To ask whether you floss your teeth?

[Honeymint]

I just wanted to try a poll really.

Choose
YABU if you floss less than three times a week
YANBU if you floss more than three times a week

I used to floss (almost) every day but it was the first thing to go when I got pregnant as it made me feel so sick.
I mentioned this to a group of friends and none of them floss but they all seem to have perfect teeth anyway.
So I was wondering how common it actually is.

Do you guys floss your teeth? How often etc.

Yes, and interdental brushes. I'm very prone to gum inflammation and disease so do my best to keep on top of it.

@VerityPJohnson

My teeth are perfect, no fillings etc. My gums in the other hand are not. If I don’t floss I risk losing my teeth as the gums won’t hold them in. So I floss every day. Flossing is for gum health. Reducing gum inflammation is good for the body as a whole. Gum and heart disease are linked.

Yes I floss everyday to avoid further gum recession and any tooth loss. I think some of us are just more prone to these things.

brilliant thread
My dentist makes me feel really neglectful for not doing it every day.
Not helped by doing it recently and dislodging a filling and a further chunk of the tooth that the filling had been helpfully plugging for 40+ years.
I do find dental tape better than dental floss - and like a pp got on with the half moon plastic things, but stopped as concerned about the plastic waste.
Bought a water pik, but it's not really a replacement for flossing - bit more like a vigourous gargle TBH. Use it occasionally.
Probably more plastic than a gazillion little half moony things.

I'm quite shocked to see that half the posters don't floss!

Flossing is vital for gum health. It's your gums that hold your teeth, and they naturally shrink with age. Flossing is essential to keep your gums healthy and helps to prevent bad breath.

do you need to floss all your teeth?
no - only those you want to keep...

If you don't floss, do it just the once, in the evening, just before bedtime. Then smell the floss

Every night before bed. If I miss a day I can tell as the back teeth gaps stink.

@FlowerArranger - as I've said upthread, I've never flossed so "only those you'd like to keep" is a bit much - as I've said, I can't floss because of retainers but brush twice a day

@FlowerArranger posted too soon - brush twice a day, use mouthwash, have fissure sealed teeth and the dentist always says my teeth are "excellent" - flossing not needed!!

I use a water flosser daily and actual floss 1-2 times a week. Plus a Sonicare toothbrush. I always get a good report card at the dentist - I go 2 X a year for a check and clean.

For those saying that their teeth are tightly spaced - Dr Tung's dental floss (on iHerb.com) is the only one I get on with.

I flossed every day until I got pregnant and brushing my teeth/flossing made me seriously gag, I couldn't stop brushing my teeth so postponed the flossing. Now I've got a 4 month old that doesn't sleep and it's gone way down on my list of priorities where it should be closer to the top because I actually think its a bit minging not to floss but a recent trip to the dentist I was told I have excellent oral hygiene . That was probably all the years of flossing.

I used to be really bad at flossing as I just hated the sensation of the TePee sticks. I bought a water flosser last year and its been a game changer. I now floss every day.

I hate floss. My husband always does it near me and I actually gag. My toothbrush has those poking type bits in the head so that's enough for me. Luckily have good teeth as I ain't ever going near a bit of floss 🤮

I have minging teeth. I use the interdental brushes once a day (& obviously brush twice a day too!). I like the clean feeling after using them. I think my teeth would be even worse if I didn't.

YANBU

I use a tepe interdental brush everyday. Since I started doing this, I get compliments rather than flossing requests when I see the hygienist.

My dentist says that you need the tape/string as you need to get up and under the gum which is where the gum disease is.

She says the water pik and interdental sticks are for general oral hygiene - teeth rather than gums.

Every night before brushing. Don't use floss though, I'll just have to keep ruining the planet with single use plastic as I cannot floss like an adult

I panic if I don't have floss in my handbag. Hate the feeling of anything stuck in my teeth.

