My dental hygienist actually explained it to me one time.
It has nothing to do with “toughening up your gums” like I used to think. Food gets trapped, bacteria grows, and your gums become inflamed to combat the bacteria. So now your gums are constantly full of blood protecting you from infection and when you do floss (or someone flosses for you), they’re going to bleed a lot.
I started flossing habitually every night and wouldn’t you know it I’ve only ever bled or felt pain from flossing when I miss some stupid popcorn shell thats wedged itself down low (which also goes to show, you don’t event need to do a particularly good job flossing for it to work 99%)
A bonus tip for folks that don’t like garotting their fingertips every night by wrapping them in 6 loops of floss just to get some tension: tie a short piece into a loop, double knotted, and you just pull the loop tight between two fingers. No finger pain, no extra appliance, and it uses less floss.
Extra bonus tip: get proper butlerweave floss. The plastic ribbon bullshit is absolute nonsense. Like trying to wash dishes with a zip lock bag…
Another tip is to use interdental brushes, never thought I was able to use them properly until I watched a video about it. Was a pain for the first two weeks and got bleeding gums every time, since then no problems at all, I use them in the morning and evening and floss once a day.
When I was a kid mom and I went to a new dentist. I was a kid and didn’t floss like I should, but this guy kept hitting my gums with the picks and tore up the inside of my mouth. When he was finished, he blamed all the blood on my lack of flossing. Thankfully, when we were driving home mom said, “well we won’t be going back there.” Apparently she also was not impressed with that guy.
Edit: spelling. Dentist did not fart in my mouth. That I know of.
I would go back to the dentist either if they were farting in my mouth
Autocorrect striking a comment making fun of an autocorrect. Poetic.
Ducking autocorrect.
Epic comic
Also dentists: “That’ll be $1200. I hope you enjoy the rest of your Monday!”
US citizen detected.
It’s getting to be that way in the UK too.
It used to be that everyone could get an NHS dentist and get a lot of work done for free but not anymore. I think that we’re still all entitled to an NHS dentist but there aren’t enough of them so only kids have easy access.
I get a cleaning every 4 months but my insurance only covers every 6 months, so I pay for one out of pocket. I go to a very good dentist, and they only charge $170 for a cleaning
edit: Ok, downvote me for stating healthcare is expensive in the US and wondering if this is linked to the flossing habit…
My weakest gums are weak precisely because I floss there more often.
Those locations happen to be where there’s a natural gap between teeth, they’re the first place food gets stuck and the first place I have to take a toothpick or floss to. Gentle as I am, that still takes a toll on the gum between them.
There’s also been a feedback loop of food getting stuck there making those gaps wider over time, meaning larger food getting stuck and more flossing. Over the course of a few decades, tiny movements add up.
The dentists I’ve seen are clueless what to suggest; suggesting I floss less would make their heads explode.
I’ve heard good things about water picks.
I like mine. Use warm water or it hurts.
That what my dentist recommended for similar problems, along with a fix to a filling there that was causing food to get stuck more than expected.
I had a similar situation, then they gave me a cavity filling on one of the teeth and the gap went away. Maybe they can fake a filling to fill the gap? 🤣
