Flossing
The best way to help your teeth and your gums is to floss daily!
Daily flossing has several positive effects:
It helps to massage your gums
It removes soft plaque from underneath your gums helping to prevent gingivitis
It removes soft plaque from your teeth helping to prevent cavities
Flossing Technique:
The best way to floss is called the ‘C’ technique. I will describe the method here as well as add a visual to help you better understand.
During the ‘C’ flossing technique you break through the contact point between the teeth. Then you ‘hug’ the back tooth creating a ‘C’ like shape and slowly shimmy the floss underneath the gums. Then shimmy up and hug the front tooth and shimmy under the gums. Come up again and remove the floss through the contact point again. Take a look at the picture for better clarification.
Motivation:
When you brush your teeth the bristles of the toothbrush are not going in between the teeth.
When you start flossing daily you realize how much plaque you are actually leaving behind. Hopefully this will be motivation to add daily flossing into your routine.
We are happy to demonstrate this technique to you at your next visit to our office. Please call (905)634-3665 to book your next appointment.
Sources:
Darby, Michelle and Walsh, Margaret. Dental Hygiene Theory and Practice 3rd edition. St. Louis, MO. Saunders Elsevier, 2010.
images: https://www.bing.com/images/search?view=detailV2&ccid=ikXJH1%2BM&id=09AA993EA235E61A390C63DBB335413C4AA2F66C&thid=OIP.ikXJH1-M4iHYWML8JV1L1wAAAA&mediaurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dentalleaders.com%2Fclientuploads%2FHygiene%2Ffloss.jpg&exph=279&expw=425&q=c+floss+technique&simid=607996818645846968&selectedindex=0&ajaxhist=0&vt=Default&eim=1,2,6