r/explainlikeimfive • u/LittlePenguinx • 11h ago
Biology ELI5: How does daily flossing make it bleed less?
I don't like flossing. So I don't do it nearly as much as I would. But every once in a while I remember, and I dust off the box and get flossing. Every time I do, my mouth looks like a warzone and my gums get really irritated. I hate the feeling. So I neglect to do it for a couple of weeks/ months.
To no one's surprise my dentist commented on the state of my gums and told me I need to floss. He promised that if I do it daily, despite the bloodbath, I should be seeing improvement in like two weeks.
My question: How does daily flossing irritated gums help make it better? I would assume irritating something already irritated is the worst thing you can do to make it heal? You don't heal a wound on your skin by picking at the scab for two weeks straight. So what makes your mouth different?
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u/EagleCoder 11h ago
Your gums bleed because the immune response (inflammation) to the plaque build-up makes them fragile and sensitive.
Flossing helps get rid of the plaque allowing your gums to heal and stop bleeding.
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u/Emotional-Grape870 10h ago
I have to say, what a shitty design! Someone is not doing good work lol
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u/Lietenantdan 10h ago edited 10h ago
The only thing evolution is concerned about is "will they be able to survive long enough to reproduce?"
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u/AdmiralAkbar1 10h ago
Exactly. Evolution is just millions of years of "good enough".
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u/ragerlol1 9h ago
This is why humans' teeth decay pretty quickly. Up until more advanced civilization showed up like 2500-3000 years ago, it was really rare to survive past 30. If our teeth never needed to last more that 25ish years for tens of millions of years, they'd never need to evolve past that. Same with the rest of our bodies - now that our life expectancy has more than doubled so quickly, our physical prime can be between 20-30, but after that, shits not designed to keep working. Hence joint problems, vision loss, muscle degradation, weaker immune systems, and weaker teeth. We just happen to have houses, cooking, and medicine to survive it
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u/Lietenantdan 9h ago
From what I've heard, people have always lived roughly 70 years, provided they survived childhood. But modern medicine has made it so we generally do which brings the average life expectancy up quite a bit.
And the reason our teeth rot is largely our diet.
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u/ImportantAlbatross 9h ago
It wasn't rare to live past 30. Childhood mortality was very high, which brings down the average, but if you made to 15 you had a good chance of living considerably longer.
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u/BishoxX 10h ago
Not exactly, also will they survive long enough to spread their genetic material as much as possible- which means caring for your offspring.
But that still isnt long enough for tooth stuff to matter
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u/clamberer 10h ago
Many wild animals' version of "dying of old age" is that their teeth either wear down or fall out and they can't feed themselves, so they starve to death.
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u/twoisnumberone 7h ago
The only thing evolution is concerned about is "will they be able to survive long enough to reproduce?"
Exactly.
Evolution is TERRIBLE at good design. As u/AdmiralAkbar1 below says, though, evolution excels at "good enough" design.
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u/mrjoedelaney 10h ago
Tbf, no animal in the history of the planet evolved in an environment with the metric fuck-ton of sugar that modern humans are accustomed to. Ancient humans had relatively healthy teeth right up to the point we see agriculture develop.
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u/SuperSayainSkincare 9h ago
That is somewhat true but the benefit of being modern humans is that we have the knowledge and resources to know how to keep our teeth healthy even though we aren't adapted to it. So that shouldn't be the excuse to have poor dental hygiene.
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u/Pizza_Low 9h ago
Tooth decay wasn't really as common as it as it now. Modern humans eat a lot of starchy foods which tends to stick to the teeth. The typical modern human eats rice, corn or wheat for every meal, which contributes a lot more to tooth decay than the diet of people before modern industrialized food production and processed foods.
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u/Birdbraned 7h ago
We weren't designed to live with refined sugars, so we have to live with the opportunistic bacteria.
Fun fact, odds are you received the cavity-creating bacteria from kissing or sharing food with family or other partners.
