You Should Know

“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.

Yeah well, my teeth were so tight you couldn't squeeze any floss through. My dentists generally refused to believe it and one insisted on demonstrating. After squeezing very hard, he finally succeeded getting the floss through, at which time the floss immediately broke. Zero flossing actually occurred, the dentist was embarrassed and confused, and pretended it didn't happen, and made no comment about what else I should do, since I CLEARLY couldn't floss. Only result was I had a piece of floss stuck, and It took me weeks to finally get rid of that frigging floss thread from between my teeth.

Quite frankly, I'm more than a little tired of reading mundane advise for people with normal teeth, who probably know this already.

Yes people who have ordinary teeth, can use this common and obvious advise.

My teeth are just really tightly togheter... I have absolutely no idea where an interdental brush would even go, it just bends and breaks if I try to push it between my teeth. Even getting the floss in there is already hard.

Waterpiks are a godsend

Nice try dentist

From many dental visits, pared down:

Brush light, floss hard. Some minor bleeding from flossing, weirdly, is actually ok. Just go easy on that spot until it's not sore anymore, then ease into going hard again. These two things are mostly what will make getting poked with all that metal shit not bother you so much.

You only need to floss at night. You aren't putting food in your mouth while you sleep.

Electric toothbrushes are legit improvements, not gimmicks. Get one if you can.

Best motivation to floss? Do it once and smell the floss string after, our mouths are truly vile.

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 have never flossed regularly in my life because I can't stand sticking my hands in my mouth.

My dental hygienist says I do an amazing job at flossing.

I use a water pik.

Dentists here (UK) stopped recommending flossing years ago. IIRC they actively discourage you from flossing. Instead the recommend interdental brushes

Do yourself a favour and buy some biodegradable floss picks. String is a fucking nightmare.

I have two permanent retainers in and I find flossing to be so difficult with it.

I'm also terrible with dental hygiene in general. I'm lucky if I remember to brush my teeth at least once a day.

Keeping a steady flossing habit has always been a struggle for me. This inspired me to give it another go. Thanks!

I didn't realize how uncomfortable my gums were until I started flossing. Now, if I don't floss for a couple days, it feels straght-up gross.

Hello there, and welcome to our community! I hope you like it in here.

Could you please include some body text as to why should people know this, and how would that help them? It’s our second rule. Thank you :)

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.

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 ;)!

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.

When my gums don’t bleed i turn the water pick up a notch

You could also use one of those water pick things that use a pressurised water jet to clean between your teeth. After I started using one regularly my dentist even remarked on how much better my gums were looking.

This is the first year I flossed every single day and now I can't go to sleep without flossing and I'm 29. I don't know what clicked but I don't have any discomfort flossing and I'm sure my mouth appreciates it.