Tips for Effective Flossing

Aside from annual teeth cleanings, flossing is one of the most important and effective ways to keep your teeth and gums both clean and healthy.  Needless to say, it is not something that you should ever think about skipping out on or replacing with some other method.

You should at least floss once a day to keep your mouth in good oral health, but frequency should certainly not outweigh effectiveness.

Always make sure to use proper technique when flossing, which means getting down into the gum on each side of the tooth.

When thinking about the best time to floss your teeth, know that any time is not a bad time to do so.  You can floss your teeth after every time you eat if you want, but it might not be a bad idea to floss right before you go to bed.  The reason for this is because when we sleep at night, the flow of saliva from our salivary glands decreases, causing the benefits it provides combating the effects of bacteria in our mouth to be minimized.

In terms of how long you should floss for, there really is not set time limit that you should try and reach for.  Flossing will take you as long as it does for you to hit every spot.

More skilled flossers can hit hard to reach places and floss all of their teeth in a matter of seconds, however if you’re just starting to turn a new leaf and floss for the first time it might take you longer.

One effective way to floss for a longer period of time is by finding other things to do while you floss, like watch TV or listen to music.  Either way, whatever it is that you need to do in order to help, make sure to break out the floss and clean those pearly whites good!

Modern Family Dental Care is a well-establish dentist practice with office locations in both Charlotte and Concord. We offer a list of cosmetic, restorative and preventative dental services in North Carolina. Please contact us today to schedule an appointment or to learn more about our offerings.