Will you continue to floss your teeth?

I floss hit and miss and my teeth are in great shape. I try to do it at least a few times a week but, my dentist always says how great things look.
I do floss before I go the dentist. haha
I think, like most health things, a lot is based on genetics, some people just have naturally better and stronger teeth and it is hard to get cavities and other issues. My daughter is only 28 but she has had to have several deep quadrant cleanings and I have never had to have any deep cleanings at almost 57.

My only complaint is that I am prone to getting coffee stains on the back of my lower bottom teeth so I brush after coffee faithfully.

The whole thing pisses me off so much! For the first 23 years of my life I didn’t floss with any regularity and experts told me I was ruining myself because of it. Now that I floss every day they’re telling me it’s pointless. I can’t win! I figure I’ll keep doing it though. It’s not like it could hurt, and maybe it does help a little.

Absolutely!!! I’ve done it religiously for years and am convinced it has helped keep my teeth and gums healthier than they would have been without it.

My dentist, whom I’ve gone to for years, keeps up with the latest technology and research and continues to strongly recommend it despite the recent negative research. I will continue to take his recommendation.

Honestly, I floss because I like how my teeth look after I floss. My morning floss tends to be thorough – then it drops off through the day.

I get grossed out seeing food bits and guck between other people’s teeth. The least I can do is prevent them seeing that in my mouth.

Yes – Water Pic.

How else would I get the blueberry seeds out from between my teeth?

@ibstubro Absolutely!

I have too much dental decay to floss. I do use toothpicks and Listerine.

Yes, I’ll continue to floss religiously. Andy, by “religiously,” I don’t mean every Christmas and Easter; I’ll do so every night.

I inherited some really bad teeth, and so did my brother. Flash forward, and my dental health is excellent. I give full credit to daily flossing. I started the routine many years ago, and everything got considerably better soon after.

Yes. I too have a waterpik. I use it because it apparently massages the gums and helps prevent gingivitis. Whether it really does this, I don’t know. I just know I hate feeling like I have stuff between my teeth and the waterpik fixes that problem.

If we all stopped and started eating and doing things every time some study says ‘this is good for you’, ‘this is bad for you’, we’d all go slightly mad. Everything in moderation is my rule in relation to just about everything. I’m not going to get my undies in a knot if I don’t floss for a few days, but I’m not going to drop the practise completely just because a study says flossing has no value. I am also going to eat butter and have done for years, because I like it. I just won’t eat it to excess. I’ll still eat grains. I just won’t overeat grains. I don’t know if I should stand or sit anymore – so I’ll do both – moderately. And so on and on and on…

Lack of scientific evidence hardly disproves anything. The article is slightly interesting but I know enough about scientific research to not be too surprised nor affected by the idea there’s “no scientific evidence” about that.

My dentist and/or his technician bug me about flossing every time I see them. I also think that the more I floss, the easier a cleaning session is. And I tend to think the dentist probably knows what he’s talking about, and what he says makes sense.

Now, I’ve hardly ever flossed before a few years ago, when they showed me the little plastic P-shaped flossers, and the tiny pipe-cleaner ones, that mean I can actually floss pretty easily. I barely manage to do anything when I try to use just my hands holding a piece of floss – it seems like my hands are too big to get in my mouth and I find it extremely frustrating, but with those tools, it’s not so bad.

Yes, because rotting food between your teeth is unhealthy and gross.

I, too, use the little Floss-picks to floss my teeth.
I keep one in the fuzzy little drawer in my car – the place where an ashtray once would have been – and I floss at stoplights and after everything I eat. There’s a gap between the molars on my left and wads of food gather there.

Btw, I both use floss and a water irrigaton device (which is connected directly to my faucet). Even at their advanced age my pearlies are so tight that I food simple flossing doesn’t always work; hence, the water pik-type device.

Yes. I must confess I don’t floss all of my teeth on a regular basis, more like on an “as needed” basis. Some would say all the teeth need it all the time, but I just do the teeth where I can feel something (like a kernel from corn or a sesame seed). I do brush my teeth at least twice a day and I go to the dentist twice a year. I just went today. My teeth are in great shape.

It’s difficult for me to imagine how getting sugary or starchy bits of food out from the pockets between my gums and the bases of my teeth wouldn’t help my teeth’s health, definitive studies or no. Also I was born with weak enamel so I’ve got my electric toothbrush and floss routine down to a speedy ritual, and I’m not one to gamble (especially when pokey-stabby instruments get involved should I be mistakenly lax.)

(I heard on the radio there are studies that suggest flossing helps prevent shorter-term diseases like gingivitis, we just don’t have longer-term studies for diseases like periodontitis for various logistical reasons?)

@ibstubro I too must confess… I don’t floss all my teeth. Just the ones I want to keep!!