Healthy gums don’t bleed, and are not painful to floss at all.
I’m in my 30s and only recently learned flossing technique and got my gums healthy. Flossing used to take so long and always involved a lot of bleeding no matter how delicate I was.
These days I’m absolute savage with floss and interdental brushes and never have any blood or pain.
Once you get your gums healthy you’ll be disgusted at yourself for ever not flossing. The amount of disgusting I can floss out on an almost daily basis is insane.
Plus you’re breath will not smell gross anymore.
It’s worth committing to the habit of flossing. Trust me.
My biggest impediment before to flossing was just the time it took. I always held off on flossing until the end of brushing, my “routine” was to brush, then floss, BUT oftentimes I’d just brush first, consider it good enough and then just skip the flossing because, hey I already brushed, I’m good, right? Mentally I was done with the whole thing as soon as I finished brushing.
So I switched the order around and I floss first now, which seems to work better. I’m not actually “done” with brushing until I brush, so once I floss I can’t just skip the brushing part. It’s a small change, but it’s helped me keep up a better routine.
I just grab a floss pick, go sit in front of my computer, and floss while distracting myself with something else. That way I don’t have to devote any focus or effort to flossing and it goes by much easier.
I’ve done my best to make flossing with a pick a family affair while watching TV after dinner.
More or less works as routine for SOME PEOPLE who don’t enjoy dental hygiene lol.
Same, floss at my desk on autopilot 99% of the time.
Picked up the habit during corona times.
I’m team subconscious flossing as well
A water flosser takes 30 seconds. (I’m in this thread shilling for water flossers.)
I like to use a floss pick, then waterpik, then electric toothbrush.
Floss, irrigate, then brush
This is the way
“Take care of your teeth” is my go-to “old person’s advice to young people.” Once you realize that dentists can’t really “fix” (as in permanently fix) most problems with your teeth (that you get one set for your whole life), that 5-10 minutes a day to take care of them doesn’t seem like so much.
Seriously, once you have a cavity, there’s a pretty good chance that tooth will eventually become a crown or implant. Once a tooth cracks, it will eventually get worse and have to go. Dentistry is mostly preventative, and for the most part they can really only apply a band-aid to serious problems.
Totally agreed. I got this advice to “Take care of your teeth” when I was 20. My professor just said “You’ll never regret it.” I took that to heart. Why wouldn’t I do something I’ll never regret!?
The best 3D printer we know of is biology. Until we can grow a new tooth from some science broth, prevention is imperative. Even once we do, it’ll take a while to catch up to nature.
That and for the price to come down to where mere mortals and/or folks with decent dental insurance can afford it!
Pretty exciting though japanese researchers are doing human trials for medicine that blocks a protein that blocks a 3rd set of teeth from growing in, if that goes well we will probably have better teeth for longer time at least.
Oh dear. How do I make my 13yo understand that, who doesn’t seem to care?
Show them pictures or videos of a root canal.
Show them this video and tell them this is what happens when you neglect your teeths. https://libreddit.domain.glass/r/popping/comments/py6qlw/teeth_cleaning_i_feel_this_was_the_most/
Nearly nobody will get a mouth that bad if they at least care to look at their teeths from time to time and have a basic hygiene, both dietary and oral.
But to at least get them interested, this video does the work really well.
(The video shows removal of a massive plaque of tartar. So I don’t recommend anyone uncomfortable, with looking at the inside of mouths and with seeing some bleeding, to watch this video)
Seriously please go to the dentist and take care of your teeth. My parents stopped taking me to the dentist when I was 16 and I didn’t return till I was 30. I had developed a massive anxiety over it and couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because I was terrified to look into my mouth. I got off relatively lucky but for the love of God go to the dentist
This comment hit hard, I know that feeling of looking in the mirror and being afraid to open my mouth. I went yesterday for the first time in over 10 years. I felt so much shame and anxiety, I didn’t sleep well for 2 nights leading up to the visit, but boy do I feel better now. Considering it had been so long the news wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and it was not as painful as i thought it would be (my last visit was not pleasant) Now that i’m over that hump, i’ll be going back much more frequently and will be more diligent with my oral hygene. I wish I had done it sooner. Seriously, for those in a similar situation, just go to the dentist and set things right before it’s too late.
Awesome job mate. I went through a similar stage with my depression. It takes courage to pull yourself out of situations like that so make sure you appreciate yourself.
Indeed. I started regularly flossing a few months ago, and it didn’t take long before it stopped hurting.
When my gums don’t bleed i turn the water pick up a notch
I’m in my 40s and dealt with a lot of pain and gum recession because I didn’t develop good habits as a kid. Parents, teach your children to floss. Gentle, compassionate dentists are not as easy to find as you might think. Your kids will suffer later in life if you don’t emphasize good dental care.
Waterpiks are a godsend
I try to avoid waterboarding myself when I can.
Or if you’re a neurodivergent with sensory sensitivities :'D
What?
Best motivation to floss? Do it once and smell the floss string after, our mouths are truly vile.
It’s kinda disgustingly satisfying when you pull gunk out. Then to think I never used to floss and that gunk used to just stay there…. 🤢
Today I learned… Well, I’ll be flossing more often :)
Started using a waterpick because of this post.
Dentists here (UK) stopped recommending flossing years ago. IIRC they actively discourage you from flossing. Instead the recommend interdental brushes
This is news to me. My teeth are hella tightly packed tho.
Exactly! And you can get yourself a Water Pik (or equivalent) for Extra Gummy Goodness!
Keeping a steady flossing habit has always been a struggle for me. This inspired me to give it another go. Thanks!
It’s weird that I actually kinda enjoy flossing now ever since I started doing it consistently every night. There’s something satisfying about getting all that gunk out.
I feel the same, it’s like now after I eat I can kinda feel like there’s stuck food in there and it irks me until I remove it. It’s kinda gross now if I can’t remove it immediately.
My dental hygienist told me that the best tools for cleaning your gums are wooden toothpicks.
the second best are the interdental cleaners.
The worst are the plastic toothpicks and the dental floss.
I’ve been using a combination of the wooden toothpicks and interdental cleaners for a few years and they are game changing.
Also use a good electric toothbrush and an tongue scraper.
An electric toothbrush gets into the places in between your teeth that a normal brush can’t get to and an tongue scraper is a game changer for the smell of your breathe overall.
Take good care of your teeth and gums. Brush 2 times a day, clean your gums at least 1 time a day and scrape your tongue.
Bad dental hygiene and no gum cleaning whatsoever will lead to receding gums and may lead in extreme cases to periodontitis .
Receding gums are a real thing and when they happen they DO NOT grow back. Your roots of your teeth will be exposed which are a pain in the ass itself.
Bad dental hygiene and no gum cleaning will also lead to deeper “gum pockets” which can lead to periodontitis. Look up what that means for your teeth and gums and you will start taking care of your mouth flora like a possessed being.
I am not a dentist of any kind, a few years ago I just really took an interest in dental health and tried to educate myself about the subject for a few weeks.
Correct me where I am wrong or if you want to elaborate on something, be my guest ;)!
