“If it makes my gums bleed why should I floss?” This is one of the most common phrases we get to hear from our patients at Dr.Sachdeva’s Dental Clinic, Ashok Vihar. Our team advises them ‘Floss to remove the source of Infection.’
If your gums bleed when flossing, one probably needs to do a little modification in their daily dental care regime. This doesn’t necessarily indicate that you have an unhealthy mouth, but it can mean that you need to floss more often. It’s common for gums to bleed when we first begin flossing between teeth, and as long as the bleeding stops quickly, it’s not usually a problem.
Causes of Bleeding Gums
There may be varied reasons for bleeding gums when we floss :
- Bacteria may be building up and around a poorly restored filling or causing irritation to gum tissue.
- Incorrect flossing techniques.
- A hard deposit called calculus may be building up around the teeth.
- Irregular oral habits.
- Vitamin deficiency.
Importance of flossing
Plaque is a layer of sticky bacteria that constantly forms on teeth. If plaque is not removed by regular flossing it turns into a hard layer of calculus which can be only removed by scaling. When plaque grows out of control it leads to gum disease.
How often should you floss?
Floss reaches where tooth brush doesn’t. At Dr. Sachdeva’s Dental Clinic in North Delhi we say, if you are not flossing, you are cleaning only 50% of the areas in your mouth. If you floss once in awhile, your gums will bleed when flossing. The tissues between the teeth are not used to being stimulated. Once regular flossing is done, the gum tissue between the teeth become more resilient and there is no more bleeding on flossing.
We at Dr. Sachdeva’s Dental Clinic in Ashok Vihar, recommend our patients to floss once a day. The best time to floss is before bed before brushing of teeth. This allows the fluoride in the toothpaste to contact the most surface area of the teeth.
How to floss?
Floss is not a toothpick. Yes, it can dislodge food particles above the triangle of gum between each tooth. But the purpose of flossing is removing the plaque that grows between the tooth and the gum. The step-by –step guide to floss;
- Start with about 18 inches of floss. Wind 1/3 inch around one index finger and 1/3 inch around your opposite index finger.
- Grasp the floss between your thumb and index fingers and pull tightly.
- Gently slide the floss between your teeth, starting at your back molars and working your way forward.
- When the floss meets the gumline, pull to the side to make a ‘C’ shape against one tooth, push-pull motion and slide up and down, and then move to a new a new area of floss and repeat on the opposite tooth before moving between the next two teeth.
- Discard floss when you’re done. Floss is not reusable and it isn’t as effective the second time.
Choosing a floss
The first step in banishing plaque from the tight spaces between your teeth is finding a product to your convenience, which can be used every day.
Dental floss comes in two varieties Waxed and Unwaxed versions, with some Flavored and some Unflavored.
Floss with a holder
Regular floss
Flavoured floss
Toothbrushes do a great job of removing debris from the tooth surfaces. But dental floss is the key player when it comes to removing plaque from between the teeth and below the gum line.
Gum tissue fits like a collar around the neck of a tooth, and it’s in the collar area that food particles can get lodged. Without regular flossing the resulting bacteria irritate the gum to the point of it pulling away from the tooth in an attempt to escape the irritation. In pulling away, gum tissues form a pocket, an area accessible for bacterial buildup. Left undiagnosed and untreated Periodontal Disease comes in picture.
What should you do if your gums bleed when flossing?
If your gums bleed when flossing, it may seem that flossing is doing more harm than good. But the bleeding will go away with enough proper flossing, unless there is a systemic problem or actual physical damage to the gum tissue. At Dr. Sachdeva’s Dental Clinic we advice our patients to ‘keep flossing'. The bleeding should go away within 3-10 days.
If bleeding on flossing doesn’t go away even after 10 days, and you have been flossing every day then visit to a dentist should be scheduled. Dentists in North Delhi can evaluate the flossing technique and whether or not there is a need for gum treatment.
