Metal Mouth Message Board

I take very good care of my teeth, but find that I don't floss every single day. I sometimes feel a bit lazy about it, and floss every second day. Anyone else falling behind a bit on this? I've gotten very quick at it, using one of those plastic loop gadgets that pulls the floss under the brackets. My dental hygiene is always excellent. ( I even get entered in the "patient of the month" club at the ortho's office......lol) I know I should do it everyday, but somehow in my mind I figure every second day is good enough. I need to motivate myself and do it right.

I also sometimes skip a night if I'm tired or if my teeth ache following an adjustment. I probably floss 4 or 5 nights out of 7 in a week.

If you're getting good results at the hygienist then I wouldn't sweat it. They would tell you if there was a problem.

Well, i think it`s up to you, normally people say you should do it at least once a day , but if you feel you`re ok doing it every second day and your dentist never mentioned you a possibility of bad higene, then you`re safe.
As for me, i don`t floss all of my teeth every day either. I do floss every day between those teeth which have molar bands on, but i barely floss other teeth and never had any problem on it, neither my ortho has noticed any problem with my flossing, except the last time she told me about my molar bands, which, by the way, i do floss....she told me i should pay more attention to those places.

I was SO good when I first got my braces--I flossed after every meal. My ortho told me once a day because I was irritating my gums by overdoing it. Now that I've pretty much forgotten about my braces (I even tried to brush my teeth with elastics in only to get my toothbrush all tangled up in them), and I am flossing every other day. I am hoping that the waterpik is helping my laziness (yes, I know it doesn't replace flossing)...

I've also gotten lazier as I've gone on with these things. Guess part of that is because at this point I just want these damn things off.

Before bracing i flossed like every other day. I have a couple of nice spaces that food love to hide. About 5 years ago the hygienist told me to pay more attention to these spaces as it wold turn into a cavity. So I have been anal ever sense. I would carry floss with me all the time no matter where I was. Now with braces, I floss once a day(sometimes twice depending on what i had for lunch), but its usually at night before bed. For the past 4 years I have gotten great remarks about the care of my teeth and gums. I think its normal to get lazy sometimes as its tedious just make sure you keep some sort of normalcy

I am having a hard time flossing. My teeth in the front are so tight it hurts and my gums are bleeding. I hardly ever have my gums bleed. But since getting these braces on my gums are bleeding... Any advice on this?!?!?

I floss 1x a day before bed.

Have to admit to being lazy, too. I used to run and brush/WaterPik/floss/fluoride rinse after every meal, but have gotten so bad that I'm not even flossing as much as you. Really I must change that nasty habit!

feeling guilty off to floss

I would like to get my floss through my molar bands with out the floss being ripped by tugging it out Those babies are tight!

I find it extremely hard to floss. Especially to put it in b/w my molars. On the side. I cant get the flos through

about 8 years ago, I had the beginning stages of gingivitis. I had to get a deep cleaning. I brushed twice a day but rarely flossed. I learned that when I did floss, my gums would bleed some. But after I flossed regularly, the bleeding stopped and my gums were healthy again. Make sure you are not flossing too hard. You can really damage your gums by flossing too hard. I suggest playing with different types of floss. I use orab b's super floss