In the film “Prelude to a Kiss”, Alec Baldwin’s character asks the old man, having been returned to his own body from that of Meg Ryan’s, what he would have done differently if he had his life to live over. The old man replies, “I would have flossed.”
(Unbelievable! I was thinking of posting a Q about dental floss just yesterday myself. Great minds…)
I’m not generally brand loyal about most products, but don’t stand between me and my Butler brand, fine, unwaxed dental floss. Nothing beats it, in my opinion; if you’ve got tight spaces between your teeth, like me, J&J and most other brands seem like clothesline compared to Butler fine.
Consumer Reports gave it a pretty low rating a couple of years back because it wasn’t as strong as other brands, but it’s strong enough to do the job, so don’t let that stop you.
Only two problems: 1. it’s hard to find, at least here in NYC, and 2. the 200 yd. package comes in this white egg-shaped dispenser that becomes USELESS when you’re down to the last 1/4 of the spool… the spool won’t spin freely to let out the floss, so you’ve got to open the egg up. Argh.
As for waxed vs unwaxed: I never use waxed. Waxed floss seems like it polishes over the plaque, instead of scraping it off.
Due to my current lack of a dental plan, I’m a daily flosser. I like Glide floss, because it’s more like a tape instead of twine–it gets between the tight spaces. I prefer the waxed, for the same reason mentioned above.
My teeth are overcrowded as it is, and the DDS always wants to remove one, but can’t decide which. If I put extra spaces between my teeth by flossing, my I’d choke on my wisdom teeth.
I only have had two cavities, both top center of the tooth.
I have perfect gums, but all dentists’ gums look goofy because they floss so much. Their teeth stick up like they’re a row of pegs.
I do use Plax, though, to get at the cracks, but I hope the main sides of the teeth wedge together into one big combo tooth on each side, like elephant teeth.
I also want huge long tusks, but that’s just a dream with my bad back.
SOAPBOX/
Brothers and sisters,
I once thought I’d found the Truth, but the Truth was a lie, the dental antifloss, and now I have seen the True Light. You see, when I was a young and foolish girl, I went astray, and discovered Glide tape. I was excited, I was convinced. Now, though, I have been shown the way. Glide is a wolf in sheep’s clothing-- it gets in and out easily, but is that The Point? Now I have found woven, unwaxed floss-- it scrapes that stuff right out. For some reason the stuff I use also does not shred (some shredding I think is caused by the “sawing motion” approach to flossing, back and forth rather than up and down, which is the method we initiates use).
/SOAPBOX
This is what happens when a Moderator steps out of his forum and attempts to start a thread here. Dental floss??? I’ve got great threads on chocolate, rock and roll and sex, and you start a thread in my forum about DENTAL FLOSS?? My ghod, that barely qualifies for MPSIMS!
Now, if you care to start a thread about sex AND chocolate and it’s influence on rock and roll…
Well I for one applaud UncleBeer for having the courage to come out and talk about a subject obviously very near and dear to his heart. Maybe if we had more threads about dental floss and less threads about “wanker sauce” we would have Martha Stewart and Disney advertising here.
And my floss views coincide exactly with those of UncleBeer. Un pour tous, et tous pour un!
Whew!! Thanks. Ain’t nothin’ worries me more than the Consumer Report on my floss!
My view on flossing was best expressed by the comedian Mitch Hedberg (I think??): “People say I don’t know how hard it is to stop smoking. Yes I do. It’s the same as trying to start flossing. ‘Man, you’re looking jittery.’ ‘Yeah, I’m about to go floss.’”
I hate it.
