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Floss Before Brushing

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Re: Floss Before Brushing

#71

Post by jemmyw »

dsego wrote: post #51
troupo wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC there were studies saying that flossing isn't as great as people suppose it is. My completely uneducated guess is that it's marginally useful for people with good teeth (shape, spacing) because debris doesn't accumulate as easily, and brushes are effective. For my case (crooked teeth, very narrow gaps) it's a great helper to get out the debris, morsels of food etc. that the brush can't get out.

I shared this with HN on many occasions. My wife has crowded teeth, doesn't floss, barely touches her waterpik, doesn't use any proper brushing technique. She probably had a couple of fillings done since I met her 20 years ago. In the meantime I have cavities almost every year, one root canal and a dental implant on a previosly failed root canal. I flossed since university and use mouth rinses and electric toothbrush…

You started out good with what seemed like an easy comparison, she doesn't floss, you do, she still has better teeth. But then you go on to show all the other differences, especially not always brushing twice a day, different diet, avoiding dentist, and its hard to understand the point of your post.

My wife and I have an almost identical routine and diet, we use the same brand electric brushes, always twice a day, and usually have coffee together. However, she's not had many dental problems, but I've had to go to the dentist tons this year. Oh, incidentally I also knocked my front teeth out in a cycling accident.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#72

Post by rustybolt »

ses1984 wrote: post #7
rustybolt wrote: post #4

I stubbornly floss every day and every yearly checkup my dentist tells me it does not help and recommends me to stop doing it.

Well based on the amount of shit I dig out even if I floss after, and it’s effect on my breath, ima keep doing it.

Yes, that's exactly my reasoning. Even if it doesn't help for anything, it just feels satisfying and more clean. Kind of like picking your nails.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#73

Post by dsego »

jemmyw wrote: post #71
dsego wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I shared this with HN on many occasions. My wife has crowded teeth, doesn't floss, barely touches her waterpik, doesn't use any proper brushing technique. She probably had a couple of fillings done since I met her 20 years ago. In the meantime I have cavities almost every year, one root canal and a dental implant on a previosly failed root canal. I flossed since university and use mouth rinses and electric toothbrush…

You started out good with what seemed like an easy comparison, she doesn't floss, you do, she still has better teeth. But then you go on to show all the other differences, especially not always brushing twice a day, different diet, avoiding dentist, and its hard to understand the point of your post. My wife and I have an almost identical routine and diet, we use the same brand electric brushes, always twice a day, an…

You're right, I lost the plot. I still think it's mostly genetics, just because her hygiene and frequency of dentist visits are comparable to mine. I wish I was keeping record though, because little things can add up. I obviously placed low priority on morning brushing but on the other hand she never flosses, and here we're discussing the minute details of flossing technique.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#74

Post by OutOfHere »

stronglikedan wrote: post #59
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #8

I'm surprised that this isn't self-evident. Flossing dislodges stuff from between your teeth. Brushing beforehand means you don't have an opportunity to remove that stuff.

My dentist says the opposite, since toothbrush bristles don't get between the teeth. According to her, brushing after flossing just pushes all the dislodged stuff back between the teeth. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter which you do first, as long as you rinse well after each step. I brush first - get most of it with the brush and rinse, then get the rest of it with the floss and rinse.

1. Rinse with water.

2. Brush without toothpaste.

3. Floss

4. Brush with toothpaste.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#75

Post by bena »

distances wrote: post #63
bena wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, scrape away any built up plaque, polish, floss, check for cavities, x-rays every other visit (once a year).

Cavities & x-rays is a check-up though, covered by my health insurance. Cleaning would be a separate session out of pocket

I don't know what to tell you. Every 6 months I go to the dentist. They do all those things. They bill my insurance. I pay whatever is left over.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#76

Post by rustybolt »

troupo wrote: post #29
AznHisoka wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe your dentist just needs more business? Im half kidding but i once had a dentist that told me I had 4 cavities that needed to be fixed, but when I to a 2nd dentist, she spotted zero cavities

IIRC there were studies saying that flossing isn't as great as people suppose it is. My completely uneducated guess is that it's marginally useful for people with good teeth (shape, spacing) because debris doesn't accumulate as easily, and brushes are effective. For my case (crooked teeth, very narrow gaps) it's a great helper to get out the debris, morsels of food etc. that the brush can't get out.

This is plausible. My dentist says I should use toothpicks, but they are not useful for me as they don't really fit between my teeth. I do the most problematic of my tooth with an "extra small" pick now, and I can usually get those four gaps done before the pick breaks.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#77

Post by peacebeard »

stronglikedan wrote: post #59
aaronbrethorst wrote: post #8

I'm surprised that this isn't self-evident. Flossing dislodges stuff from between your teeth. Brushing beforehand means you don't have an opportunity to remove that stuff.

My dentist says the opposite, since toothbrush bristles don't get between the teeth. According to her, brushing after flossing just pushes all the dislodged stuff back between the teeth. In my opinion, it doesn't really matter which you do first, as long as you rinse well after each step. I brush first - get most of it with the brush and rinse, then get the rest of it with the floss and rinse.

General awareness of if what you’re doing is successfully getting stuff out of your teeth beats following a guiding principle and trusting it’s automatically working.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#78

Post by plorkyeran »

SilverElfin wrote: post #41

How do people here feel about water flossers?

The most important thing is to find something that you'll use regularly. If you find water flossing easier to do daily than manual flossing, that's more important than which is better at cleaning your teeth.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#79

Post by deepvibrations »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #39

It so happens that this is what I was doing, which is good. However, for years I was brushing after eating my breakfast because I assumed it was the better way as then you aren't going about your day with your breakfast on your teeth. But when I looked into it I found that for a variety of reasons it is apparently better to brush before breakfast. So it was an important lesson in not assuming the "obvious" (to you) w…

So long as you leave a gap of 45 minutes, you're still better off cleaning After breakfast as far as I understand.

Re: Floss Before Brushing

#80

Post by jemmyw »

dsego wrote: post #73
jemmyw wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You started out good with what seemed like an easy comparison, she doesn't floss, you do, she still has better teeth. But then you go on to show all the other differences, especially not always brushing twice a day, different diet, avoiding dentist, and its hard to understand the point of your post. My wife and I have an almost identical routine and diet, we use the same brand electric brushes, always twice a day, an…

You're right, I lost the plot. I still think it's mostly genetics, just because her hygiene and frequency of dentist visits are comparable to mine. I wish I was keeping record though, because little things can add up. I obviously placed low priority on morning brushing but on the other hand she never flosses, and here we're discussing the minute details of flossing technique.

I read an article a few years ago about what brushing actually does for your teeth and why it works. The premise was that brushing applies fluoride and removes the bacterial film that eventually turns into plaque - and that about 2 minutes of brushing a day would be sufficient if we were perfect at brushing. Doing it twice a day ensures that you get good coverage. It also went into the best brushing technique etc.

Since reading that I've not stressed about missing the odd brush here and there. I've also been more conscious how I brush. I stopped flossing because my gums seem quite sensitive to it and it doesn't have great evidence of effectiveness. I use a inter-denture pick/brush occasionally when needed. This all seems to have improved things for my teeth considerably, my dentist now saying they're really clean - and ironically stopped suggesting I floss more.

I wasn't joking in my previous post about the cycling accident that destroyed my front teeth, except that it happened 20 years ago. This year the crowns I had fitted failed so I've had those removed and implants installed. It's been very painful, I left replacing them probably 10 years longer than I should have. Yesterday I got a temporary bridge on the implants, which I can't use for biting. Still 2-3 months away from having the permanent new crowns fitted.

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