By now you have heard that you should brush your pearly whites twice a day for two minutes each time. This daily habit will help get rid of harmful plaque and oral debris from the flat surfaces of your teeth. But your toothbrush isn’t designed to clean the tight spaces in between the teeth, and that’s a problem. Unless of course, you floss!
Dental flossers are designed to get into those spaces and remove plaque and debris. You don’t even have to floss more than once a day to benefit your teeth and gums.
The best time to floss is….when you do it! While it doesn’t particularly matter when you floss, the key is doing it daily. Every time you eat, bits of oral debris gathers around your teeth and gums. Our foods are often sugary and starchy which feeds oral bacteria, causing them to release acids that attack tooth enamel. If acids are allowed to build up on teeth, tiny holes can form, and you end up with cavities. For this reason, many people floss at end of the day so that these don’t linger in the mouth overnight (and because going to bed with a clean mouth feels great). But if you are too tired to remember to floss at night, it’s perfectly fine to do it during the day instead.
You can experiment finding a flossing method that works best for your needs. You can choose between dental flosses, dental waxes, interdental brushes, oral irrigators, and dental picks–all are designed to get the job done well.
If you would like help finding a good floss option, and how to use it, your dentist is happy to help so that you don’t injure your gums as you floss. Give us a call at 910.488.0518 and we will be glad to help. Dr. Kenneth Lewis and our team at Lewis Family Dentistry in Fayetteville, North Carolina, are here for your smile!