Medical Insider–Dr Rhoda entero

All that we need to know about Flossing

(Part 4)


As we discuss Part 4 of this topic, we need to know the following about Flossing:

Prevents Gum Disease
Flossing before brushing, can save your teeth from gingivitis or gum disease.

Gum disease, which can progress to periodontal disease, is a mouth infection that destroys the bones and soft tissue that support teeth, thus making them loose over time. This issue happens when your teeth surface has too much bacteria and plaque.

Gum disease signs include the following:

  • Bleeding gums
  • Loose teeth
  • Halitosis (Bad breath)
  • Swollen, red, and tender gums

    This can come about due to poor dental hygiene or incomplete brushing. You should floss and brush properly, preferably in that order. If you’re going to do routine dental cleaning, you might as well do it splendidly.

Superior Plaque Removal
Brushing alone removes some of the plaque. Flossing alone removes interdental plaque but still requires some finishing touches. Brushing and flossing regularly can remove plaque quite well, but not well enough compared to flossing and brushing.

Plaque removal is important to prevent it from hardening to tartar within 24 to 36 hours (1 day to 1 ½ days), especially if you floss first before brushing.

The flossing and brushing combo effectively soften the plaque or allows you to get on top of the plaque problem before they become tartar or calculus that requires harder scraping from your toothbrush.

You need to spit out any remaining toothpaste in your mouth after you’ve flossed and brushed. However, don’t rinse your mouth.

This might confuse you. Many people are used to rinsing out their mouth with mouthwash or water after brushing their teeth. However, there’s a way to retain that fluoride while getting rid of that food debris.

Remember, You May Not Want to Rinse for Fluoride Retention
Of course, you need to rinse to get rid of food particles and bacteria. However, rinsing your mouth after brushing can wash away precious fluoride mineral that helps strengthen your teeth along with calcium.

  • Be Careful with Toothpaste Use: Toothpaste isn’t as effective in terms of tooth decay prevention because ironically, you want some of it to remain on your teeth even as you use it to wash off food debris.
  • Fluoride Should Soak on Your Teeth: You want the fluoride to remain on your teeth as long as possible before rinsing, kind of like how you want bleach to remain on your clothes before rinsing as well.
  • Flossing Before Brushing Helps: To fight the urge to rinse, floss first, brush second, and use a teaspoon of water to partially rinse. The remaining fluoride should do its work while you’ve gotten rid of most of the bacteria and debris with flossing and brushing.
  • Using Mouthwash with Fluoridated Toothpaste: As for mouthwash usage, wait a couple of hours after brushing your teeth before using it to get the best results. It’s okay to use it for rinsing, but you want that fluoride to work its magic before anything else.

You can also use fluoridated mouthwash, but it comes with the caveat of you not eating or drinking for at least half an hour after rinsing your mouth to get that fluoride action. (To be continued)