Have You Been Flossing Wrong This Entire Time?
ShareMost people know the importance of flossing every single day. However, they may not know how to floss correctly. Here are some tips that will help you with flossing the right way.
Wash Your Hands
The first thing you should do before you floss your teeth is wash your hands. If you think about it, you are wrapping that dental floss around your fingers and then putting that floss in your mouth. Anything that your fingers have been touching since you last washed them will be going into your mouth, which is not exactly the most hygienic thing to do. Take 20 seconds to wash your hands and make sure that all the germs have been washed away.
Wrap The Floss Properly
There is a right and wrong way to hold the floss as well. You want it to wrap around your fingers so that you can put some pressure on the floss to scrub the surfaces of your teeth. However, a great technique is to wrap it around your middle finger so that you can use your thumb and pointer finger to grip the floss. This gives you control to wrap the floss around each tooth.
Use An Up And Down Motion
A common mistake made when using floss is to use a sawing motion, where the floss goes in and out of your mouth as you move it back and forth between your teeth. You actually want to use an up and down motion so that you can work the floss into your gum line. This will help get the plaque out of the pockets of your gums so that it doesn't form into hard tartar.
Use New Floss Between Each Set Of Teeth
The purpose of wrapping the floss around your fingers is so that you have enough floss to use clean floss between each set of teeth. You will want to gradually unwrap the floss from one finger and wrap it around the other finger so that you move to a new portion of floss. If you don't do this, you'll be moving plaque to different parts of your mouth in hard to reach places.
Close Your Mouth To Reach Your Rear Molars
If you open your mouth too wide, you'll have trouble reaching the back of your rear molars. It will help to close your teeth slightly to create some room behind your rear molars, which will help you get the floss back there and actually wrap around the molars. Visit a place like Dr. Jon Douglas Lesan, DDS, RpH, PA for more information.