Building a Foundation for Your Smile With Dental Floss

When it comes to your interdental care, slow and steady often wins the race. Although it shouldn’t be a race at all, you do need to make sure that all areas between each tooth are adequately cleaned. Because you are slowly and securely cleaning between your teeth as needed, there are several issues that you may want to take into consideration. The first of which being that when you floss, make sure you are using products that accomplish the task for which it is intended to do. For additional help with choosing proper flossing products, don’t be afraid to talk to your dentist about potential options. Also, make sure you’re using effective techniques.

Unless you are suffering from joint pain and muscle issues when flossing with thread, either a water flosser or dental floss will work effectively for cleaning out your mouth. Often time it’s merely a decision upon preference which one is better. If you do decide to go with a dental floss thread, try to floss slowly between each tooth for roughly 2 to 3 minutes in total. This will allow you to clean all areas in your mouth that your brush will not be able to reach. Because plaque and debris are often located in the smallest of recesses, you will need to make sure that you are slowly using a c-shaped motion between each tooth to adequately clean on all sides of a tooth. Try to wrap each end of a section of the strand around a finger on each hand and shimmy up and down the strand as needed so that you do not move debris from one area of your mouth to another. Typically, a strand roughly 18” in length will be required. After you finish flossing, replace the strand.

Do you have any additional questions or concerns about interdental cleaners? You are welcome to stop by our office. To schedule an appointment with your dentist at Paul L. Evans, DDS, call us at our dental office in Grass Valley, California, a