Flossing HELP!

[isishdz]

I just got my braces yesterday and I have a few teeth that I can not get the floss into at all no matter how hard I try pushing in between my teeth! Is this normal? Any advice? ( I can get it through the wire but it wont slide in)

[EWUgal15]

It is normal. Don't stress too much. If you have a Waterpik, that will help a lot. I wouldn't call it a replacement for flossing, but it's definitely helpful in the early days. I remember having the same troubles with floss. It took a couple weeks and some experimenting with different kinds of floss to find something that worked for me. I ended up with a ribbon floss (Oral B Glide Pro Health Comfort Plus Floss) and use threaders to get under the wire. As long as your diligent with brushing around your brackets and along the gum line (gently), you should be ok for a few days without flossing.

[sirwired]

What kind of floss are you using? You may need to switch to Glide, if you aren't using it already. Glide makes "threader floss", which is strands of Glide with threader tips pre-attached. (More expensive, but less tedious, than using floss threaders.)

[diamond63]

I also second the Waterpik. Not a replacement for real flossing (I think it claims to be but my hygienist tells me it's definitely not) but it's still a big help. You'd be amazed at the food particles it gets out vs. just brushing. I should floss more but it's too time consuming with this metal - I think I've gotten it down to taking 15 minutes. Using the Waterpik adds only a couple of extra minutes to my brushing routine though, so I use it constantly.

I would highly recommend "Oral-B Super Floss" - each piece of floss has a stiff tip that you can thread under the archwire easily, no need for a separate tool. This is what the hygienist recommended to me and it's good stuff. I am sure it's similar to the floss sirwired mentioned, I bet just a different brand.

Lastly, I recommend a certain brand of floss picks they make for braces. Dentek Braces Clean floss picks. They have one side that's thin that fits under the archwire. For me, it doesn't fit under the archwire on all of my teeth (it doesn't on the lower front ones for example), but it does on the lower molars, and those are really hard to get with the strands of floss (just due to the angle). So I use Super Floss for most of my teeth and then the Dentek Braces Clean floss picks for my lower molars.

I can't even imagine trying to mess with the threader tools.. I have one but never use it.

[jfriend33]

I just got my braces yesterday and I have a few teeth that I can not get the floss into at all no matter how hard I try pushing in between my teeth! Is this normal? Any advice? ( I can get it through the wire but it wont slide in)

buy floss threaders. tie the floss to them. after each use use scissors cut the floss off so you can resuse them a few times until they get bent up.

in emergencies you can also take a long strand of floss (2x longer than normal) and fold it in half length wise. You should be able to link the bend together from the wax and that should give you enough added bulk to thread through the wire.

My preference is the first one. I HATE super floss. HATE HATE HATE it. It catches on things all the time. And I dont get that nice snap when flossing that waxed floss provides!

I also highly recommend Plackers angled proxabrush. Carry one with me at all times.

[isishdz]

Thanks everyone! I have glide floss and some teeth the floss just wouldn't slide in, but now its a lot less teeth! I've been flossing twice a day and brushing 3 times a day since I got braces!

[rainbowcatcher]

Are you trying the devices given by your ortho floss fish etc? I had problems flossing for a while to until I started to use the devices probably. I use the smallest waterpic available (grey ones) they are great.