- Interdental cleaning is when you clean
the gaps in-between your teeth.
You find that you've got your teeth,
and between the two teeth, you've got a small gap
in-between each one.
That area is called the interdental area.
So it's really important to keep that area clean
because you can food, debris, stains
in-between those areas of the teeth.
Usually when you brush your teeth,
the toothbrush bristles don't go right in-between the teeth.
So you either need to use floss or brushes
to clean this interdental area.
Lots of people avoid flossing their teeth
because they believe that when they floss,
their gums start bleeding.
The truth is the gums are bleeding
because you're not flossing your teeth.
What happens is that bits of food and debris
get stuck in-between your teeth in this interdental area,
the gap in-between your teeth
and it inflames your gums.
So when your gums are inflamed, they bleed.
One way to stop your gums bleeding
and stop your gum disease is to floss and clean
in-between your teeth, either with floss
or with the right interdental brushes.
If you start flossing for the first time
and you've not flossed for a long period of time,
you're going to find that the gums in-between your teeth
are really inflamed 'cause you've not done it
and you've got so much plaque and build-up
of debris in-between your teeth.
So when you first start flossing, you may be shocked
'cause your gums will really, really start bleeding.
But if you floss everyday for two weeks,
that's the amount of time that your gums
will then need to, your gums
to heal and become healthy again.
And at the end of the two weeks,
you will then find that your gums are no longer bleeding
when you're then flossing.
You use floss in areas that are really tight,
or you can use brushes in areas
that are sort of more gappy and bigger.
So this area in-between your teeth,
you can either have teeth up very close together,
or you can have gums that have receded up.
In that case, you've got a bigger area
in-between your teeth,
so the floss won't really remove all the bits of food
and debris in-between your teeth.
You need to use a brush.
If you go to your dentist, your dentist will show you
which brush is the best size.
because you can get different size brushes,
depending on different size gaps in-between your teeth.
So your dentist can tell you which brush
is best to use in-between your teeth.
You should floss once a day before you brush your teeth.
So when you floss, you'll be removing all the debris
from in-between your teeth,
and then you can come along with your toothbrush
and remove all that debris away.
So at the end, you'll have nice, clean teeth and gums.
I do think flossing is quite technique-sensitive.
Whereas using the interdental brushes,
lots of people find that a lot easier
because you just literally need to poke that in and out
in-between the gums.
But brushes don't work for everybody,
'cause if you've got really tight gaps,
you're not going to be able to fit the brushes
in-between your teeth.
It's only people with gaps that are large enough
that that would work for.
So when people try to floss their teeth,
they don't really know the correct technique
for flossing their teeth.
So they end up just sort of like jabbing the floss up
and down, and they end up traumatising their gums.
So there is a correct technique as to how you're meant
to floss your teeth,
which is to wrap the floss around your fingers
and put it in-between your teeth,
almost in a C-shape so that it follows the contour
of your tooth up to the gum level.
You then remove the debris
in-between your tooth and your gum.
And then you come back out and then you
follow the contour of your tooth back on the other side.
Essentially, it's two sort of C shapes,
rather than just jabbing it up and down.
When you clean in-between your teeth,
you might find that when you remove the floss
from in-between your teeth,
there's some debris on there that you've removed.
If it's a long string of floss, you then sort of move on
to the next piece of clean floss
to your next bit of interdental cleaning.
Or if it's on a flosset or a handheld piece of floss,
you can just wash that debris away
so you've got clean floss to go onto the next tooth,
until all your teeth are nice and clean at the end.
So you can use the interdental brushes
for up to a week each.
But if they become splayed, broken, misshapen,
then you discard them soon than that.
You get sort of handheld, premounted floss sticks,
and you can reuse them, like wash them and reuse them.
But when they become broken, loose or misshapen,
that's a good time to discard them
and then get your next one.
So now there are some more environmentally friendly options
for floss available,
things like silk floss and bamboo floss
that you can look into as well.
This is just a broad overview for interdental cleaning.
It's best if you go to your own dentist
or hygienist, and they will make you a personalised plan
as to which floss, areas to floss
and which areas to use interdental brushes
on that's unique for your mouth.
(twinkling)