flossing with my braces

[floss44]

I have had my braces for 6 mos. and I use Sturdyfloss. It is great. my hygienist gave it to me. it is so easy to use...it has a special tip that slides under the wire.

[Sunny]

Great you've found a product that works well for you.

I use Oral B Superfloss. It has a tiny stiffened end, then a spongy piece, followed by traditional floss.

[Mc1]

You can try BrytonPick, it slides from behind the braces, so you don't have to string anything through...MSG me for a sample!
-Michael

[kcombs100]

Hi, I haved braces for the last 4 years and I use a water pick since floss gets stuck in between my teeth.

[mariahfromchicago]

I use a waterpick. I hate to floss, but I try to use regular floss.
- mariah

[18daystobrace]

For easy to reach tooth areas I use regular floss when ever possible. For hard to reach area because of the brace I use Oral B Superfloss.

I find it is difficult to get Oral B Superfloss to go between the teeth on some of the tooth because of the angle or tight teeth. Do not want to force it in and risk over shooting and damaging a tooth or brace, interestingly regular floss goes in easily! Fortunately my hard to reach area tooth/brace has a lot of spacing between teeth so I could use Oral B Superfloss.

Brushing, inter dental brushing with the small pick brush every single brace 360 degree, flossing every tooth, Listering once a day, water-pick, Act Mouth wash once a day takes just under 1/2 hr!

kcombs100, try using the regular floss on the easy to reach area. I had the same problem at first, the trick is to not force the floss in too much but applied very small force downward and slide the floss back and forth like cutting wood with a saw. If you do not floss you will get bleeding gums!

[Sunny]

Hi kcombs and welcome to this forum.

Originally Posted by kcombs100

I use a water pick since floss gets stuck in between my teeth.

Great that you're using a water pick to clean around your teeth and the brackets. It's still important for you to floss, as a water pick will not do that job. Floss slides up and down the sides of the tooth that are just below the gum line. This is an area where plaque can gather and will not come off without flossing. If the plaque is left there, gum disease may result, and then the expensive (and often painful) process of deep cleaning, deep scaling and planing has to be done. Often bone is lost and this is permanent, and also gum recession due to not flossing.

Good luck with flossing and good luck with your treatment coming to an end soon!

18 it's great you can use both the regular floss and oral b. I find using my regular floss (well it was my regular floss nearly three years ago) is way to slow, and for teeth where the small stiff end of the oral b floss has difficutly getting between, I find the stiffened end threads under the archwires ... fast and easy.

[18daystobrace]

I brush 2 times a day with the sonic electric brush. I got a dental checkup before getting braces. I had a few minor cavities between the teeth because I never floss. I also had mild gum problems. They had to deep clean and deep scaling every single tooth / gum, total cost of almost $400 for 2 visits within a month not including x-ray cost. There was alot of bleeding during the treatment, they go deep into the gum line and suck out the junk. I was fortunate the problem was caught early otherwise I risk lossing the teeth itself, once you loose the teeth you will not be able to do white fillings!!

Had braces on top and bottom within the month. The teeth and gum feels rock solid except for minor gum irratations, need to use more wax. Hopefully it will remain this way (pain free) next visit the ortho puts on the elastics.

Next dentist appointment is every 4 months. I have good gums now.

[Sunny]

Great your gum disease was found early and corrected. I had a similar experience, and have to admit I didn't really know about flossing ... and in my 40's it was found I had the early stages of gum disease. Like you a deep scale and plan was needed and my gums are now amazing. I do have minor permanent bone loss and gum recession ... but now my gums are a soft pink and in excellent health.

Wax and warm salt water rinses should soon sort out your gum irritations and this journey be pain free!

I've been wearing elastics for nearly two years and they're amazing. They have done great movement work with my teeth and never caused any problems.

Take care!