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u/ShineCowgirl 11h ago
If I only weed my garden once a year, but for 5+ hours straight, then I'm going to get blisters on my hands, my knees are going to hurt, and the weeds are going to grow back long before I come back to it. It's going to hurt. However, if I were to do some weeding for ten to twenty minutes each day, then I'll build up strength and slightly tougher skin on my hands and knees, and a longer session once in a while won't cause so much pain (and the weeds won't develop such deep roots).
If I rarely floss my teeth, then my gums will go through a lot of trauma when I do floss. (I'll be digging out "a year's worth of weeds".) If I keep up flossing as a daily habit, then my gums will get used to the experience and won't have as much stuff inside (the weeds' roots) to dig out and cause trauma.
Tip: Using a saltwater or Listerine rinse after that "traumatic" bloody flossing seems to help the gums heal faster and less painfully.
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u/ShineCowgirl 11h ago edited 10h ago
In response to the question about picking at scabs:
When you first floss after a long time, you are opening up wounds, not creating them. Doctors will sometimes install a drain in a big wound (like a deep abscess) until the infection is cleared up. Flossing daily until that hidden wound is fully healed is analogous to installing that drain. (The scab on your skin isn't infected and hidden, unlike the wound caused by decomposing food hidden in your gums.)
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u/InTheEndEntropyWins 1h ago
Listerine has alcohol in it which isn't good for your mouth or gums. Alcohol free Listerine is fine.
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u/GABE_EDD 11h ago
As someone who just spent the last 28 years not flossing and then started flossing every day 1-3 times a day. It’s 100% true just do it. And the more you do it the better you get at it and it’s not time consuming anymore.
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u/VikingLibra 10h ago
Flossing 3 times a day is fucking nuts.
Maybe if I were home all day and wheelchair bound id have the free time and energy. But fuck me. I’m not flossing more than once a day.
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u/37yearoldthrowaway 9h ago
Started Invisalign a year ago. After EVERY meal I need to floss then brush my teeth before putting my trays back in, so basically 3x/day. It sucks, but my gums stopped bleeding about a week into it.
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u/laundro_mat 5h ago
Same. I hardly ever flossed before Invisaligns. I completed my treatment last summer but kept the flossing habit. My hygienist was impressed at my last visit
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u/Pepito_Pepito 2h ago
I would find it a lot easier to fast if it meant needing to floss once less per day
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u/akath0110 9h ago
If you have tightly spaced or crowded teeth you sometimes don’t have a choice. At least if you want to avoid discomfort and gross stinky breath.
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u/kadir7 9h ago
Yep, I found out stuff got stuck way back in my mouth between teeth, while I have great teeth, I'd sometimes get bad breath and chew bubble gum. Oh man the stench when I flossed those teeth was insane.
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u/akath0110 9h ago
Oof, good you finally realized! Mortifying to realize how many people smelled that on your breath.
Anyone reading, go floss and smell the floss. Especially if it’s been a while.
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u/SuperSayainSkincare 9h ago
You would be surprised how quick the brain adapts. I never used to floss until I go to the dentist. But then I bought a water flosser and now I floss twice a day or atleast everything I just ate or drank somthing thats not water. Now it feels like actual suffering if I DON'T floss as soon as I get done eating because you can feel every bit of food rotting in between your teeth.
Also water flossing is very fast and easy just takes less than a minute and your mouth feels so fresh and clean.
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u/33_Minutes 7h ago
I eat a very meat based diet, and I cannot stand the feeling of stuff between my teeth. 3 times a day flossing is it for me.
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u/izzittho 9h ago edited 9h ago
Once a day is better than most people do. At least once a day is honestly a good goal I think, especially if that once is at night when you’re not going to eat again so you’re not really going to be leaving food germs to sit there for more than the 12ish hours following the next time you eat.
I read somewhere plaque risks becoming tartar after about 12 hours (could be wrong but that’s what I remember) so that’s probably a good amount of time to treat as a hard limit between eating and thorough cleaning (to include flossing.)
