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.
After you slide the floss between your teeth, you should bend it around the tooth and let it plunge beneath the gum line (in a perfect world, it should plunge around 2 – 3 millimeters down).
Your Gums Shouldn't Bleed When You Floss
It should be a gentle motion moving it up and down along the sides of each tooth. The aim is to clean the areas a toothbrush can miss, not just pulling the floss back and forth and irritating the gumline.
Slide between teeth (Glide).
Contour floss around the side of the tooth. Slide floss up and down against the tooth surface and under the gum line. Floss each tooth thoroughly with a clean section of floss.
Flossing Can Cause Gum Recession – When trying to pull the floss through the spaces between the teeth, some people may pull too hard causing the floss to violently pull on the gum tissue. This may allow the floss to go beneath the gum line, causing bleeding, gum recession, and even gum disease.
Effects of Flossing Too Hard
With hard flossing over time, your gums will begin to recede. Once this happens, you'll start to experience tooth pain due to the areas of the tooth being exposed can have thin enamel. With extreme cases, the root of the tooth can be exposed causing even further tooth pain.
The most common reason for malodor on the floss is gum disease or periodontal disease. The anaerobic bacteria that are responsible for gum disease reside under the gums and these produce what are known as volatile sulfur compounds, otherwise known as VSCs.
Yes, the Dentist Knows
They'll be able to detect the plaque and inflammation between your teeth even if you brushed and flossed right before you went in for your appointment. If you haven't been flossing, prepare yourself for a friendly and concerned lecture from your dental care provider.
If you don't clean between your teeth often, it may take a second for your teeth to get used to it. Feeling pain or discomfort after flossing for the first time is normal. Getting adjusted to a regular cleaning process may be a little painful, but it's important to stick with it.
Dentists warn that flossing more than once a day can cause serious damage to your gum tissue—if you are flossing the wrong way. Flossing too harshly too often can harm the gum line and expose more of your tooth's root.
Hold the floss tautly between your thumbs and index fingers, sliding it gently up and down between your teeth. To get beneath the gum line, gently curve the floss around the base of each tooth. To prevent cutting or bruising your gums, do not snap or force the floss.
Todd Shatkin, a dentist based in Amherst, New York, said cleaning sessions should always begin with flossing to remove any obvious pieces of food and debris first.
In cases where a person has dental problems, like gingivitis etc., floss can actually aggravate the problems. There have been cases where floss has pushed plaque and debris deeper into the gums or cavities and caused further damage. Floss is not a band-aid, it won't erase a cavity.
Retraction cords are cords, that are placed in the gingival sulcus so that dentists can get a good impression of the teeth and the surrounding tissues. When dentists prepare the teeth for a fixed restoration such as a crown, bridge or even veneers, they have to remove a part of the dental tissue.
The white stuff that you find on the floss, is a colony of bacteria you have just disrupted. As soon as you're done, they'll start their process of rebuilding. That's why daily is important.
Forgetting to floss can:
Leave your smile vulnerable to developing cavities: If you don't remove food particles, plaque, bacteria and other harmful substances from between teeth, they can attack the tooth enamel and create a hole in the surface, creating what is known as a cavity.
If you're starting a new flossing routine, Rawdin says it can take a week or so for your gums to settle down and potentially stop bleeding. If you're dealing with gingivitis, individual prognosises vary, so it's best to talk with your dentist first.
A dry mouth often creates a bad taste that lingers even after brushing and flossing. If you aren't currently taking any medication, you might have a bacterial, viral, or fungal infection. Oral infections include gum disease and tooth abscesses arising from severe decay.
If you lick your wrist, let it dry for a moment, then take a whiff, you should be able to get an idea if your breath has an odor too. Another method is to floss toward the back of your mouth, then smell the floss. Or gently scrape your tongue using a tongue scraper or soft bristle toothbrush, then smell the scraper.
Small pieces of excess filling material, called flash can become dislodged and create an edge that tears at the floss fibers. The solution to this problem is to have a dentist smooth out or (in more drastic situations) replace the filling, creating a more anatomically correct shape.
There are some advantages of flossing at night rather than the morning. Flossing at night will remove any plaque between your teeth that has been built up over the course of the day. This can make your teeth feel cleaner and fresher when you wake up in the morning than they would with just brushing alone.
If you have tartar break off while flossing, it will look like a small chunk of yellowish tooth. Depending on where it was located, you may be able to see the rest of the calculus bridge with a missing piece, looking like a slightly chipped tooth. Make sure that it is tartar and not a tooth or filling.
Slide the floss up and down to clean the space between your teeth. Make sure you floss each side of the teeth separately so as not to injure the gum tissue between your teeth. Run the floss up and down the surface of the tooth, making sure you are going down to the gum line and then up to the top of the tooth.
Flossing usually takes around two minutes, but it can take longer if you're flossing for the first time or flossing with braces. Most people floss at the same time they brush their teeth, either in the morning or at night.