How to Floss with Braces?

Dr. Firoz Lalani

Medically Reviewed By Dr. Firoz Lalani

Table of Contents

Flossing and cleaning your teeth regularly once you are wearing braces can be vitally essential to your oral health and your smile. You can use a string of floss or a wax-covered thread and clean the area between your teeth, and scrub any hard-to-reach areas that can get missed easily by brushes, particularly with wires and brackets in the way. The best dental clinic in Houston suggests flossing between every one of your teeth once a day, you can use a miniature interproximal brush that can help you in cleaning under the wires and around the brackets.

Experts at Houston dental clinic add that you need to make sure that you don’t skip flossing, even when it takes up a lot more time once you are wearing braces. You can incorporate some flossing techniques to help you make the process much easier and faster. No matter the method you select, it is extremely crucial to floss every day to avoid any tooth decay or gum disease when your braces are functioning to adjust your teeth in place to help you in getting a much more confident smile.

Traditional flossing

Traditional flossing is a tried-and-tested flossing method that is an excellent way to clean any stuck plaque and food from between your teeth, however, when you have braces, it may seem a little tricky. Learning how to thread the floss under your wires and around the brackets can take up some time. To incorporate traditional flossing into your regular schedule, you need to plan well ahead in time to give yourself up to 15 minutes and floss your teeth. You only need to use a waxed floss thread in this flossing technique. If you use unwaxed floss, your floss thread could tear and get stuck in your metal brackets.

Dental Braces

Oral irrigator or Waterpik

A Waterpik or an oral irrigator is a remarkable tool that can use a constant streamlet of water to help you in cleaning along your gum line and in between your teeth. A water flosser is quite cost-effective. Due to how effective this stream of water can be when it comes to cleaning your mouth, you just need to invest up to five minutes to help you effectively floss with the device.

Many brands that offer Waterpiks can offer exceptional tips if you suffer from orthodontia. Such tapered tips can clean the area between your teeth and around your brackets much more easily than ordinary tips.

Floss threader

You could easily speed up the entire traditional flossing technique by simply switching to an inexpensive yet indispensable tool. You can switch to a floss threader which is basically a plastic, small tool. A floss threader can help you in pulling floss behind the wires of your braces easily. When you use a floss threader, you will have to put in several minutes of your busy routine but this additional dental care will be worth the effort.

You can get floss threaders very easily, such as at your local pharmacies, or supermarkets right in the oral care department. It is extremely popular and is completely safe to use. Your Houston dentist might even have many sample threaders that they can offer you to help you try these before you purchase a complete bag.

Dental tape

For many people, traditional flossing could be quite painful. This is particularly true for some people who do not floss routinely before they get braces. Unhealthy gums could feel swollen and bleed once you start flossing them. Over time, your gums will start to get considerably healthier, and when you floss, it will no longer feel pain and the experience feels great.

Once you have sensitive gums, you can consider flossing them with some dental tape. Dental tape is an ultrathin floss that is spongy and smooth. Dental tape is quite thin and it is much thinner as compared to typical floss and it is even wider than just a ribbon floss. It can help in gliding the floss quite easily between your teeth. You can use dental tape in the same way that you use traditional floss. Consult experts at Houston dental clinic for further information.

Conclusion

Braces could help you in creating a confident and healthy smile. They could even reduce your chances of encountering oral health issues in the future. But if you take care of your teeth when you wear braces, it can make all the difference.

Flossing and brushing can help in removing the bacteria and food that lead to cavities and staining. They could even prevent gingivitis among other various oral health issues that could turn into a problem in your later life. Even though you take care of your mouth and your teeth when you are wearing braces might seem a bit time-consuming, however, you definitely will be grateful for the efforts you put in once your braces come out and your smile is healthy and beautiful.

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