The advice that your Abbotsford dentist will give you regarding your home dental hygiene is:  Brush and floss twice a day.  Abbotsford cosmetic dentists agree that flossing is on par with brushing when it comes to importance! 

Flossing is the only way to reach about 1/3 of your tooth’s surface – all those places that you cannot reach easily with your toothbrush.

For this reason,  your Abbotsford dentist is concerned that you fully understand how to floss properly is essential if you want to avoid tooth decay and plaque build up.

As you can imagine, in between teeth is where many cavities begin to develop – when a spot cannot be reached, this is just where the bacteria will build up and create acid by feeding on residue from what you’ve eaten or had to drink.  Your Abbotsford children’s dentist may call that bacteria ‘sugar bugs’ if they’re talking to a child or ‘bacteria bio-film’ if their patient is an adult.

Flossing is an effective way to remove this bacteria from between teeth and in hard to reach spots.  Removing the bacteria will prevent plaque from building up and hardening into tartar which can eventually cause gum disease which will end up damaging the bone.

Although many people say they have trouble with this, flossing is not really difficult when you use the proper technique. Watch as we demonstrate the techniques we advise in the video above – and below is a step by step written guide:

1. Take a length of floss – usually about as long as your arm

2. Wrap it around your middle fingers leaving about 2” of floss between these fingers

3. Slide the floss between two teeth and form a ‘C’ shape around the tooth you’re going to floss

4. Slide the floss up and down about 3 times so that it wipes the tooth

5. Be sure to pay special attention to back molars

6. Move the floss along as it wears

7. Brush your teeth after flossing to remove the loosened particles

There are a few things you’ll want to watch out for when you begin flossing:

Firstly, you may experience some bleeding for a few days.  This is nothing to worry about, it simply means that you’re disturbing the biofilm that has taken up residence on your gums.  But, if it carries on then you should try a different brand of floss and if it still continues then consult your family dentist.

Secondly,  you may find that your floss snags on fillings or rough edges.  If this happens you should consult your family dentist for advice.

Choosing your dental floss:

When you shop for dental floss, you’ll find that there are two main kinds:

- Nylon (or multifilament) floss

- PTFE (monofilament) floss

The most significant difference between the two types is the fact that nylon floss has more than one ‘cord’ making up the strand of floss and because of this, it’s more likely to shred.

Nylon floss is available in an waxed and a unwaxed version, as well as in a variety of flavors.

PTFE floss constitutes a single strand so it’s less likely to shred.  The other advantage is that it’s easier to use as it slides easily between teeth. If your teeth are tightly fitted against each other, this can make flossing a lot easier for you.

The best way to find out which type of floss works best for you is to experiment.

To understand more about why flossing is so important, watch our video “What is plaque”.

Subscribe to our series of informational videos and articles at http://abbotsforddentists.com Information provided courtesy of: Clayburn Dental Centre 400-3033 Immel Street, Abbotsford (604) 852-8487 http://clayburndental.com