Flossers

I reviewed the comments that have been posted and Stephanie raised a good question about dental flossers. I did more research and talked to Dr. Thomas Kiefer, graduate of the University of Creighton Dental College. Hopefully I am able to clarify things and give a better perspective on the flossers.

Stephanie’s question was about the effectiveness of dental “flossers”. I too had this question, and it appears that her initial thought about flossers not being as effective as traditional flossing holds to be true. Flossers are disposable plastic instruments that have a couple centimeters of floss suspended and tightened that allow you to floss your teeth without having to twist the floss around your fingers. These have been recommended for use to people who struggle flossing due to poor manual dexterity. People suffering from severe arthritis and young children are good examples of people flossers work best for. Flossers do not give you as much freedom and motion as regular flossing does. Flossers are not nearly as effective because you are unable to make the “C” shape around the tooth to get under the gum line. You are also using the same piece of floss for your entire mouth. If you gunk it up, it sticks with you through the rest of your flossing, raising the possibility of depositing the food or plaque in other areas of your mouth. When you floss as recommended by a dental professional, you should be getting a new piece of floss about every two teeth. Dr. Kiefer said that he does not like the flossers for these very reasons. He said you do a much better job using your fingers and curving the floss around each tooth. He emphasized this point, as it is a large part of why flossing is so important. He does recommend them only for people who don’t have good manual dexterity, because using flossers is better than not flossing at all.

Images provided by Dental Flossers and Amazon.com.