Flossing once a day is a vital part of your oral hygiene routine. You are probably aware of the importance of flossing when it comes to preventing gum disease. However, flossing is also important to protecting your teeth from cavities in those hard to reach areas between the teeth.
Brushing Is Not Enough
Too many of our patients think that, as long as they brush their teeth regularly, they have nothing further to worry about in terms of maintaining their oral health. However, this is simply not the case: brushing, while very important, is not by itself enough to keep your teeth healthy.
Consider the spaces between your teeth. No matter what kind of toothbrush you use, you are simply not able to adequately clean all the areas between your teeth. This is where dental floss comes in.
Dental floss allows you to reach those tight spots between the teeth where plaque builds up. Then, as you scrape the plaque away, dental floss will carry the detritus away from the surface of the tooth. This reduces the chances of tooth decay between your teeth.
Proper Flossing Technique Matters
Of course, you need to be sure that your floss properly. When flossing, wind a length of floss around your pointer fingers. As you clean between two teeth, you should wind the floss around one of your fingers, making it so that the dirty floss is moved away from the tooth it just cleaned. You should make it so that each time you insert floss between your teeth, you are inserting a clean section of floss that has not yet been used.
If you have questions about your flossing procedure—or any other matter relating to your oral health—we are here to help. Give us a call today.
Dentist Tigard, OR | Dental Blog - Lincoln Center Smiles Dr. Saklofsky has created an educational blog as a resource for our patients. If you like an article or the dental blog in general please share it to social media, then call (971) 317-9499 to make an appointment. Lincoln Center Smiles, 10500 SW Greenburg Rd, Suite 3, Portland, OR 97223-1406 ^ (503) 598-0898 ^ sakdental.com ^ 9/30/2024 ^ Related Terms: dentist Tigard OR ^
Flossing once a day is a vital part of your oral hygiene routine. You are probably aware of the importance of flossing when it comes to preventing gum disease. However, flossing is also important to protecting your teeth from cavities in those hard to reach areas between the teeth.