Brushing the teeth extracts 60% plaque from your tooth surfaces. Well, this signifies that brushing is crucial for your dental care. But do you know how to remove the remaining 40% plaque? Flossing is the answer to the most important question ever asked. It reaches those areas in your mouth where a toothbrush cannot, such as between the teeth and gum line.
It is not only significant to floss daily, but you also need to do it properly to preserve your oral health.
However, people do commit mistakes, and you should learn from others’ mistakes. Therefore, we’ve made a note of nine common flossing mistakes that you should avoid preventing teeth damage.
Why Flossing Is an Essential Part of Dental Hygiene?
Bacteria gets an ideal environment for housing due to the oral cavity. As soon as you consume food, bacteria mix with food particles to result in plaque formation. Plaque, if not extracted, can eventually pile up in the gaps of tooth and gums, which is known as tartar.
Furthermore, plaque and tartar give rise to many oral health problems. It includes tooth decay, gingivitis and periodontitis. These are the main reasons why you need to floss daily.
9 Common Mistakes to Avoid While Flossing:
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Leaving The Sides of Both Teeth
Flossing is not about sliding the floss down and drawing up. Through this, you’re just getting the half job done. While moving up and down in the middle of the teeth, clean the side of both teeth also. Those are the favourite hiding spots of plaque in your mouth, which can lead to cavity easily. So, don’t miss them while flossing.
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Getting Harsh on Teeth
Yes, it’s vital to get rid of plaque from the tooth surfaces. However, your mouth isn’t a marvel universe in which your teeth and gums are “Thanos”. Never treat them as an enemy and get violent with them. Just be gentle while flossing. Rough flossing can initiate bleeding your gums and prompting other dental health problems. Take adequate time to remove plaque from the middle of your teeth without fail. Therefore, we recommend you floss at night.
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Flossing With the Same Session of Floss
If you use the same session of floss for flossing all of your teeth, you’ll be unfurling the bacteria. No doubt, you’re loosening the plaque and making the most of it. However, by flossing with the same session of the floss, you are removing the plaque from one tooth and passing it to the other. Therefore, use new floss each time you floss in the middle of your teeth.
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Targeting Teeth and Gums Aimlessly
When you start driving to reach a destination, you generally need the help of a google map for navigation. Similarly, flossing also needs a road map. You need to know the order you’re going to floss your teeth; otherwise, you’ll get confused and miss some parts of your mouth. You can start from the right from the top, move to the upper left, then hop on to the lower teeth of your mouth and floss from left to right. So, make your plan and stick to it!
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Flossing The Gums
You should perform flossing on the surface of the teeth, not gums. Well, many individuals fail to understand this logic. Sometimes, you might accidentally hit your dental floss across the gum tissue or apply heavy pressure while flossing. As the gums are pretty sensitive, constant flossing can irritate your gums, leading to bleeding, gum recession or other dental health issues. Therefore, floss gently without moving onto your gums.
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Quitting When Getting Hurt
Of course, blood is fearful! But quitting flossing isn’t an ideal solution. There are many reasons for your gums getting hurt. As said in the above point, if you floss onto your gums, it may bleed. Another reason is you haven’t flossed for many days. When you floss daily, your gums will get back to normal, and you can floss normally, without any bleeding. So, never quit!
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Not Flossing Regularly
Dentists recommend flossing once per day. Not flossing adequately or flossing too much will have repercussions. Skipping flossing can lead to a build-up of plaque inside your mouth. This will give rise to tooth decaying and several gum diseases. On the other hand, too much flossing can cause gum irritation. So, don’t omit flossing from your schedule!
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Flossing At the Wrong Time
The key to maximising the benefits of flossing is to fix a time for flossing. Dentists generally recommend flossing during night time before sleep. The reason behind this is during the night, saliva has minimal production, which can allow bacteria to play in the ground (mouth) and create destruction. By flossing at night, you will eliminate damage to your teeth through bacteria. Bonus tip: Floss your teeth before brushing as fluoride present in the toothpaste will work well afterwards.
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Using The Wrong Dental Floss
Your smile is precious. And we will never wish it to fade away by using the wrong dental floss. There are several types of dental floss available on the market. Research the best one for your teeth and make the process smooth and effective. The best: consult your dentist and get valuable recommendations on the type of dental floss you should purchase for flossing.
So, these were the common mistakes that you should not make while flossing. But your work doesn’t end here. Along with flossing, you must practice following ways to keep your teeth healthy.
Other Dental Care Tips:
- Brush your teeth twice a day, in the morning and before going to bed at night.
- Don’t overlook your tongue; plaque can build up there also.
- Use only fluoride toothpaste; it has whitening power and flavours.
- Bear in mind to use mouthwash frequently.
- Drink as much water as possible; it washes out some sticky food residues from the middle of the teeth.
- Visit your dentist twice a year.
Lastly, a smile brings confidence; for that, you need to maintain your oral health. Avoiding the above-listed common flossing mistakes and practising good oral health habits will help you to do so.
Author bio:
Hello everyone, I’m Ariana Mortenson, a professional writer and blogger. I write on various niches in a way that it’s understandable and appealing to the people with useful and informative articles in a readable format. I aim to achieve a difference through my writing which allows you to make informed and valuable choices.
