Are Floss Sticks as Good as Regular Flossing?

There is a truth about your teeth that most of us aren’t even aware of.

 It is a truth that can have great consequences on the health and even the life of our teeth, but most of us go through life without this important bit of knowledge:

Flossing is even more important than brushing your teeth.

Now before you run to your bathroom and toss your toothbrush into the trashcan, let us clarify.

In order to maintain good oral hygiene, both brushing and flossing your teeth are essential.

While most of us are pretty good about brushing our teeth at least twice a day, the vast majority of people do not floss on a regular basis, if at all.

In an attempt to combat this issue, the floss stick was invented.

People come up with a number of excuses as to why they do not floss. Some claim, they do not get food stuck between their teeth. Others state they simply do not know how to floss properly, so simply avoid the task altogether. Many people claim it is just too time consuming an ordeal to take on in an already busy life. Still others say it’s just too gross.

The floss stick was designed to simplify the flossing process by removing the need to extract a piece of floss, twist it tightly around your fingers, while pulling the gross, dirty string back and forth between your teeth.

Since the original design of the floss stick, a major improvement has been made. The original floss stick was flat and shaped like a harp. However, a new more effective version has been made. The new version of the floss stick is curved. This allows for easier use in hard to reach areas like the back of your mouth.

When using a floss stick, make sure to gently slide the floss between your teeth, using the same sawing motion you do when using traditional floss. Many people are tempted to bite down on the stick to get the floss between their teeth, but this can damage your gums.

Once you get the floss between your teeth, press the floss against the side of one tooth and gently rub the floss up and down against your tooth. This will free up the bacteria and film on each tooth. Don’t forget to also use the floss around your gum line, getting what your toothbrush can’t reach.

While the floss stick is a great alternative to not flossing, there are a few drawbacks to using floss sticks that we’d like to highlight:

1. Since the piece of floss between the plastic is very small, you will be unable to as easily curve the floss around your gum line is a C shape, getting completely around the gum line of each tooth.

2. Without the recommended 18 inches of floss used in the traditional method of flossing, you will not be able to create as much force against each tooth, thus your flossing method might not be as effective.

3. You will not be able to use fresh sections of floss as you go. This means you will be sliding the same bacteria laden piece of floss back through each of your teeth.

4. The small piece of floss usually shreds, requiring you to use multiple floss sticks during each flossing session.

So, while we recommend using floss sticks over simply not flossing, we stand behind the traditional method of flossing.

Remember: Be True to Your Teeth and They Won’t Be False to You!