Hot take: I was flossing completely wrong for 40 years

My dentist showed me a video of my own gums bleeding after I swore I was doing it right. Turns out I was sawing the floss straight down between my teeth instead of hugging the side in a C shape. He said I was basically just slicing my gums open every single time. Anybody else get a rude awakening about something they thought they had down?

3 comments

3 Comments

vera_robinson361d ago

the_jake, that detail about going slightly below the gumline is key and I bet a lot of people miss it. Did your hygienist mention if that gentle pressure is supposed to be a specific amount, like just enough to feel the tooth but not scrape it? I've always wondered if the "gentle" instruction varies from person to person based on how sensitive their gums are.

the_jake4d ago

Honestly, I hate to be that guy but the C shape thing isn't quite the whole story. You're supposed to wrap the floss around the tooth in a C, yeah, but you also need to go slightly below the gumline, not just along the side. My hygienist showed me the same gum-bleeding video and then made me practice on a model, and she kept saying "gentle, gentle" because you're not trying to scrape the tooth clean like paint off a wall. I was definitely pressing too hard and thought I was doing it right for years.

the_jennifer4d ago

...and that's basically how half the stuff we think we're doing right is actually wrong. It's like when people tell you they're "multi-tasking" but really they're just doing three things badly at the same time.