I always hear it recommended by dentists and hygienists alike that you should floss once in the morning and once at night before bed. For a person who skips breakfast and does not eat until lunch, does it really make that much sense to floss in the morning before having eaten anything for the day? I can see how flossing would make sense post-breakfast, when bits of food would have made down between the teeth, but for someone like me that skips breakfast, is there all that much benefit?
Would it be better to just brush in the morning and then do a full brush/floss after lunch? Or will bacteria and plaque make it down between teeth overnight regardless, meaning there would be substantial benefit to flossing in the morning?
Thanks for the response, johnpost. I may be misremembering the dental advice I’ve heard, as floss once at night and brush morning and night sounds more like what I’ve been told. Is flossing more often really that detrimental? If done carefully, it seems like there’s not going to be much of an issue; I could see problems arising if someone is just blinding jabbing the floss in there and ending up like bleeding gums murphy. I just hate thinking that there could be bits of food leftover in between teeth, kind of like how a popcorn shell can just sit between teeth and be bothersome, except random food bits are probably better breeding ground for bacteria than a lone popcorn shell.
I floss at breakfast and at night. Also often after lunch if I have the opportunity and time. The breakfast & lunch floss is not as vigorous and is very fast. Basically, it’s a a slightly more thorough version of a toothpick. My gums never bleed. Flossing is good for the gums.
flossing above the gum to get out stuck food doesn’t harm the gum tissue. flossing around the tooth under the gum line breaks up the daily population of bacteria. as i understand flossing below the gum line is a very slight trauma though orders of magnitude less of a problem than the bacteria. mouth is better off for it once a day.
Last visit, my hygenist said that flossing will toughen the gums slightly, so that the twice a year clean will hurt less. I haven’t been flossing daily since then, but I’m doing it a few times a week, which is an improvement.
I floss every night before going to bed. My tip for this is to have floss EVERYWHERE in the house - wherever I find myself hanging out in the evening, I have floss to grab and use.
Years ago my dental technician told me that I have to floss only once daily as it takes 24 hours for microbes to flourish. In addition she said that I cannot hurt my gums no matter how hard I floss.
Flossing is especially important if you have a lot of tattoos. Cops use the tooth to tattoo ratio to determine if you are a likely suspect. If it’s less than 1, you may as well start filling out those change of address forms now.
I find this hard to believe, as my hygienist seems to floss me on my biannual visits as though she’s trying to saw through my jawbone with a strip of nylon. I swear to good, last time she planted a foot on the arm-rest of the dental examination chair to get more leverage.
I usually end up bleeding a bit.
And yes, I do floss on my own. Not as often as I should. I do notice - if I’ve neglected flossing for a while, my gums will bleed a little. After about a week of good flossing they do seem tougher and more resilient and I don’t bleed anymore.
I get a dental cleaning quarterly because my teeth are very close to each other, having a small mouth. My hygienist flosses my teeth afterwards, but with no force, although she has a hard time getting the floss between my teeth, as they are so close. My dentist says to me to keep up the good work, and I floss only once a day. I asked him once if I should get an electric toothbrush. He told me to keep with what I’ve been doing as I’ve been doing a great job. I don’t know which part of my post you find hard to believe, but flossing once a day is all you need. No matter how hard you floss, you won’t hurt your gums.
Your gums should not bleed, even after flossing. Bleeding gums show problems with the gums, probably tartar build-up, not damage to the gums. If you floss daily, your gums won’t bleed.