Avoiding the Four Most Common Flossing Mistakes

Does your dentist suggest flossing as beneficial for your oral health? Research on flossing reveals that it helps reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease and other health issues. However, are you aware that incorrect flossing can harm your dental health besides putting your general health at risk?

This article focuses on the four most typical flossing mistakes many people make, avoiding some tips on flossing correctly to help you avoid expensive errors putting your general health at risk.

If you are among the many who think flossing is merely an additional chore you must go through every day, we are confident we will change your thinking to pay more attention to flossing.

Flossing Mistakes You Must Avoid

1. Zombie Flossing: Everyone makes the mistake of going to the flossing routine without paying attention to the task at hand. We don’t realize that dental floss indicates our current oral health.

We discuss the importance of being aware of our basic dental care. The term conscious flossing was coined decades ago to bring more awareness to the simple act of flossing your teeth.

The problem with zombie flossing is that we don’t collect the precious information we can gain by reading segments of used floss and how we are making ourselves prone to damage by not having the correct flossing technique. Therefore you must pay more attention while flossing and remain in the bathroom without concentrating on TV or other electronic devices.

The solution to unconscious flossing is relatively simple and requires you to concentrate on the segment of floss used between two teeth looking for colors and smells that appear. Instead of adopting the shoot and scoot technique to the next pair of teeth, you benefit by looking at the floss you just used. Has the dental floss changed color or smell bad? Did you notice similar instances earlier? Paying attention to what your dental floss says about potential infections between teeth can be your first line of defense against infections from expanding and causing unnecessary stress and discomfort.

2. Being Miserly with Dental Floss: When using dental floss, the dentist in Smithfield recommends using 18 inches of floss per session because the idea is to have sufficient floss in your hands to clean all your teeth. It would help if you considered you cannot run out of dental floss while reaching your back teeth. It is also important not to reuse the dental floss in your mouth repeatedly. If you are used to this practice you might transfer infections from one part of your mouth to another. Therefore being miserly with dental floss is a mistake you must avoid.
3. Avoid Vigorous Flossing Motions between Teeth: the reasons to floss are to remove food particles and dental plaque between your teeth and to eliminate bacteria by preventing them from colonizing gum pockets. While accomplishing your goal, you must understand your gums love massaging for stimulation. However, they don’t like torture, and if you floss aggressively using vigorous motions by holding the dental floss tightly, you might damage your gums. Instead, you must incorporate the habit of using Slack floss because it enables you to wrap the curve of your tooth and firmly slide the floss as far as it reaches. You don’t need to attack your teeth or gums but merely clean between your teeth thoroughly before moving to the next tooth.
4. Irregular Flossing: irregular flossing is the worst mistake you can make by neglecting to floss after you brush. If you think flossing after brushing is challenging let us confirm you can floss at any time of the day or night with the sole aim of removing food debris and plaque on and between your teeth. If you indulge in irregular flossing, you encourage your mouth bacteria to enter your bloodstream and cause heart tissue inflammation called infective endocarditis. In addition, irregular flossing also increases the chances of gum infections like gingivitis when you ignore the oral health tips your dentist suggests frequently.

Daily flossing helps keep the microorganisms in your mouth out of it and prevents them from populating the gum pockets. Therefore it doesn’t matter when you floss or whether you do it during the day or night so long as you use dental floss correctly by seeking help from the Smithfield dentist by requesting a flossing demonstration when you visit them for your next routine appointment.

Everyone makes mistakes with flossing. However, if you prefer to receive information about flossing benefits from Webber Comprehensive Dentistry, the practice helps you out happily while providing additional tips on keeping your dental health optimal.