.

With an up and down motion, clean the surface of the tooth until it is super clean. When all the biofilm/plaque/food debris is removed from that tooth, adjust the length of floss to a clean section and repeat the process on the next tooth, and so on, until every tooth has been cleaned!

Easypicks

If dental flossing is not something you could commit to due to time, dexterity or just simply because you two don’t get on with FLOSS, then you could try EASY PICKS.

Simply place the easypick in between the teeth and move back and forth, each contact should be about 6 back and forth motions. You need to make sure you feel some resistance, this indicates you’re not only massaging the soft tissue to make it firm and more stippled but also removing food debris and any plaque bacteria.

Gum stimulation is very important as it promotes healthy blood circulation, carrying the nutrients to your gum tissue as well as removing harmful toxins from your gum tissue.

Flossing with FLOSS-PICK.

Most patients prefer to use this product over regular floss, as the angle makes it easier to reach the back teeth. The Floss-Pick is a very simple to use cleaning aid which requires very little technique to be used effectively. Similar to using Floss, you gently slide the Floss-Pick between the teeth, then hug the tooth and slide it under the gumline. With an up and down motion, clean the surface of the tooth until it is clean. When all the biofilm/plaque/food debris are removed move the floss-pick around the next tooth and repeat the process, and so on.

If your gums are infected, they will bleed when you floss, however, don’t be put off by this, after a week or so of regular cleaning and flossing with either floss, or a floss-pick, the bleeding should subside.

So, now you know why brushing your teeth is only half of the battle!

Happy flossing everyone!