How To Floss

While watching the clip, please note that the fingers have been placed further apart than is optimal in order to improve visibility in the video. To improve control of the floss, the fingers should be placed as close as possible on opposite sides of the teeth. In this way, the floss can be better manipulated around tooth contours, and unintentional snapping into the gum tissue can be prevented.

In terms of its relative lack of ubiquity, dental floss is the poor second cousin of the toothbrush. Nevertheless, its importance in the daily oral hygiene regimen is beyond question. In fact, dental floss may be even more important, since it addresses those areas of the teeth that are most susceptible to both decay and gum disease--areas that, not so incidentally, are totally beyond the reach of the toothbrush. This is the reason that additional effort expended in brushing will never adequately compensate for a failure to floss.

Many people reserve floss for those times when they wedge food between their teeth. While quite useful in these situations, the main virtue of floss is in the regular removal of the invisible, sticky film of bacteria that constantly forms on tooth surfaces. It is this film of dental plaque that is implicated in most dental disease.

Type of floss is of secondary importance, and is mostly a matter of personal preference. Floss comes in different thicknesses, waxed and unwaxed, sometimes with semi-rigid ends to aid in threading under bridges, some with Teflon-like coatings to aid with ease of insertion between tightly contacting teeth and minimize shredding. Some are flavored, colored, and fabricated in a variety of permutations to please any taste.

The important thing is to "just do it", to borrow a phrase. Flossing should be done regularly, once a day, so that it becomes an inseparable part of the oral hygiene regime. A time of day should be selected when the practice is least likely to be sabotaged by the intrusion of other responsibilities.