YSK: Flossing your teeth is only uncomfortable when your gums are unhealthy

Healthy gums don’t bleed, and are not painful to floss at all.

I’m in my 30s and only recently learned flossing technique and got my gums healthy. Flossing used to take so long and always involved a lot of bleeding no matter how delicate I was.

These days I’m absolute savage with floss and interdental brushes and never have any blood or pain.

Once you get your gums healthy you’ll be disgusted at yourself for ever not flossing. The amount of disgusting I can floss out on an almost daily basis is insane.

Plus you’re breath will not smell gross anymore.

It’s worth committing to the habit of flossing. Trust me.

a_random_fox,
@a_random_fox@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

Started using a waterpick because of this post.

wilberfan,
@wilberfan@lemmy.world avatar

Exactly! And you can get yourself a Water Pik (or equivalent) for Extra Gummy Goodness!

Krzak,

Or if you’re a neurodivergent with sensory sensitivities :'D

Toxxx1,

What?

reddit_sucks, (edited )

I’ve never really flossed. Every time I go to the dentist they say I have otherwise perfect teeth and gums for my age. But I also don’t drink soft drink or alcohol, smoke, eat junk food or sweets and have basically never done so. Pretty much everything I eat is organic.

I use a good electric toothbrush though, so generally it feels like it should be enough. If I floss even as gently as I can my gums just bleed like crazy and there’s barely any space to move it around my teeth. If I do it at night I just wake up dried with blood all in my mouth.

EDIT: I have been thinking though about getting a water flosser or whatever they are called. At least to remove any debris the electric toothbrush missed, without (hopefully) the damage and bloody mess I get with floss string.

Burnt,

Well, clearly you should be flossing more if you bleed like that. I’ve used ultrasonic toothbrushes for over a decade and still ended up with cavities starting in-between my teeth because of my lack of flossing.

Something that helped me start flossing regularly was buying the really large spools of the better quality floss and a reusable dispenser. It’s a lot easier to make a habit of something when you don’t run out of it on the regular.

Otakat,

Get a floss pick at the smallest available size. They look like little toothpicks but are made of rubber and have little bristles that will massage your gums.

Tekchip,
@Tekchip@lemmy.world avatar

Kind of a peripheral to this there are specialized toothpastes that I feel like a lot of people don’t know about. I had some gum issues that also made flossing uncomfortable. My dentist recommended Crest Gum Detoxify which, when used along with regular flossing, got my gums right real fast. Basically one 6 month cleaning period of using the toothpaste and flossing regularly and now my gums don’t bother me. Now I use two toothpastes. Gum detox in the morning and flossing with regular toothpaste in the evening. No more gum problems.

poptix,

I have never flossed regularly in my life because I can’t stand sticking my hands in my mouth.

My dental hygienist says I do an amazing job at flossing.

I use a water pik.

Pancakes,
@Pancakes@lemmy.world avatar

If I may ask, which water pik do you use?

poptix,

I have the “waterpik water flosser” for myself, I’ve purchased the generic units off Amazon for friends and they seem to work just as well.

BigJim,

My dentist also told me I do a great job at flossing. I’ve never flossed or used a water pik in my life. I just nodded and quietly said “uh thanks”.

ecks90,

I’ve always hated flossing but the water pik is great… as long as the water is room temp. Horrendous when you accidentally fill it with cold water

Imgonnatrythis,

Oh man. Here we go. Reddit has a huge pro-flossing bias and it’s leaking over with all the refuges apparently. This gets me downvoted to absolute oblivion on reddit and likely will here as well, but I just want to remind everyone this is all anectodotal information. There’s not strong evidence that you really need to floss, so don’t let these flossers guilt you if it’s not your thing. I’m maybe a bit of an anti-dentite I guess, but buzz feed did a nice article on this and many sources also picked up the ap newsfeed on the lack of scientific data for this commonly pushed practice :

www.buzzfeed.com/…/this-is-our-watergate

NekoRogue, (edited )

Well, sorry to be the person you’re dreading, but I’m going to jump in with some “pro-flossing bias” since the bias is for a good reason. This Buzzfeed article bases their argument on one AP study. If you try to click the link to the AP study in the article you linked, you’ll see it has been taken down, since AP themselves have renounced it and stated that “all the studies were over too short of a time and have not enough participants.”

Here’s a NYT article that explains how this misinformation is based on a lot of flawed research. From the article:

In the case of flossing’s benefits, the supposedly weak evidence cited by The Associated Press was the absence of support in the form of definitive randomized controlled trials, the so-called gold standard for scientific research. Why was there so little of this support? Because the kind of long-term randomized controlled trial needed to properly evaluate flossing is hardly, if ever, conducted — because such studies are hard to implement. For one thing, it’s unlikely that an Institutional Review Board would approve as ethical a trial in which, for example, people don’t floss for three years. It’s considered unethical to run randomized controlled trials without genuine uncertainty among experts regarding what works.

