# Dental Health: what's the best order?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-health-whats-the-best-order/367265>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 4, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-health-whats-the-best-order/367265 "2006-08-04T00:40:44Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-health-whats-the-best-order/367265/1 "2006-08-04T00:40:44Z")

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My daily dental hygiene routine consists of three steps (in this order):  
[ul]  
[li]Flossing[/li][li]Mouthwash (specifically Listerine)[/li][li]Brushing[/li][/ul]  
I got to wondering recently, to what extent does the order matter? Would it be better to start with the mouthwash? Or maybe end with it?  
So, I ask, is there a correct order for these three tasks? How much does the order matter?

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**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-health-whats-the-best-order/367265/2 "2006-08-04T00:51:37Z")

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We have done this one before but the conclusions are semi-debatable.

The most common advice (and most logical in my mind) is:

1. Floss - get the gumk out from between your teeth.
2. Brush - scrub everything out at once.
3. Rinse or mouthwash - wash out what is left of the gunk and give it that last touch.

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**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\
**Post date:** [August 4, 2006, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dental-health-whats-the-best-order/367265/3 "2006-08-04T01:01:27Z")

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Ah. I hadn’t even thought to do a search on this first, but there seems to be enough information to answer my question in the archives. My apologies.

Mods: Feel free to shut this thread down.