Dental flossing is one of the effective techniques still popular in the western places, and it helps in many things like interproximal cleaning, and removal of dental plaque and food debris. Dental floss is a thread of nylon used for the cleaning purpose.
Here is a technique of how to floss your teeth:
> To have a good grasp on the floss thread, use about 12-18 inches, i.e. a minimum of 1 feet of floss. And to use it conveniently, wrap a couple times around the middle fingers of both the hands.
> Stretch the thread between the forefingers or both the thumbs, and the hold should be tight. Then pass the thread between two teeth gently, so that it doesn’t hurt the gingiva. Pass the thread in back-and-forth motion from the lower to upper area and vice-versa.
> Passing horizontally doesn’t clean the teeth properly. Take care while passing the floss, as the most sensitive interdental gingiva can easily get damaged and bleeds if excess pressure is put.
> One of the most famous techniques of moving the floss thread around the tooth is C-shaped flossing where the proximal surfaces of teeth are involved, and below will be the video to explain how to floss using the C-shaped technique. Place the floss near the contact area and slowly move downwards in the sulcus area, and again come up with the same force and pace.
> Repeat the same procedure for all the teeth in all the quadrants, and also do the same for distal surface of the last tooth in every quadrant.
You should repeatedly shift the area of thread used around the tooth, as it can get loaded with the food debris, or plaque and that area of thread becomes ineffective to clean more surfaces.
Here is the video tutorial of tooth flossing technique using C-shaped procedure:
Effective flossing can only be accomplished if you allow the dental floss to clean that portion of each tooth’s surface that lies below the gum line. The dental plaque that occupies this region is the plaque that will have most to do with the health of the gum tissue surrounding the tooth. Since so many people experience problems with gum disease, flossing thoroughly below the gum line should be a prime consideration.
We really enjoyed reading your post on flossing. It was informative and thorough in explanation. We recently posted a blog about flossing which we have attached here for more general information on the importance of flossing! http://universaldentalplan.wordpress.com/2009/10/07/forgetting-the-floss-what-it-really-can-mean-for-your-teeth-and-your-body/