What is the correct way to use dental floss?

In our daily lives, many people's teeth are not very straight. Of course, sometimes it may be caused by tooth loss or other reasons. In most cases, it is caused by not having teeth corrected when they were young. Crooked teeth mean that food is likely to get stuck in your teeth when you eat, which is very uncomfortable. So the question is, if you want to use dental floss to pick your teeth, what is the correct way to use it?

Dental floss now comes in two forms. One is a continuous line packed in a round box, and you can just pull out a section when needed. This is what is commonly called dental floss.

The other type is a plastic stick with a hand grip and a section of dental floss at the front end called a floss stick.

The correct way to use dental floss

Let’s talk about the use of dental floss first. First, take out a section of dental floss of appropriate length, about 45cm, which is almost the length of your upper arm.

According to personal experience, there is a simpler and more practical method: tie a knot at the two ends of the 45cm line to form a circle, then leave 2~3cm of line between the index fingers of both hands and pull it tight, and use the other 4 fingers to pinch the remaining dental floss and fix it. I think this method of controlling with the index finger and fixing with the remaining 4 fingers is the easiest and most flexible method to operate.

After completing the warm-up, you can put it in between the teeth. Of course, there should be a sequence when putting it in, such as from left to right, from top to bottom. The purpose of doing this is to avoid missing anything and ensure that every gap between the teeth is cleaned.

In addition, when inserting, you should pay attention to inserting it with a sawing motion instead of pressing it hard. This will avoid damaging the gums and make it easier to insert.

When the sawing action enters the tooth gap and approaches the gums, you should stop the sawing action immediately and slide gently along the tooth surface to the bottom of the gingival sulcus (the place where the gums and teeth are actually connected, normally about 2mm below the gum edge). Then wrap the teeth tightly with dental floss to form a "C" shape, and move up and down close to the tooth surface 3 to 5 times to scrape off the soft scale and plaque.

After cleaning the two opposite tooth surfaces in the same gap, use the sawing action to pull out the tooth gap. When a section of dental floss becomes dirty, you can switch to the next section until the reserved circle of dental floss is completely used up. Follow this action to clean all the gaps between teeth in order.