Flossing is just as important as brushing our teeth but too often ignored. It is essential for adults and children to floss daily to remove plaque from between your teeth, where your toothbrush can’t reach. Flossing can reduce your risk of cavities by 40% or more!
How to Floss Your Teeth for a Healthy Smile
Check out this video from the ADA on how to floss your teeth:
I thought the video did a great job at showing how to floss. Here are step by step instructions from ADA on how to floss using traditional dental floss.
You’ll need 18 inches of floss.
Wind most of it around one middle finger and wind the remaining floss around the middle finger of your other hand.
Hold the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers.
Gently guide the floss between your teeth using a rubbing motion.
At the gum line, curve the floss using a “C” shape against your tooth. Slide the floss between the gum and tooth.
Hold the floss tightly against the tooth, gently rubbing the side with up and down motions.
Repeat on the rest of your teeth, including the back side of your last tooth.
When to Floss Your Teeth
The American Dental Association (ADA) recommends flossing once a day to take care of your teeth and gums. About 53% of people floss after they brush while 47% floss before they brush. People have good reasoning for their stance.
Floss before you brush:
By flossing before your brush your teeth, the floss will break up and remove plaque covering the tooth surface. By flossing first, you are enabling fluoride, toothpaste, and mouth wash to reach in between your teeth where it can fight bacteria that causes cavities.
Floss after you brush:
Others recommend flossing after you brush so tat you can pull some of the toothpastes between your teeth as you floss. It is thought that if you floss after brushing, you can get the gunk in your mouth that you might have missed.
There is much debate as to when it is best to floss – before or after brushing but I like how my kids’ dentist puts it:
“The most important part about flossing is to do it.”
When should you start flossing your child’s teeth?
When he or she has two teeth that touch. Kids usually need help flossing until they are around 10 years old. If you have young children, you will be flossing their teeth for them or helping them up to about age 10.
Check out this video to see how you can floss your child’s teeth.
Flossing can reduce your child’s risk of cavities by 40% or more! It is important to teach children at a young age the importance of flossing so that it becomes part of their oral health care. Flossing is as important as brushing. Flossing removes plaque that can’t be removed by brushing alone, plus flossing helps prevent gum disease.
Use whatever floss you and your children prefer: traditional dental floss, dental pick, pre-threaded flosser, or water flosser. My kids prefer to use a dental pick as they are still young and don’t have the manual dexterity to use traditional floss. Like our pediatric dentist says, “The most important part about flossing is to do it.”
If you are looking for a caring pediatric dentistry in the greater Akron, Ohio area, contact Dr. Adam Pollock Pediatric Dentistry today.
Dr. Adam Pollock D. D.S. Pediatric Dentistry 1707 Portage Trail Cuyahoga Falls, OH 44223 (330) 929-3091
Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm Saturdays 9am – 1pm
Dr. Adam Pollock Pediatric Dentistry is conveniently located in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, just minutes from Akron, Stow, Munroe Falls, Kent, Hudson, Peninsula, Tallmadge, Ellet, Copley, and Fairlawn, Ohio.
Cindy is the top Akron Blogger with her own take on awesome brands for families, where to vacation for families, a beat on local activities and family fun, a knack for getting moms to share , and a house that is always 2 weeks away from a complete remodel!
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