Healthy gums don’t bleed, and are not painful to floss at all.
I’m in my 30s and only recently learned flossing technique and got my gums healthy. Flossing used to take so long and always involved a lot of bleeding no matter how delicate I was.
These days I’m absolute savage with floss and interdental brushes and never have any blood or pain.
Once you get your gums healthy you’ll be disgusted at yourself for ever not flossing. The amount of disgusting I can floss out on an almost daily basis is insane.
Plus you’re breath will not smell gross anymore.
It’s worth committing to the habit of flossing. Trust me.
“Take care of your teeth” is my go-to “old person’s advice to young people.” Once you realize that dentists can’t really “fix” (as in permanently fix) most problems with your teeth (that you get one set for your whole life), that 5-10 minutes a day to take care of them doesn’t seem like so much.
Seriously, once you have a cavity, there’s a pretty good chance that tooth will eventually become a crown or implant. Once a tooth cracks, it will eventually get worse and have to go. Dentistry is mostly preventative, and for the most part they can really only apply a band-aid to serious problems.
Seriously please go to the dentist and take care of your teeth. My parents stopped taking me to the dentist when I was 16 and I didn’t return till I was 30. I had developed a massive anxiety over it and couldn’t even look at myself in the mirror because I was terrified to look into my mouth. I got off relatively lucky but for the love of God go to the dentist
This comment hit hard, I know that feeling of looking in the mirror and being afraid to open my mouth. I went yesterday for the first time in over 10 years. I felt so much shame and anxiety, I didn’t sleep well for 2 nights leading up to the visit, but boy do I feel better now. Considering it had been so long the news wasn’t as bad as I was expecting, and it was not as painful as i thought it would be (my last visit was not pleasant) Now that i’m over that hump, i’ll be going back much more frequently and will be more diligent with my oral hygene. I wish I had done it sooner. Seriously, for those in a similar situation, just go to the dentist and set things right before it’s too late.
The best 3D printer we know of is biology. Until we can grow a new tooth from some science broth, prevention is imperative. Even once we do, it’ll take a while to catch up to nature.
Oh dear. How do I make my 13yo understand that, who doesn’t seem to care?
Show them this video and tell them this is what happens when you neglect your teeths. https://libreddit.domain.glass/r/popping/comments/py6qlw/teeth_cleaning_i_feel_this_was_the_most/
Nearly nobody will get a mouth that bad if they at least care to look at their teeths from time to time and have a basic hygiene, both dietary and oral.
But to at least get them interested, this video does the work really well.
(The video shows removal of a massive plaque of tartar. So I don’t recommend anyone uncomfortable, with looking at the inside of mouths and with seeing some bleeding, to watch this video)
Yeah well, my teeth were so tight you couldn’t squeeze any floss through. My dentists generally refused to believe it and one insisted on demonstrating. After squeezing very hard, he finally succeeded getting the floss through, at which time the floss immediately broke. Zero flossing actually occurred, the dentist was embarrassed and confused, and pretended it didn’t happen, and made no comment about what else I should do, since I CLEARLY couldn’t floss. Only result was I had a piece of floss stuck, and It took me weeks to finally get rid of that frigging floss thread from between my teeth.
Quite frankly, I’m more than a little tired of reading mundane advise for people with normal teeth, who probably know this already.
Yes people who have ordinary teeth, can use this common and obvious advise.
Same - I could never understand interdental brushes. How the hell was I supposed to get that between my teeth when even I waxed floss won’t fit? So I gave up and now use an electric toothbrush +waterpick when I can be arsed. My dentist is more than happy so I guess I’m doing ok.
Agreed on the water pick. It’s really just a high powered stream of water, but not so powerful as to cut you. Although against delicate gums it may still cause bleeding like floss.
I later found out to flush thoroughly. It would have been great to have been advised on that 25 years ago, instead of the constant talk about flossing.
Flushing really is extremely efficient, I never tried a waterpick, but I’m guessing that’s even better.
What is flushing exactly? Is it just violently swishing water through your teeth? I do that and find it works better at getting stuff out than flossing most of the time.
same, and this will compound as less flossing leads to tartar build-up, which makes flossing/brushing even harder.
On another note, get a waterpick, its a life changer!
In case you (nor the dentist) haven’t tried, there’s also flat floss that’s like a strip of paper. Oral B Satin Floss is one that is available where I live. Hope it might be of help!
the people at the dentist react as if you just killed a baby and then did a victory dance. It’s very uncomfortable ;)
I hate that!
They’ve got you strapped down into that chair with that thing in your mouth that forces you to smile while they all stare at you and chant “Shame. Shame. Shame…”
I really don’t know why I keep going back.
Leaving a comment, so that in 3 and a half years time when you develop a humiliation fetish, you can look back and think of me.
I don’t know where we’ll all be in 3.5 years but I know I’ll still think of you when I touch myself.
I have the same problem and my hygienist has also said it’s difficult to floss my teeth. I rarely ever flossed. Then I got a water flosser and at the risk of sounding like an ad, it’s great. It’s not simply not bad; it’s actually pleasant. The next time I got my teeth cleaned after buying it, the hygienist said my gums were noticably healthier and she asked what I had done.
Someone I know just got their teeth checked, first time in four years. The dentist was surprised at how clean and upkept their teeth were. They asked if he flossed his teeth and he said he has never done it in his life. They still shamed him.
It’s like dentist only know how to shame. I have yet to meet one that understands self-care is hard for people with ADHD/Autism. I’m doing by best and shame makes me give up.
I brush once in the morning and haven’t regularly flossed in years, somehow my teeth are in great shape. My dentist says I’m a freak of nature lol.
I have the exact same situation except I do it at night instead only once a day and my dentist (whom I really trust) says my teeth are better than 95% of people who walk into his office. Especially for my age… So yeah. Recently though I’ve been thinking I should at least start brushing twice a day if I am not going to floss at all.
My teeth are just really tightly togheter… I have absolutely no idea where an interdental brush would even go, it just bends and breaks if I try to push it between my teeth. Even getting the floss in there is already hard.
I also have tightly packed teeth and can barely use interdental brushes on just some of them. What works well however are dental floss sticks, you can get them with pretty thin floss(es?) and they’re way easier to use than plain floss.
The only interdental brush I find I can use is Piksters. All the others bend so easily.
I wish they were cheaper.
Waterpiks are a godsend
