Yes, You Need to Floss Your Teeth: 5 Reasons Flossing Is Crucial for Oral Health
If you’re one of the many Americans who skip flossing, it’s essential to know how tossing the floss could impact your oral health.
Flossing is an integral part of any oral hygiene routine, allowing you to clean between your teeth to reduce the risk of tooth decay, gum disease, and bad breath.
Whether you use a flossing aid, regular string floss, or a water flosser, you need to floss your teeth once a day for optimal oral health. Here are five reasons flossing should be on your priority list!
What Exactly Is Flossing?
Flossing involves using a thin piece of string or a specialized device to remove food particles and plaque from between your teeth and along the gumline. These are places where a toothbrush simply can’t reach.
There are several different ways to floss. There’s traditional string floss, but there are also water flossers, which use a pressurized stream of water to remove plaque from the teeth and below the gumline.
You can also use a floss pick, which is a small tool in a C-shape that holds a string of floss, or an interdental brush, which is a tiny brush designed to clean between your teeth.
While some methods of flossing are more effective than others, with traditional string floss and water flossers being the top two, any floss you use can help clean between the teeth for a healthier smile.
5 Reasons You Need to Floss
Now that we’ve taken a closer look at what exactly flossing is and the different types of floss, here are five reasons you need to floss for optimal oral health.
- Helps Prevent Gum Disease
Flossing helps prevent gum disease, also known as periodontal disease.
Gum disease begins with gingivitis, which is inflammation of the gums caused by the buildup of plaque. When not removed through regular brushing and flossing, this inflammation can progress to more severe gum disease, leading to loose teeth and tooth loss.
Research shows that flossing reduced the risk of gingivitis significantly better than brushing alone. When you skip flossing, you’re not cleaning all sides of your teeth, which can lead to gum irritation and eventually gum disease.
2. Reduce the Risk of Interproximal Cavities
Flossing also plays a significant role in combating tooth decay, which is caused by enamel damage from plaque, tartar, and harmful bacteria.
While brushing cleans the surfaces of your teeth, it misses the tiny spaces between the teeth that are prone to plaque buildup. Cavities called interproximal cavities can develop in these tight spaces, leading to dental problems that might require fillings or more extensive treatments.
Interproximal cavities are cavities that develop between the teeth. When you don’t regularly remove plaque and bacteria via flossing, you may be more at risk of developing these cavities, which can’t always be seen with the naked eye.
Proper flossing can help reduce your risk of tooth decay, especially interproximal cavities, for a healthy and beautiful smile.
3. Keep Your Breath Fresh
Did you know bad breath can be caused by leftover food particles and bacteria in your mouth, especially in the spaces between your teeth?
When food particles are left in between the teeth, they can break down and cause an unpleasant odor. Flossing helps remove these particles and reduce the bacteria that lead to bad breath, ultimately leading to a fresher mouth and healthier smile.
4. Protect Your Overall Health
Health experts increasingly recognize the connection between oral health and overall health.
Poor dental hygiene from lack of flossing has been linked to complications with heart disease, diabetes, pregnancy, respiratory infections, and even cognitive decline.
Flossing regularly helps maintain oral health, which contributes to your overall health. By reducing the risk of gum disease, you can lower the risk of serious health complications and improve your periodontal gum treatment, ultimately enhancing your quality of life.
5. Invest in Your Smile
Flossing is a simple and effective way to invest in the long-term health and beauty of your smile.
Research shows that older adults who consistently floss have fewer instances of gum disease, fewer cavities, and less tooth loss. This makes sense, considering that gum disease is the top cause of tooth loss in adults.
Flossing your teeth, along with brushing, eating a healthy diet, and visiting your dentist for regular teeth cleanings, can also save you money from dental treatments. A dental cleaning and checkup costs much less than treatment for cavities or gum disease that can result from lack of flossing.
Investing in your smile by flossing helps preserve your oral health and keep your teeth and gums looking great for many years to come.
Tips for Effective Flossing at Saunders DDS
To maximize the benefits of flossing, it’s essential to do it correctly. Here are some tips to enhance your flossing technique:
- Make sure you use enough floss. Break off about 18 inches of dental floss. Wind the ends around your middle fingers, leaving a one to two-inch section of floss to work with.
- Be gentle. Insert the floss between your teeth gently and curve it in a “C” shape around each tooth. Slide it up and down along the side of each tooth, going just below the gum line, always avoiding forceful sawing motions.
- Don’t reuse floss. After cleaning between each pair of teeth, use a fresh section of floss to prevent the spread of bacteria from one area of your mouth to another.
- Be consistent. Make flossing a part of your daily routine, treating it with the same importance as brushing your teeth.
- Take advantage of flossing tools. If traditional floss is difficult for you to use, try alternatives such as floss picks, interdental brushes, or water flossers, each of which can help maintain clean teeth and gums.
Ask Your Dentist About More Flossing Tips and Techniques
It’s never too late to start flossing. If you haven’t yet incorporated daily flossing into your oral hygiene routine, now is the time to start! Your smile and your overall health will thank you for it. Remember, just a few minutes spent flossing each day can lead to a lifetime of healthy teeth and gums.
Ask your Asheville dentist about more flossing tips and techniques during your next checkup—contact Saunders DDS today to book your appointment. Reach us by phone at (828) 277-6060 or use our contact form online!