Your Basic Flossing Guide

Oral health happens when several little details are completed consistently. In addition to brushing your teeth, dental checkups, and healthy eating, this list of details includes flossing in between the teeth. We want to help you become a champion flosser, so we decided to create a basic flossing guide.

Here are some instructions for beginner flossers:
1. Cut 18 inches of floss.
2. Wrap the majority of it around one finger from each hand, leaving about two inches of floss in between the fingers.
3. Slide the piece up and down in the gaps between each tooth, keeping the floss taut.
4. Be thorough. Clean the top and bottom of each tooth and wrap the floss around the tooth to clean its base more effectively.

If any blood escapes from your gums the first few times you floss, don’t be nervous; that’s normal. If your gums continue to bleed, however, it’s possible that you may have gingivitis. Call The Chicago Family Dental Center at 312.551.0500 for a dental checkup. Our office is located in Chicago, Illinois, and should be easy to find.

For children, older adults, and other patients, it is difficult to use normal string floss. To resolve this issue, we endorse using a water flosser or floss picks. Water flossers use pressurized streams of water to clean in between each tooth and rinse the gums. Floss picks are plastic tools that apply minute bits of floss that are firmly attached to two appendages.

If you remember to consistently floss and care for your teeth, you may just find yourself smiling into the bathroom mirror and see perfection smiling back.