Thursday, September 8, 2011

Using Dental Floss - Smiles by Design Livermore, CA

How often should you use dental floss between your teeth?

If you do a thorough job, using dental floss once a day should be often enough to keep you in good oral health. You need to realize however that the key to this statement is that when you do floss you do in fact do a thorough job.

When is the best time to floss?

The best time to floss is during that part of your daily schedule when you have enough time to floss thoroughly. In theory it might be considered best to make sure your mouth is cleanest before you go to bed. At night the flow from our salivary glands decreases, thus minimizing the benefits that saliva provides in combating the effects of bacteria and their byproducts on our mouths. But if you find that you simply do not have the time or inclination to thoroughly floss your teeth before going to bed, and at another time of day you would, then hands down go with the latter.

Should you floss your teeth before or after you brush?

It doesn't much matter which you do first, brushing or flossing. There is a school of thought that suggests that you should floss your teeth first and then brush afterwards. The idea is that yourtooth brushing activities can aid in removing the food and dental plaque debris that has been dislodged by your flossing efforts but not yet expelled from between your teeth. While we don't feel strongly one way or another on this topic, we do feel that it is important that you swish your mouth with water or mouthwash at some point after you have flossed, so the debris you have loosened up is rinsed out of your mouth.

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