Rancho Cucamonga Dentists will tell you that food can get stuck in your teeth at one point or another. Although your instinct is to clean out the food particles, flossing can also be helpful.
Traditional Flossing
According to Rancho Cucamonga Dentist, flossing can help remove food particles and plaque between your teeth and below the gum line. Plaque can cause tooth decay and gum disease. Make sure to floss correctly if you do plan to floss regularly.
Rancho Cucamonga Dentist suggests that you begin by cutting off approximately 18 inches of floss. Wrap most of the floss around your middle finger. You should only leave a few inches of floss.
To keep the floss in place, use your thumbs and index fingers. The floss can be slipped between the teeth by simply sliding it up and down. You should not force the floss. Instead, bend the floss around each tooth’s base. You can also wrap the floss around your fingers to clean each tooth. To remove floss between teeth, use the same up-and down slipping motion.
Water Flossing
Water flossing, although it is another method of flossing your teeth, is still a good option. The American Dental Association (ADA) states that this method involves a handheld apparatus that removes food between teeth using steady water streams.
Rancho Cucamonga Dentists will tell you water flossing can be used as a substitute for traditional flossing. This is especially true for those who have difficulty holding string floss or have braces that make it difficult to maneuver floss between teeth.
Flossing Benefits
The ADA reported on a New York College of Dentistry study that followed 51 twins for two weeks. One twin flossed, while the other did not. The flossing twin had a lower rate of gingival bleeding. This, along with the loss of plaque, highlights the importance of flossing daily.
Traditional floss containers are small and very portable. This makes it easy to floss while on the move. They can be carried in your pants pocket, purse or desk drawer at work. A water flosser device might be too large to carry around and must be plugged in. This could make flossing difficult if you’re on the move.
Dentist Rancho Cucamonga recommends that you move more towards traditional flossing, even if you have been water flossing for many years. It is only one part of a healthy mouth routine. Cleaning is the first part of the mouth healthy routine.
A professional cleaning will keep your teeth clean and healthy. Your Rancho Cucamonga dentist can also identify any problems in your mouth before they escalate into bigger problems.