[quote moretrumpetplease]@FlowerArranger - as I've said upthread, I've never flossed so "only those you'd like to keep" is a bit much - as I've said, I can't floss because of retainers but brush twice a day[/quote]
@moretrumpetplease the teepee brushes can be good for fixed retainers but the floss tape can be used at the right angle (drop it down at the side the retainer is on and higher at the other side). I have retainers on my top teeth and floss every day.

I floss every day - I get bits of food out every day too so if I didn't floss daily then I guess I'd definitely have worse teeth.

I am very strict about it because I've had a lot of dental work on the past and really don't want any more!

@ThreeRingCircus I have close packed teeth and I use floss-picks. It's much easier to angle them so the floss goes between the teeth. Stops stains and plaque building up at the base of my teeth too.

I didn't used to do it and I have no fillings (well, one when I waas 40) but my teeth are prone to stains and it helps, so I do it out of vanity.

I used to be too busy to floss. However, since I managed to find the time, my dental hygiene has improved tremendously. No more fillings or new crowns, nor gentle tellings-off by the hygienist.

Just do it.
Floss are least once a day.
Use floss, flossers, interdental brushes, water pic....... whatever.
But do floss!

Keep supplies of those little flosser thingies not just in your bathroom but also in your bedroom, on your desk, in the kitchen (use them while you're waiting for the kettletoboil...), etc

My mother flossed every day and died at 90 with all her teeth. Just one crown and a few fillings. I wish I'd listened to her.

If you don't floss, do it just the once, in the evening, just before bedtime. Then smell the floss
This^
It's a bit of a wake up call when you smell the floss

I don't floss as often as I should but I have been flossing daily for the past couple of months because I had an upcoming dentist appointment.
I went to the dentist today and he said I'm doing a great job of keeping my teeth clean Usually he just says my teeth are fine.
I was tempted to ask him for a sticker😂
I'm going to try my very hardest to stick with the daily flossing. It makes a difference to how my mouth feels.

I waterfloss, then use interdental brushes, then string floss am and pm. I have to because my gums are terrible.

I think not flossing is something you can get away with when you're younger, but will catch up with you eventually. Nearly half of people will have some form of gum disease by the time they are 30 years old, and that goes up to 70% of people for over the 65s.

When you are next at the dentist, listen out for what they say when they are checking your gums. They will say a number between 0 - 4, something like "1s on the top, and 2s on the bottom". Which is what I heard my NHS dentist say at my last appointment. After she had examine me, I told her I was worried about possibly starting to get gum disease because I sometimes bled after I brush my teeth, she told me not to worry about it. But she had just scored my bottom teeth as "2s", meaning that I was actually starting to get gum disease! I think she is just that busy with NHS patients that she can't be bothered.

Gum disease is reversible up to a point, but once you score a 3 or a 4 it's irreversible. I started flossing and switched to a private dentist, £12 a month, but well worth it to keep my teeth!

Not a chance.

EVERY time I go to my dentist, I get nagged, scolded, and berated for 'not cleaning my teeth properly,' and they take great delight in scraping off a tiny, microscopic bead of plaque off and saying 'SEE! You DON'T clean them properly. You need to FLOSS, and scrub your teeth with the toothbrush for at LEAST 6 minutes when you clean your teeth.'

Then I get the 'you need to use inter-dental brushes' lecture too.

So for about a YEAR I flossed and scrubbed and cleaned, and used the inter dental brushes, and BINGO! I STILL got fucking nagged and berated and scolded like a naughty little child, as apparently my teeth were STILL not clean enough.

I have had no fillings needed (not since 2016,actually,) and even THAT was only repair work on the unnecessary fillings I was given as a teen so they could make a bit of extra money. Yet they STILL nagged me.

SO, no flossing and no inter dental brushing bollocks either now. Not for the past year/year and a half. What is the point when, apparently, everything I do, has fuck-all effect anyway!

Dentists get on my tits tbh, but they are a necessary evil.