Are You Flossing Your Teeth Correctly?

There has been some debates and changes over what is considered the best or most effective way to floss your teeth. As professionals in the dental field, we want to convey to you the proper ways to care for your teeth but sometimes those change or we find new, better ways to help you. At Community Dental Group, we want to insure that your next visit to us will be an easy one. There are a few techniques that should be adopted to your flossing regimen, if you are not already doing them.

The Old Ways Of Flossing

We had it jammed in our heads as children the importance of brushing our teeth and flossing. They weren’t wrong, those things are important, there are just certain things they may have left out or not considered. The keys to flossing back then were simple:

• Use any floss you have.
• Get between each tooth one time.
• Bleeding means you aren’t flossing enough.
• Floss.

That was pretty much it and although, they weren’t necessarily incorrect, we have spent some time finding the best ways to do this and they left some information out.

The New Ways Of Flossing

Some fairly recent studies have some to question the validity of our past views on flossing. Is it really helping? Yes, but mostly when done correctly and it needs to be accompanied by proper brushing as well. The idea of flossing has always been to loosen plaque and debris in hard to reach places, so that it is easier to brush those things away after. The new studies are showing that the benefits of flossing are the strongest with those that are specifically susceptible to gum disease. There are some simple techniques that should be remembered while flossing now:

• Use a c-shaped moved against the inside of the tooth instead of just inserting the floss up and down.
• Find a thickness (waxed or unwaxed) that works for the extra snug spots.
• Use 18 inches of floss each time.
• Brush and rinse with mouthwash after you floss.

These are pretty simple steps that the ADA agrees are the appropriate way to take care of your flossing. These could be the difference between doing it correctly and having flossing benefit your oral hygiene or flossing for no reason.