Transcript of Linda’s flossing instructions:
Today I’d like to really demonstrate how to floss your teeth. It’s really important that you floss once a day, at least, to get the bacteria out from between the teeth. Also the food particles, but its really essential that you get between the teeth and floss.
I’m going to demonstrate to you how to floss, and the first important thing to remember is the type of floss you use. I prefer the unwaxed dental floss, that way you’re not leaving wax between the teeth. Which is a residue that can attract more plaque.
So the unwaxed floss you want to take a 10” to 12” strand of dental floss. I prefer that you wrap it around your middle fingers so that you can actually manipulate the floss between the teeth with your thumb and index finger. Its really important to keep a small working area, keep the floss taught, so you’re not cutting into the tissue.
I’m going to demonstrate how to floss your teeth. You want to take the floss,see-saw it between the teeth, keeping the floss firm. See-saw it right up under the gum tissue. Wrap it around like the letter “C” and scrape up and down on one surface two or three times, wrap it to the adjacent surface and scrape up and down two or three times. What we want you to avoid is sawing back and forth because it lacerates the tissue.
So once again you’re going to get it right up under the tissue, where you meet resistance, grab it like the letter “C”, scaping up and down, and wrap it to the adjacent surface and scrape up and down, and see-saw it out.