I also found this counter argument that states that the poorly done study also only tracked caries (cavities) and didn’t take into consideration other things, such as gum inflammation. Here’s yet another counter argument with this quote:

“Every dentist in the country can look in someone’s mouth and tell whether or not they floss,” says Dr. Tim Iafolla, a dental health expert at NIH.

Don’t your gums bleed? Isn’t your breath bad? It’s pretty clear that if you floss regularly, your gums are less inflamed. I know flossing isn’t fun, but there’s rotting food between your teeth, it smells bad and it’s doing damage. It’s pretty clear that your gums stop bleeding and your breath improves if you floss regularly.

Even Buzzfeed (which isn’t really a good place to get health advice btw) has articles contradicting the post you linked. It’s just clickbait. Please floss your teeth.

nadir,

I read that as “there isn’t good quality evidence” not as “flossing doesn’t work”.

If you have plaque on your teeth that doesn’t get removed it turns into tartar/calculus. If it’s between your teeth, over time that can lead to retreating gum and exposed dental necks. It’s of course also something promoting tooth decay.

Removing this plaque with a tooth brush can be difficult to impossible depending on how your teeth are laid out. Floss can be helpful to remove it.

Are you saying this isn’t true?

Imgonnatrythis,

I’m saying people should be aware there isn’t evidence that flossing is all that beneficial for cavity protection. Therefore recommendations to do it are speculative and anectodotal. A lot of people assume it’s a scientific fact like recommending people stop smoking or losing weight, but it’s not even close to those.

Gigan,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

This does run counter to my own experience. Flossing definitely does remove old food and plaque from in between my teeth, I can see it. Are you saying removing this has no effect on dental hygiene?

In addition, I had a dentist appointment this week and they said some of my gums were slightly receding, and that if I floss there more regularly it will help the gums. I’m going to floss daily and see if there is any improvement at my next checkup in six months.

Is there a remind bot on lemmy?

NekoRogue,

There is!

@remindme 6 months

otter_bee,

FWIW I had the same problem (receding gums) and improving my flossing even a little has helped.

NekoRogue,

How did the dentist appointment go, Gigan?

Gigan,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

Its next Tuesday, I’ll let you know

NekoRogue,

All right let’s do a little adjusting here then

@remindme 7 days

NekoRogue,

I know I am way too invested in this, but at this point I really want to know the results. How’d it go?

Gigan,
@Gigan@lemmy.world avatar

Inconclusive. Dentist said everything looked fine, but they didn’t measure my gums with the tiny ruler like they did last time.

bkmps3,

Honestly man you can believe whatever you choose to. I’m not here to argue with anyone.

I’m in my 30s and went from having bad gingivitis with bleeding and pain during brushing, to having gums that are comfortable with being thoroughly physically cleaned every day and that makes me happy.

Tathas,

I had to go to an unscheduled dentist visit once to remove some floss that was stuck between my molars. So much pain, and so much relief once they were able to remove it.

BlackPenguins,

Might be a silly question but couldn’t you just use floss to remove a stuck piece of floss? That’s what I do when it shreds and gets stuck.

Tathas,

Believe me, I tried. I couldn’t get the floss between those teeth. The hygienist also had a lot of difficulty. It stopped being a problem several years later when I had a root canal on one of those problem teeth.

Argonne,

Use Pro-Glide waxed floss. Doesn’t get stuck like the cheap stuff

Tathas,

This was over 20 years ago so I don’t remember what kind I had then. But definitely go for the waxed floss now.

Poeticbiscuit,

Thanks for this reminder.

cwagner, (edited )

deleted_by_author

    •
    Rootiest, (edited )
    @Rootiest@lemmy.world avatar

    the people at the dentist react as if you just killed a baby and then did a victory dance. It’s very uncomfortable ;)

    I hate that!

    They’ve got you strapped down into that chair naked with that thing in your mouth that forces you to smile while they all stare at you and chant “Shame. Shame. Shame…”

    I really don’t know why I keep going back.

    Resistentialism,

    Leaving a comment, so that in 3 and a half years time when you develop a humiliation fetish, you can look back and think of me.

    Rootiest,
    @Rootiest@lemmy.world avatar

    I don’t know where we’ll all be in 3.5 years but I know I’ll still think of you when I touch myself.

