When to floss?

[rockchalkdoc]

The question: Is it better to floss before or after you brush your teeth?

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[dexadental]

err...Before...definitely before...all that gunk gets on your teeth when you're flossing sometimes.

 

[rjarvis]

if you floss before, while brushing you will just knock stuff back between your teeth.

 

[tx oms]

Why would you floss unless something was stuck between your teeth?

 

[galangvu]

if you floss before, while brushing you will just knock stuff back between your teeth.

NO! when you floss before you brush, the things that you loosen up when you floss is brushed away when you brush your teeth! if you brush and things were pushed back into the cracks... then you're brushing the WRONG way!plus..why bother brushing at all if the main goal is to remove residue and food particles? DEFINITELY FLOSS BEFORE YOU BRUSH!

 

[DrJeff]

Why would you floss unless something was stuck between your teeth?

I tell my patient's Don't floss, that way I'll get to do more work on your teeth!

In reality though I recommed before brushing, atleast once a day

 

[SweetTooth85]

Floss before you brush. And then RINSE the loosened food particles out of your mouth. And then brush.

 

[AUG2UAG]

flossing is ineffective against caries (Gisselsson et al)

 

[toofache32]

What's floss?

 

[GuidoPedo]

flossing is ineffective against caries (Gisselsson et al)

It does wonders on plaque though.

 

[v&andy_yankee]

a hygienist once told me to floss both before and after you brush...but seeing how 90% of the population is too lazy even to floss once, I think recommending flossing once before is already quite a big accomplishment. Who am I to talk, even I'm too lazy to floss both before and after. Overkill much?

 

[AUG2UAG]

It does wonders on plaque though.

it's ineffective against caries is synonymous with ineffective against plaque

 

[emthichrangdep]

What about listerine? should we rinse before or after we brush?

 

[DrToof]

The end result is the same for either sequence.

People tend to skip flossing when brushed. Once brushed you can feel the freshness then people would question why bother with floss since my teeth are already cleaned.

Flossing before brushing is psychologically different. Even after removing all food debris between teeth by flossing but the food smell, garlics, etc are still there and people attempt to brush to eliminate the odor. I think this is the rationale why most dentists recommend this sequence.

 

[DrToof]

a hygienist once told me to floss both before and after you brush...but seeing how 90% of the population is too lazy even to floss once, I think recommending flossing once before is already quite a big accomplishment. Who am I to talk, even I'm too lazy to floss both before and after. Overkill much?

Wow...that's a lot of flossing considering several meals you have in a day.

Excessive and improper flossing can cause trauma to gingiva and distal abrasion.

 

[Typo]

This is one of those little things that I always wondered about, and you would THINK that you would learn the answer to this during your first year of dental school, along with all the other trivia that people are going to ask you once you're a dentist. No luck there, though! I guess I'm going to have to make up my own (BS) answers once I'm an actual dentist, just like all the other dentists do.

After all, doesn't BSing just come along with the territory of putting Dr. in front of your name?

 

[organichemistry]

This is one of those little things that I always wondered about, and you would THINK that you would learn the answer to this during your first year of dental school, along with all the other trivia that people are going to ask you once you're a dentist. No luck there, though! I guess I'm going to have to make up my own (BS) answers once I'm an actual dentist, just like all the other dentists do.

After all, doesn't BSing just come along with the territory of putting Dr. in front of your name?

why not ask a professor?

 

[Typo]

why not ask a professor?

Because they'll be BSing! Okay, good question, you got me.

In the end, regardless of what a professor tells me on this topic, I think I'll tell my patients to floss before brushing - that way it's much more fun because you get to watch a lot more gunk come out from between your teeth.

I think I'll also call plaque "gunk" when talking to my patients because that's much more fun to say too.

 

[I'mFillingFine]

The end result is the same for either sequence.

People tend to skip flossing when brushed. Once brushed you can feel the freshness then people would question why bother with floss since my teeth are already cleaned.

Flossing before brushing is psychologically different. Even after removing all food debris between teeth by flossing but the food smell, garlics, etc are still there and people attempt to brush to eliminate the odor. I think this is the rationale why most dentists recommend this sequence.

Good point!! Never thought of that.

Also, if you floss before you can still taste the yumminess of the floss as opposed to after brushing. Who wouldn't want that fresh, clean, mintosity?

 

[DrJeff]

I think I'll also call plaque "gunk" when talking to my patients because that's much more fun to say too.

My personal favorite plaque-patient discussion term is "schmutz"! I just love saying "look at all that schmutz on your teeth!"

 

[Dr. Pedo]

floss before, after and during all meals

 

[I'mFillingFine]

floss before, after and during all meals

Also floss while driving, in the bathroom, on the phone, and, most importantly, while shopping on eBay! The smooth feeling of floss gliding between those pearly yellows can help reduce the urge to splurge.