Is dental floss available for children?
There are dental floss and dental floss sticks for children with colorful motifs, the use of which is quite useful for getting started. As parents, you can help the children by making loops in the floss where the children can put their fingers to hold the floss themselves. In doing so, the children, together with their parents, can guide the floss into the respective interdental spaces.
Is the use of dental floss for children reasonable?
As soon as all milk teeth are present and food remains can get caught between the teeth, flossing is recommended for children. The complete milk teeth are present at the age of 2.5 years. In the beginning, the parents have to help the children with the application.
At the latest when the first permanent teeth break through at the age of 6 years, the use of floss daily is a must to prevent the development of caries between the teeth and to ensure the preservation of the permanent teeth as long as possible. Basically, the use of dental floss is very easy. However, to optimize the effectiveness of flossing and prevent gum damage, here are some tips.
At the beginning, about 45 to 60 cm of dental floss should be removed from the supply box. Some manufacturers even offer dental floss that is sold in the appropriate length from the beginning. Afterwards, one end of the floss should be wrapped two to three times around the middle or index finger.
The other end should be wrapped around the middle or index finger of the opposite hand until the outstretched thumbs of both hands touch. The floss should be pulled as tightly as possible for use. The addition of the thumb can make it easier to create the correct tension.
The floss is then loosely inserted into the interdental spaces under gentle pressure. In most cases, this can be done easily from the top of the crown of the tooth. Patients whose teeth are fitted with a retainer can have the floss threaded between their teeth at the bottom edge (however, it is generally recommended that these patients switch to interdental brushes because of the ease of use).
The interdental spaces are then cleaned by gently moving the dental floss back and forth for about 2.5 to 5 cm. In the meantime, make sure that the dental floss is guided closely along the tooth surface and also reaches under the gingival margin. This procedure should be performed on both the right and left tooth.
It is important to note that under no circumstances should force or excessive pressure be used, as this can lead to cuts within the gums or small bruises. As soon as the thread of silk between the fingers shows visible dirt, the used section must be rolled up on the finger and replaced by a new one of about 2.5 to 5 cm length. The floss is also removed by moving the thread slightly back and forth towards the crown of the tooth.
In patients with retainer, the floss must be carefully pulled out of the space between the teeth. Dental floss should be removed immediately after a single application in the entire oral cavity, as bacteria adhere to the floss. If the previously used dental floss were to be used again, the bacteria would be reintroduced into the oral cavity and especially into the interdental spaces.Furthermore, there would be the danger that the dental floss would tear sooner, since it was already loaded before and is therefore no longer so resistant.
For braces, it is advisable to use a waxed dental floss or a dental floss especially for bridge members with a taut end. This allows the floss to be inserted underneath the wire and clean the spaces between the wires with gentle movements up and down. The application is purely a matter of practice, which seems quite difficult at first.
However, if the user does not get along well with the floss and wire, fine interdental brushes can also be used to clean the spaces between the teeth underneath the wire. A Floss dental floss is particularly suitable: it has a reinforced end for threading under the wire and a thick, fluffy middle section that can effectively remove plaque. The floss can be used before or after brushing your teeth.
However, the advantage of using it before brushing is that the particles loosened by the floss are finally removed completely with the toothbrush. If the floss is used after brushing, bacteria will be dissolved in the food particles that the toothbrush could not reach. These bacteria are back in the oral cavity, even though everything has already been cleaned.
In this case, it is advisable to use a mouthwash. The recommendation is to floss daily, but it would be best to use it in the morning and evening. Since the salivation is interrupted at night, the person physiologically often has bad breath in the morning, so the morning application of dental floss is useful to remove the unpleasant smelling residues from the interdental spaces.
In addition, it is important to remove teeth from all food leftovers in the evening, because night is the phase when the enamel remineralizes and regenerates. If food residues in the interdental spaces are metabolized by bacteria during the night, the acids produced in the process have a slight scope to attack the enamel and thus cause caries. The most effective way to floss after each meal is to clean the interdental spaces from food residues and to keep the acid load in the mouth as low as possible. Since it is a big task in everyday life to floss after every snack on the way, it is recommended to floss in the morning and in the evening before going to bed. This frequency is completely sufficient to ensure a healthy oral cavity and intensive oral hygiene.
