Adding flossing to your daily oral home care routine can keep your teeth and gums much healthier. If you have difficulty remembering to floss or your motivation to floss your teeth is low, we recommend adding it to your daily oral health routine. The staff at Miller Family Dentistry in Nashville, Tennessee, wants you to know just how beneficial flossing can be!
What are the Benefits of Flossing?
When you brush your teeth, your toothbrush removes the bacteria built up on the front and back of your teeth, but the bristles can't reach all the way between each tooth. That's where flossing comes in. The floss goes between each tooth, loosening up any hardened calculus built up there and wiping against the sides of the teeth to clean them. This reduces the chances of decay between your teeth.
Flossing keeps both your teeth and gums healthy. When you floss between your teeth, you stimulate the gum tissues between each tooth and help keep those tissues cleaner. It also prevents your gums from being sore, puffy, and red. Ultimately, flossing helps prevent gum disease from occurring.
What Kinds of Floss are There?
If you struggle using one type of floss, there's no need to give up; you just need to find the right type of floss for your teeth:
- Thread Floss: Made from nylon, thread floss can be wrapped around your fingers so you can glide it easily between each tooth.
- Waxed: Waxed floss is made for easy gliding between your teeth, and it's less likely to break or get stuck on rough edges.
- Unwaxed: Unwaxed floss fits easily between tight spaces to remove food particles that are stuck there, but it does tend to fray or break easily.
- Flavored: Flavored floss can make your flossing experience more enjoyable and give your mouth a burst of freshness.
- Tape Floss: Tape floss is good for people who have wide gaps between teeth because it is wider than thread floss and can still remove bacteria and food particles effectively.
- Super Floss: This yarn-like floss has stiff sections on each end, making it ideal for flossing around braces or dental bridges.
- Floss Sticks: Floss picks are plastic tools pre-threaded with a short length of thread floss. You hold onto the pick and work the floss between your teeth. When you are finished, you throw it away.
- Water Flosser: Water flossers are electronic tools that use a thin stream of water to clean between your teeth. It also gives your gums a nice massage.
Frequently Asked Questions About Flossing:
Is flossing good for your teeth?
Definitely! Flossing removes food particles and bacteria from between your teeth, preventing the buildup of calculus, which prevents tooth decay. Flossing also keeps your gums healthy.
How often should you floss your teeth?
Ideally, most people should floss their teeth every day. However, if it is done properly, every other day is acceptable.
Do you floss before or after brushing?
The most important thing is to floss. If you floss before you brush, you can get all of the plaque and food debris out of your mouth when you brush.
How do you correctly floss your teeth?
Work the floss between your teeth, then move the floss up and down as you push the floss against the surfaces of your teeth.
How long before flossing makes a difference?
That depends on the health of your gum tissues and how complete your home care routine is. Usually, it takes weeks to make a difference rather than days.
Schedule an Appointment to Evaluate Your Dental Health
Flossing is important to your overall dental health. At every dental checkup, our team encourages and educates people on proper flossing procedures. If it's time for your next dental checkup, and you live in the Nashville, Tennessee, area, we welcome you to schedule an appointment at Miller Family Dentistry. We take the time to give each patient personalized service, including a comprehensive evaluation of your dental health. Contact us today!