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

Totally agreed. I got this advice to "Take care of your teeth" when I was 20. My professor just said "You'll never regret it." I took that to heart. Why wouldn't I do something I'll never regret!?

Pretty exciting though japanese researchers are doing human trials for medicine that blocks a protein that blocks a 3rd set of teeth from growing in, if that goes well we will probably have better teeth for longer time at least.

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?

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.

I know someone who has this for decades, only to have it clear up - loosen up and become flossable - after they had their wisdom teeth removed.

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!

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.

my dentist recommends the waterpik instead of flossing, he says floss can damage tissue if this is the case.

I can get floss in between mine, but my dentist says that tighter together teeth get less food stuck in there (although I'm sure there are different levels where it can start to be bad)

Try the pink interprox ones. They are the thinnest ones.

Otherwise ask your dentist if they can show you how to use them. Just because your teeth are really tight together doesn't mean that there won't be any buildup of food or other things.

Oral b pro glide works well. Pay for the more expensive floss and you won't have this issue as much.

There are other forms of flossing strings for this problem. Have the same problem and i would never go back to normal string again

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 naked 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.

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.

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.

Can't overstate how great they are if you hate flossing.

I try to avoid waterboarding myself when I can.

Clearly Crentist at work.

100xThis

It’s kinda disgustingly satisfying when you pull gunk out. Then to think I never used to floss and that gunk used to just stay there…. 🤢

I just grab a floss pick, go sit in front of my computer, and floss while distracting myself with something else. That way I don't have to devote any focus or effort to flossing and it goes by much easier.

A water flosser takes 30 seconds. (I'm in this thread shilling for water flossers.)

My dentist also told me I do a great job at flossing. I've never flossed or used a water pik in my life. I just nodded and quietly said "uh thanks".

If I may ask, which water pik do you use?

I've always hated flossing but the water pik is great.... as long as the water is room temp. Horrendous when you accidentally fill it with cold water

This is news to me. My teeth are hella tightly packed tho.

Add a waterpik into the mix. It doesn't replace actual flossing but can be really helpful as a supplement, especially in hard-to-reach areas.

There's floss with kind of a fishing line in one end of every ready-cut piece of strand. Oral B Super Floss is available where I live. You can use the rigid line to guide the floss under the retainer.

or drop the big bucks on a water flosser.

Any suggestions? I haven't really liked the sticks I've tried

running into a caring, kind hygenist was the best thing that ever happened to my dental health. convinced me to use a sonicare and floss daily and it changed my whole game. i used to think floss was to get stuck food out which it partially is, but it also busts up colonies of invaders

I dont understand how interdental cleaners and wooden toothpicks are better than floss. Floss can easly warp arround the theeth. A toothpick can't really reach small spaces or the back part of the teeth.

I feel the same, it's like now after I eat I can kinda feel like there's stuck food in there and it irks me until I remove it. It's kinda gross now if I can't remove it immediately.

No. Recently asked the same question to an expert. She told me that they are shit.

My girlfriend bought one of those. I thought she was fooled by some advertisement but that thing is the best. No bleeding, super clean feeling, no stuck floss between teeth and dentist thought things look great. The only thing they said was to try to switch sides with the water jet, meaning to put the jet from the inside towards out every once in a while. All in a great invention.

Yes, my dentist thought I was flossing because I use an off brand water pick. No, Sir. I just use water jets to blast away invaders.

There are tools for this! Little brackets with floss already in place (in several shapes, the floss straight, sideways, or in angle, long or short handle) or bigger ones where you can manually wind the floss around.

It's a lot more plastic waste, but have you tried those fancy plastic sticks with dental floss on, I believe they are called "dental floss picks" in English? Makes it quite easy to floss, and they can be bought bulk pretty cheap, at least where I live.

Try an EZ Floss. Their website is straight from 2005 but I've found these to work the best (after you get past the learning curve)

https://www.ezfloss.net/...

I know what you mean! There's something about that tender gum feeling that is more appealing and less wholly negative than other pain. I haven't had it in a while because I do floss daily now, but I definitely can relate.

Yes! I’m obsessed with how it feels. It’s pain but relieving at the same time.

What?

Might be a silly question but couldn't you just use floss to remove a stuck piece of floss? That's what I do when it shreds and gets stuck.

Use Pro-Glide waxed floss. Doesn't get stuck like the cheap stuff

Flossing is not done to prevent cavaties, but is done to remove plague. If you never floss, plague will build, your gums will become inflamed, your gums will pull away from your teeth and your jaw bone will deteriorate and at some point your teeth will become loose, painful and ugly. So if you want good teeth until old age you need to floss. Brushing only takes away 80% of the plague. Flossing removes the other 20%.

Many body parts are still healthy with mid 30. Time will show you how the body breaks down.

What are seatbelts? Seriously, though. I wear my seatbelt once every 6 months when I drive to the mechanic. Never any other time and I've NEVER been launched out of my windshield during a catastrophic 16 car pileup. Needing to wear a seatbelt is a conspiracy based on anecdotal evidence of one 32 yr old male (me) by big automobile to scare you into looking like a pussy.

