Re:Federal health expert drop flossing from health guidelines
by MarcusP on Wednesday August 03, 2016 @05:24AM
(#12216725)
I had the issue that I couldn't floss due to lack of gaps too, I even have a wire behind my bottom teeth keeping them together after having braces when I was younger. This meant I had to visit the dentist if I wanted to clean between my teeth and even after that, normal floss just didn't fit.
But now I have discovered floss tape; it's just what it sounds like, a thin strip of tape that you can slide between your teeth to floss. Now I can actually floss and it makes a big difference to how clean my teeth look and feel. I'm in the UK and the product I use is Oral-B Satin Tape - worth trying or finding an equivalent if you have teeth very close together.
Like you, I have good teeth (never had a filling) and on average have visited the dentist about once every 10 years.
Like you I also used to never be able to get floss in between my teeth, but after a dental checkup some years back the dentist cleared all the plaque buildup and from then on getting the floss between my teeth was no problem, and I've been flossing regularly since.
Once the plaque builds up and hardens, it's very difficult to break it up with just floss and you'll have difficulty getting floss in.
For what it's worth, my teeth definitely feel cleaner after flossing, and if I miss a couple of days they start to feel dirty.