Flossing: Do you really need to do it?

Aug 23, 2019

Photo of young girl flossing her teeth — Despite recent findings, dentists continue to recommend flossing for a variety of reasons.

“Don’t forget to floss.”

You probably have heard this repeated to you throughout your lifetime. Want healthy teeth and gums? Then, remember this step.

Flossing pays a vital role in good dental hygiene. According to the American Dental Association (ADA), cleaners such as floss play a big role in removing plaque and debris from areas that a toothbrush can’t reach.

Amber Ahrens, registered dental hygienist with Family Health Center Ladysmith Dental Center, offers her expertise on the matter.

Still important to your oral health

Ahrens said that although brushing is an effective way of removing the plaque and bacteria from most surfaces on the teeth, flossing is necessary for those hard-to-reach areas and in-between your teeth, where the bristles of your toothbrush don’t fit.

“Plaque removal is a necessity in the prevention of cavities. The bacteria in our plaque eats away at the hard, enamel surface of our teeth and causes cavities,” Ahrens said. “Not only does this plaque and bacteria cause cavities, it causes gum diseases, such as gingivitis and periodontitis. Indicators of these gum diseases include inflammation or bleeding of the gums and bone loss around your teeth.”

The bone loss may cause mobility of the teeth, and possibly eventual tooth loss.

Additional health benefits

Studies are continuing to show more and more that our oral health can affect our overall health.

“The bacteria that accumulate in our mouths and between our teeth aren’t only bad for your teeth and gums,” Ahrens said. “Your mouth is directly linked to the rest of your body. These bacteria can make their way into your bloodstream and to your organs.”

Flossing helps to lower these bacteria levels in the mouth and reduce the risks of heart disease, respiratory disease and can help control diabetes.

Perfect for your whole family

When it comes down to who should floss, her answer is simple: everybody.

“I believe flossing is important for everyone to do,” she said. “I do give special advice to parents of small kids – ‘make time to floss between the two teeth in the back of all four corners (baby molars.)’ If you can get to all of your child’s teeth, that’s a great way to develop good habits – but those molars are especially important.”

Floss picks may be an easier way to begin with flossing in kids.

“I recommend flossing at least once daily. Flossing before bed is the best time of the day to floss,” she said.

7 responses to “Flossing: Do you really need to do it?”

Nancy M

Aug 31, 2019

My dental hygienist can always tell if I've been faithful about flossing or not. The is enough proof to me that flossing is effective! She's always been right!

Reply
Dennis

Aug 29, 2019

Are you suppose to floss before or after you brush?

Reply
1. Jacob Zipperer
  
  Aug 30, 2019
  
  Dennis,
  
  Thanks for reading Shine365 — we reached out to Dr. Fiebke and here is what he had to say:
  
  "Hi Dennis:
  
  Flossing before brushing is considered ideal as it helps break up bacteria prior to finishing the job with the toothbrush. This also gives a chance for fluoride in the toothpaste to contact more tooth surface between the teeth without bacteria in the way. It is still beneficial to floss after brushing, but most studies I’ve seen recommend brushing prior."
  
  Hope that helps!
  Jake
  
  Reply
Joanne O’Brien

Aug 29, 2019

My dentist recommends using a water pick. It is supposed to be better than flossing.

Reply
1. Judy
  
  Aug 30, 2019
  
  My oral hygienist told me that my overall gum health benefits from using the water pik
  
  Reply
A Wisconsin dentist

Aug 29, 2019

Just because there is a lack of scientific evidence doesn't mean flossing is worthless. It can also mean the research just hasn't been done. You can't research flossing very well. You can't research something or not doing something causes harm in this country. You can't ethically tell part of your study group not to floss for 3 years and then find lots of decay and periodontal disease on the teeth where no flossing was done, that would be considered harm. Flossing is a non-invasive, cheap, activity with no medical side effects like Rx medications would have so it is very poorly researched, but its hugely obvious to dental providers when you have a regular flosser as a patient and another which never flosses. You site a very weak one sided study (not even a study) a weak investigation by the associated press demanding evidence from the deptartment of health. Are there some research studies that can prove that walking across a busy high speed highway is dangerous to pedestrians? Probably not, it is just common sense not to do it, no need for research on that. Flossing is such a harmless, cheap, easy, simple, thing to do that is very obviously cleaning bacterial debris from interproximal surfaces and preventing class 2 caries and also reducing calculus buildup. Brushing has been proven very well to be effective so why not flossing the areas brush bristles cannot reach? If you are cleaning an item in the home with a brush that doesn't reach a small hard to reach area what do you do? you get a smaller more flexible cleaning device to remove the debris don't you? Same as floss. Do you need years of research to prove it. The problem is you can't see your own mouth very well in the mirror.

Reply
1. Jacob Zipperer
  
  Aug 29, 2019
  
  Thanks for reaching out and reading Shine365.
  
  We agree with you that flossing is still an important part of your oral health. After bringing up the AP investigation, we cited the American Dental Association's response which included the statement: 'a lack of strong evidence doesn’t equate to a lack of effectiveness,' a study that covered flossing's important role in preventing dental decay (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK8259/), and two other studies that discussed a growing body of evidence that good oral health can reduce your risk of negative health events such as stroke and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Fiebke also mentioned the benefit of floss reaching places that toothbrushes can't go.
  
  Our conclusion was that everybody should floss and our expert recommended flossing twice a day!
  
  Thanks,
  Jake
  
  Reply