Riverside Pediatric Dentist Advice: Floss First, Brush Later

If you’re preparing to teach your children the ways of dental hygiene, you might want to reconsider the playbook you use. According to information provided by a Riverside dentist office recently, it seems like we’ve been looking at the whole brushing and flossing thing the wrong way. Specifically, we’ve been looking at it backwards.

Ever since you were little, the sequence of events when it came to oral hygiene, in order of importance, was always “brush, floss, rinse.” Brushing, therefore, is the centerpiece of the oral hygiene experience. You can’t deny that’s true; the toothbrush is the iconic piece of dental hygiene equipment. But as it turns out, this focus on the toothbrush is apparently medically unfounded. Instead, flossing should be value as the most essential part of preserving good dental hygiene.

The information netted from the Riverside dental office originated in a 2009 study conducted by the Philippine Dental Association. In the study, it was observed that those who floss regularly have remarkably better oral hygiene than those who only brush. That’s obvious. But the study goes on to conclude that those who floss and don’t brush have better oral hygiene than those who brush, but don’t floss.

The reasoning is that brushing not only removes grime from tooth surfaces, but the protective enamel that coats teeth as well. Flossing, on the other hand, flushes huge deposits of bacterial growth from your mouth without harming the protective coatings around your teeth.

With that said, brushing is still incredibly important. But wait – brushing your teeth is not the second priority after flossing. It’s your gums and tongue that need to be brushed the most often in order to prevent excessive bacterial growth inside of your mouth.

The teeth are hardy bits of bone that only need a soft cleaning to keep fresh. The rest of your mouth, however, is a humid swamp ready to provide microorganisms with a warm place to sleep. Think about it that way when valuing the important of particular dental care habits.

Encourage from the very beginning the importance of flossing. In fact, teach your child to floss first before brushing. That way they always get the harder longer action out of the way first. When it comes time to teach your kids a thing or two about teeth preservation, let the brushing take a backseat.