Flossing with braces & retainers

Flossing is especially important when wearing braces, and we encouraging flossing at least once a day! The gum tissue tends to be puffy anyway due to tooth movement, so we encourage regular flossing. There are plenty of ways to floss around your teeth and braces, but many people will find it difficult to get into all the nooks and crannies with the floss thread alone. The products we recommend are “Floss Threaders” in combination with regular floss or ”Crest Glide Threader Floss”. Floss threaders make it much easier to get in between teeth when you have orthodontic appliances to work around.

There is another product made by “G.U.M” called Soft-Picks. The Soft-Picks are recommended for patients that don’t take the time to use regular floss or those who want something easy to carry and use at school or work. We provide samples or all 3 products at the initial banding to let you decide what works best for you.

--Dr. Keith Sellers, orthodontist Charlotte, NC