    Resistentialism,

    Beautiful, man. I’ll return the favour.

    bicyclingdonkey,

    They’ve got you strapped down into that chair naked

    Idk about you, but my clothes stay on at the dentist

    BlackPenguins,

    Maybe they are seeing Dr. Spaceman.

    SoLongSealion,

    Someone I know just got their teeth checked, first time in four years. The dentist was surprised at how clean and upkept their teeth were. They asked if he flossed his teeth and he said he has never done it in his life. They still shamed him.

    emokidforever,

    It’s like dentist only know how to shame. I have yet to meet one that understands self-care is hard for people with ADHD/Autism. I’m doing by best and shame makes me give up.

    elscallr,
    elscallr avatar

    Dental care is becoming a lot more compassionate with the newer generations of dentists. I'd recommend making a switch. Do a little shopping around and actually read the reviews on Google, etc. They'll make it pretty clear who the good ones are.

    Stegget,

    I brush once in the morning and haven’t regularly flossed in years, somehow my teeth are in great shape. My dentist says I’m a freak of nature lol.

    reddit_sucks,

    I have the exact same situation except I do it at night instead only once a day and my dentist (whom I really trust) says my teeth are better than 95% of people who walk into his office. Especially for my age… So yeah. Recently though I’ve been thinking I should at least start brushing twice a day if I am not going to floss at all.

    Kethal,

    I have the same problem and my hygienist has also said it’s difficult to floss my teeth. I rarely ever flossed. Then I got a water flosser and at the risk of sounding like an ad, it’s great. It’s not simply not bad; it’s actually pleasant. The next time I got my teeth cleaned after buying it, the hygienist said my gums were noticably healthier and she asked what I had done.

    reddit_sucks,

    Maybe it’s time I got one of these. I forgot they even existed because everything just seems to be disposable floss these days. If I floss even gently my gums bleed so much I wake up with blood all through my mouth and throat. No matter how much I rinse.

    cwagner,

    deleted_by_author

    •
    Kethal,

    I am unusual in that my teeth are very tightly spaced. An interdental brush is probably great for a lot of people, and I imagine it’s nicer than flossing if you can fit it between your teeth. I got a pretty basic $100 model. My only complaint is that it’s loud.

    scarabic,

    Flossing > brushing. You need both but if I could only have one, it would be flossing.

    tetraodon,

    It’s uncomfortable for my fingers. The floss eventually becomes tight and stops the blood.

    clb92,
    clb92 avatar

    It's a lot more plastic waste, but have you tried those fancy plastic sticks with dental floss on, I believe they are called "dental floss picks" in English? Makes it quite easy to floss, and they can be bought bulk pretty cheap, at least where I live.

    Classy,

    I imagine that a floss pick is better than nothing, but string floss is the best way to go about it. Proper flossing technique requires you to be able to have a small amount of slack so that the floss can wrap around the contour of your tooth and slide past the “triangle” between your teeth. The floss picks are too taut to be able to do that adequately.

    I’ll also say that I completely agree with OP: picking up a good flossing regiment helped my mouth health immensely. It also helped improve my gum health and made my teeth feel “tighter” in my mouth, not like they were always a little bit loose.

    Resistentialism,

    My main issue with flossing is that when I try, the floss always get stuck and it becomes super hard to get it out and it makes me feel really uncomfortable. I find using water flossing a lot easier for me, even if it isn’t as effective

    Brandon658,

    I’ve had it get stuck in my teath before. A second string of floss seemed unable to find the right spot to go between the teeth to attempt to clear it. A trip to the garage to get some needle nose pliers did the trick.

    clb92,
    clb92 avatar

    The floss picks are too taut to be able to do that adequately.

    The cheap ones I use do go a bit slack, but maybe that's just because the plastic is cheap and soft.

    oppai420,

    My father had one you could thread floss onto yourself. Reusable.

    poopsmith,
    @poopsmith@lemmy.world avatar

    Try an EZ Floss. Their website is straight from 2005 but I’ve found these to work the best (after you get past the learning curve)

    www.ezfloss.net/dental-products-all-patients/

    darkevilmac,

    Nice try dentist

    hyveltjuven,

    Clearly Crentist at work.

    RichardButt89,

    Your dentist’s name is Crentist?

    Varixable,

    It’s weird that I actually kinda enjoy flossing now ever since I started doing it consistently every night. There’s something satisfying about getting all that gunk out.

    derpysmilingcat,

    I feel the same, it’s like now after I eat I can kinda feel like there’s stuck food in there and it irks me until I remove it. It’s kinda gross now if I can’t remove it immediately.

    biznachio,

    Keeping a steady flossing habit has always been a struggle for me. This inspired me to give it another go. Thanks!

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