Rinse with some water in your mouth before flossing to get any chunks out, then rinse again after flossing to get the chunks out that were dislodged during flossing.
Don't bother with water flosser etc, you won't need it if you do as i suggested you can remove 100% of particle matter without another gadget, charger and expense etc
Also just floss using the normal string dont bother with picks, floss holders etc, its so much easier to use string when you get experienced with it. Do it! It's worth it!
There are flossing "responders" and "non-responders" that we are looking into and hopefully we'll have another post to share soon. It appears that the oral microbiome may be able to predict whether flossing (or perhaps water flossing) actually improves your health because for some it does not have as much of an effect as others.
For the past three years I've used an Oral B electric toothbrush without any improvement.
And then last January I made two changes that have made a huge change in my plaque situation (verified by my hygenist of three years).
First I upgraded my electric toothbrush to the Oral B 4000, which has noticeably more power, at Christmas. And second I changed my brushing technique. Instead of brushing flat against my teeth I now brush the gum line at my teeth and rotate the brush head to a 45 degree angle down at the gums. I then move the tooth brush back and forth over sections of teeth. Typically side or front though the backs if the front teeth require a slightly different approach.
After these changes my hygenist noticed a big improvement in my gums. I also reduced my flossing but when I do floss now theres very little pain, bleeding or swelling unlike before.
Your mileage may very but if you have plaque problems you might save on hygenists.
It was when I added 2x100mcg of vitamin K2 per day, that I saw a huge difference - possibly to the point that technique doesn’t matter anymore.
YMMV. Do not trust medical or nutritional anecdotes from the internet. For all you know, I’m a dog.
If you look closely at the data from the blog, there are flossing "responders" and "non-responders". I'll have some follow-up data published about this soon, but we've been able to define oral microbiome archetypes that we're using to predict which oral health regimens may actually work for you. There are some people who never floss and still never get gum disease or caries, and unfortunately some who do everything they can with no improvement.
I found it interesting that they seemed unable to assign any points to flossing. Basically any points they attempted to assign were better allocated to correlated behaviors. If you floss you probably wouldn't miss brushing for example..
Personally I feel uncomfortable if I don't floss and it seems odd to me that food particles between teeth wouldn't contribute to cavity formation.
- no flossing -> gums bleed regularly, getting worse as time since last dental hygienist visit approach six months.
- semi-regular flossing -> gum bleeding mostly stops, still need to visit hygienist every six months.
- daily flossing plus wooden interdental toothpicks -> no gum bleeding, even though my last dental hygienist visit was now 18 months ago.
What prompted the behaviour change to adding toothpicks:- switching to a dental practice whose hygienist was (a) very expensive; and (b) charged by the minute. There was a direct correlation between how I cared for my teeth and the cost!
What sustains the behaviour change:- Each time I use the toothpicks, I can feel the food particles they dislodge, even if I have just cleaned my teeth.
With just the string dental floss, when you get good with it, you can get all sorts of angles, clear out all chunks in combination with water in the mouth hard suction rinsing, and scrape along the sides of teeth to clean them better.
