Floss Like a Boss

You eat the right foods, brush your teeth twice a day and make your regularly scheduled dental appointments so you're good right? WRONG. Your're missing a key component to have a healthy mouth, FLOSSING!

Flossing is important to your oral care routine, in fact the American Dental Association suggest that you floss at least once a day. Flossing and brushing your teeth go hand in hand. Flossing helps you reach areas in your mouth and between teeth that a toothbrush can't get to. Flossing regularly also helps remove plaque, prevents gum disease, prevents cavities from forming.

Flossing with Braces:

It may be a little more work to floss with braces, but it just take a little extra time and technique.

The first step to flossing is getting the floss under the wire that connects the braces together. A floss threader will help you get the dental floss underneath your archwires. Dental floss with a stiff end is also available. It is pre-cut and is very easy to insert underneath archwires.

Once the floss is under the archwire it can be wrapped around the tooth on one side. The floss is then pushed up toward the gum line and then pulled down toward the wire. This should be repeated four to five times to ensure all plaque is removed. Be careful not to put too much pressure on the wire as you pull down. Then wrap the floss around the neighboring tooth. Once both teeth are done, the floss is pulled out and the process repeated for the next two teeth.

While under orthodontic treatment you should be flossing after every meal. It's easy for food to caught between wires and it is important that you clean it out as soon as possible. Check out this video clip below which displays the proper way to floss.

To learn more about brushing and flossing please visit the Oral Hygiene on our website.