Supporting Your Smile with Floss Dental Care
Oral hygiene has a strong connection to the rest of your body. Often called the gateway to the body, your mouth holds millions of bacteria that need to be managed daily through good home care. Only 30% of Americans floss daily, leaving 70% missing out on this important tool that fights bacteria. Floss dental care is an easy self-care habit that takes less than 2 minutes a day!
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How Oral Hygiene Connects to the Whole Body
There is strong scientific evidence that stresses the connection between oral health and systemic diseases. Floss dental care and brushing are two simple daily habits to help stabilize your entire body.
- Diabetes: Gum disease is an inflammatory response that can affect your blood sugar levels. Diabetes interferes with the body’s healing system and will affect oral health. To learn more, check out our Diabetes and Oral Health article.
- Heart Disease: Inflammation and infection from the bacteria in the mouth can enter the bloodstream having access to the whole body.
- Cancer: The bacteria in the mouth and viruses can enter the bloodstream and lead to abnormal cell growth.
- Alzheimer’s Disease: Poor oral health and the bacteria involved aid in disease progression.
Why Flossing is Important
Floss dental care is an overlooked dental tool by many patients. With cavities and gum disease on the rise, it’s a small action to incorporate that dramatically improves your smile.
- Brushing with a toothbrush only cleans two-thirds of the tooth surface. No matter how often you brush, how hard you brush, or how long, there will still be one-third that has a fuzzy buildup of food, plaque, and bacteria.
- Stain from foods and beverages often starts to build up in between the teeth. It’s hard for your toothbrush to contour to the tooth’s surface reaching these tight spots. Flossing helps keep your teeth white.
- You cannot see cavities that start in between the teeth without dental x-rays. To prevent permanent enamel damage, floss is needed daily.
- 74 million Americans do not have dental insurance. Dental treatment is expensive and can add up quickly. Preventative oral hygiene is the best way to curb high dental bills.
How to Preform Floss Dental Care
It is best to perform floss dental care at night to ensure all food, plaque, and bacteria are removed before you go to bed.
- Gently insert the floss between teeth.
- Using a C-shaped action, wipe one tooth a few times and then the next tooth.
- Remove and move to the next interdental space.
It is important to consciously wipe the side of the tooth. Just inserting the floss will not effectively clean the tooth and miss more than 50% of debris.
Options for Floss Dental Care
- Traditional String Floss: The standard string floss fits most dental needs. Avoid the thin, ribbon floss. Floss that is too thing will glide right through the teeth without grabbing on to bacteria, plaque, and food.
- Expanding Floss: This string of floss expands when inserted into the pocket. It’s easy to insert but removes more debris. This floss is perfect around restorations or where food gets stuck easily.
- Floss with Handle: Having floss with a handle works well for patients with compromised dexterity.
- Floss Threader: Using a floss threader will guide the floss under bridges, braces, and fused teeth. You can buy the threader separately or already attached to the string.
- Water Flossers: Water flossers are a great resource in fighting bacteria and maintaining a healthy smile. They work great for cleaning braces, dentures, and dental restorations. Our Water Flosser Guide has more information.
There are many great tools to help improve your oral health. To learn more about other options, check out our Floss Alternatives article.
Tips for Your Best Floss Dental Care
- If you’re only going to floss once, floss before bed. During the day your body has natural responses to help fight bacteria. Your saliva flow and tongue both help clean off the teeth throughout the day.
- All floss is one-time use only. Reusing floss will reintroduce bacteria to the tooth and gum pockets.
- Floss comes in many scents, flavors, shapes, and sizes. Finding the right type of floss will help maintain the habit.
- If your gums bleed when you floss, that means your gum tissue is infected. This is a sign to gently floss more frequently to help promote healing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I floss or brush first?
There are no studies proving if flossing or brushing first impacts oral health. If you’re new to flossing, flossing before brushing can reinforce the habit and prevent you from forgetting after a long day.
Can dentists really tell if you floss?
YES! Your dental hygienist and dentist can tell when you don’t floss. The infected gum tissue will bleed and portray a darker color when patients don’t floss. This is from the bacteria and the acid they produce.
Take Home Smile Store
Visit our Take Home Smile store for educational brochures and other fun printables to help with oral hygiene. All products can be customized to fit your dental needs.