Electric toothbrush makes my teeth feel soo much cleaner than a regular one - I used to have lots of cavities due to having extra sets of "inaccessible" teeth behind my wisdom teeth, and even got a prescription toothpaste with extra fluor. But now it's all a breeze keeping them properly cleaned (I do need to use dental sticks with a small brush between every meal though).

Well, clearly you should be flossing more if you bleed like that. I've used ultrasonic toothbrushes for over a decade and still ended up with cavities starting in-between my teeth because of my lack of flossing.

Something that helped me start flossing regularly was buying the really large spools of the better quality floss and a reusable dispenser. It's a lot easier to make a habit of something when you don't run out of it on the regular.

Get a floss pick at the smallest available size. They look like little toothpicks but are made of rubber and have little bristles that will massage your gums.

Aldi is a discount grocery store. You’d need to go to DM/Rossman for that stuff. Alternatively, the large grocery stores probably carry some stuff as well, but they’re still a different category of store.

Well, sorry to be the person you're dreading, but I'm going to jump in with some "pro-flossing bias" since the bias is for a good reason. This Buzzfeed article bases their argument on one AP study. If you try to click the link to the AP study in the article you linked, you'll see it has been taken down, since AP themselves have renounced it and stated that "all the studies were over too short of a time and have not enough participants."

Here's a NYT article that explains how this misinformation is based on a lot of flawed research. From the article:

In the case of flossing’s benefits, the supposedly weak evidence cited by The Associated Press was the absence of support in the form of definitive randomized controlled trials, the so-called gold standard for scientific research. Why was there so little of this support? Because the kind of long-term randomized controlled trial needed to properly evaluate flossing is hardly, if ever, conducted — because such studies are hard to implement. For one thing, it’s unlikely that an Institutional Review Board would approve as ethical a trial in which, for example, people don’t floss for three years. It’s considered unethical to run randomized controlled trials without genuine uncertainty among experts regarding what works.

I also found this counter argument that states that the poorly done study also only tracked caries (cavities) and didn't take into consideration other things, such as gum inflammation. Here's yet another counter argument with this quote:

“Every dentist in the country can look in someone’s mouth and tell whether or not they floss,” says Dr. Tim Iafolla, a dental health expert at NIH.

Don't your gums bleed? Isn't your breath bad? It's pretty clear that if you floss regularly, your gums are less inflamed. I know flossing isn't fun, but there's rotting food between your teeth, it smells bad and it's doing damage. It's pretty clear that your gums stop bleeding and your breath improves if you floss regularly.

Even Buzzfeed (which isn't really a good place to get health advice btw) has articles contradicting the post you linked. It's just clickbait. Please floss your teeth.

I read that as "there isn't good quality evidence" not as "flossing doesn't work".

If you have plaque on your teeth that doesn't get removed it turns into tartar/calculus. If it's between your teeth, over time that can lead to retreating gum and exposed dental necks. It's of course also something promoting tooth decay.

Removing this plaque with a tooth brush can be difficult to impossible depending on how your teeth are laid out. Floss can be helpful to remove it.

Are you saying this isn't true?

The article states there's no research for it. Doesn't mean it doesn't work. But of course it also doesn't mean it actually works. Everyone may do with that what they will. But it's hard to argue the logic that flossing helps. You can leave bits of food in your gums for bacteria to eat and produce byproducts that degrade your enamel. Or you can remove that food.

But the fact is that there isn't much research is indeed a valid concern, especially when the health/science community tries to say something is good or bad. They need to prove it.

Honestly man you can believe whatever you choose to. I’m not here to argue with anyone.

I’m in my 30s and went from having bad gingivitis with bleeding and pain during brushing, to having gums that are comfortable with being thoroughly physically cleaned every day and that makes me happy.

This does run counter to my own experience. Flossing definitely does remove old food and plaque from in between my teeth, I can see it. Are you saying removing this has no effect on dental hygiene?

In addition, I had a dentist appointment this week and they said some of my gums were slightly receding, and that if I floss there more regularly it will help the gums. I'm going to floss daily and see if there is any improvement at my next checkup in six months.

Is there a remind bot on lemmy?

TIL there's a conspiracy about this. Fascinating.

You should give a shit if you want to keep your teeth. You know your jaw itself can erode from gum disease? Been there, done that, and now my dentist has been nagging me for years to let them yank out 4 teeth and put in a bridge because they're so unstable - and I routinely have dreams about all of my teeth falling out.

And died from unhealthy gums.

All of your examples are from before sugar was in everything edible

Okay but you're not gonna do those things things so maybe you should floss

When I was a teenager, well, there's a whole lot involved, but I basically didn't have any dental hygiene to speak of.

Who cared?

Well, I had more than one root canal by the time I was 20.

I'm a bit obsessive about it these days, but I have not needed any more root canals.

Take care of the teeth that you want to keep. Don't worry, if you don't, they'll go away.

There's direct links between heart disease, Alzheimer's, and gum health.