How To Floss – Flossing Tips
min read
What is the Right Way to Floss?
Proper flossing removes plaque and food particles in places where a toothbrush cannot easily reach — under the gumline and inbetween your teeth. Because plaque build-up can lead to tooth decay and gum disease, daily flossing is highly recommended.
To receive maximum benefits from flossing, use the following proper technique:
Starting with about 50 cm of floss, wind most of the floss around each middle finger, and a few centimeters of floss to work with
Holding the floss tautly between your thumbs and index fingers, slide it gently up-and-down between your teeth
Gently curve the floss around the base of each tooth, making sure you go beneath the gumline. Never snap or force the floss, as this may cut or bruise delicate gum tissue
Use clean sections of floss as you move from tooth to tooth
To remove the floss, use the same back-and-forth motion to bring the floss up and away from the teeth
What Type of Floss Should I Use?
There are two types of floss from which to choose:
Nylon (or multifilament) floss
PTFE (monofilament) floss
Nylon floss is available waxed and unwaxed, and in a variety of flavors. Because this type of floss is composed of many strands of nylon, it may sometimes tear or shred, especially between teeth with tight contact points. While more expensive, single filament (PTFE) floss slides easily between teeth, even those with tight spaces between teeth, and is virtually shred-resistant. When used properly, both types of floss are excellent at removing plaque and debris.
Use about 50cm of floss, wind most of the floss around each middle finger, leaving a few centimeters to work with.
Gently follow the curves of your teeth.
Be sure to clean beneath the gumline, but avoid snapping the floss on the gums.
Related Articles
Caries risk in elderly patients
Dental caries is one of the most prevalent chronic non-communicable diseases in the world, and the older population is at a disproportionately high risk. In Australia, the Australian Dental Association Oral Health Tracker estimates that only 10.7% of adults over 15 years have never experienced tooth decay.
A healthcare professional guide to oral care for older patients: Seattle Pathway
A healthcare professional guide to oral care for older patients: Seattle Pathway | Colgate® Professional
Reframing dental care towards preventive care
Oral disease processes are insidious and progressive, often remaining invisible to the layperson until the end stage. Self-diagnosis is often delayed until patients notice irreversible signs - frank cavitation as caries undermines marginal ridges and advances inexorably towards vulnerable pulps, progressive tooth mobility or gingival recession with declining periodontal health and functio laesa in the case of expanding oral cavity neoplasms that may have begun as subtle precursor lesions. If evading the watchful eye of a supervising dental practitioner, ailments of the intraoral hard and soft tissues can easily go unchecked until patients experience advanced disease, at which point it becomes increasingly invasive and expensive to manage. Dental professionals have the capacity to identify disease risk factors and to detect signs of disease at the pre-symptomatic stage, at which point it is possible to arrest and reverse disease progression by providing tailored lifestyle counselling to encourage health-promoting behaviours. This article will delve into current barriers to our transition away from the reactive modus operandi of dental healthcare towards a more medical, person-centred model of caries management to break the restorative death spiral and curb rates of edentulism in our community
Related Products
Help Keep Patients More Informed
Join us
Get resources, products and helpful information to give your patients a healthier future.
Join us
Get resources, products and helpful information to give your patients a healthier future.