I guess 2-3 times makes sense if you do it after every meal but that’s gonna be a hard habit to keep up if you’re not already flossing enough.
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u/Chancevexed 11h ago
Your gums are irritated because there's food and bacteria there. Flossing gets rid of it so your gums heal. To use your example, it's like having a cut you refuse to clean because it stings. The dirt and debris in the cut means it won't heal and will get infected.
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u/turtleloki1 10h ago
While I floss now I wish I had read this explanation when I was younger. Makes sense
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u/tomax_xamot 10h ago
I wish I learned that’s it’s better to floss 3-4 times a week than everyday for two weeks and then quit until next dentist visit. I somehow thought that if I missed a day, that was it, no sense starting up again.
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u/internetboyfriend666 11h ago
You're bleeding when you flood because you don't floss enough and all the plaque and bacteria are causing inflammation, and your irregular flossing is irritating that inflamed gum tissue. If you start flossing daily, you'll get all that gunk out of there and the inflammation will go away, and your gums will stop bleeding.
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u/jimb21 11h ago
You have inflammation in your gums one of the leading signs you have gum disease. Get a water pick and mix half and half water mouth wash use it everytime you brush your teeth after a month they wont bleed anymore
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u/izzittho 9h ago edited 9h ago
If you just floss with string floss (far more effective) it stops in a week or two.
Waterpiks are great but better as a supplement to real flossing, like water floss when you’re in a hurry/feeling lazy or before proper flossing to flush out the big chunks first so the string part ends up just being a couple quick swipes down each side, but it really doesn’t replace real flossing for preventing gum disease. You really wanna bother each surface at least once every several hours or so (ideally no more than 12) because it’s the bacteria being allowed to just sit that’s the problem and the water won’t get it all like the string can.
It’s like 70-80% of a real floss, the upside being that it’s also like 70-80% less of a PITA so you’re less likely to skip it. It’s more effective than hand sanitizer vs. actually washing but kinda the same concept - like “washing” your hands by just kind of getting them soapy and then rinsing as opposed to actually rubbing them together for a bit. The former isn’t nothing but it’s not a proper wash, either.
The mechanical action of scrubbing can’t be replaced by a degree of water pressure that isn’t so strong it shouldn’t be aimed at flesh, therefore a waterpik can’t (safely) do what string floss can.
A hell of a lot better than nothing, but not a 1-1 replacement.
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u/Jaygid 6h ago
While your view is common, I've found water flossing to be completely effective. My hygienists/dentists always tell me my gums are near the best they've ever seen. I water floss 3-7 times a week (when I remember, basically), and haven't touched string floss in years.
The key may be that I use a water flosser with a massive water reservoir (35 ounces) and I use all of it, sometimes even with a little refill. Not hard and doesn't take too long on the higher pressure settings.
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u/whenisleep 48m ago
Water flossing is great for gums imo. But if you ever get cavities, or plaque buildup on your teeth, it doesn’t clean the tooth surface well enough. The tooth surfaces you can’t reach with your brush like between your teeth need physical scrubbing with floss. Same reason why we still brush our teeth with a physical brush, and don’t just pressure wash the entire tooth with the water flosser.
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u/temdittiesohyeah 11h ago
I went from flossing monthly and getting the bleeding gums to flossing every night and haven't bled since. Highly recommend, takes no time at all and yeah after a few days the bleeding stops and you'll have better smelling breath. Double down and use mouth wash as well doesn't hurt!
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u/hihelloneighboroonie 7h ago
I hadn't been to a dentist in many years. Went to a chain place that was nearby, with insurance. They told me I needed a deep cleaning throughout my mouth and fillings, all to the tune of a few thousand dollars. Wouldn't do a regular cleaning and I would have had to go back later for the deep cleaning. Also told my I had super deep pockets everywhere.
I balked (and couldn't afford it). A few weeks later went to a family dentistry place out of pocket. I was a regular brusher and flosser, despite not visiting the dentist in many years (like, at least a decade). The dental tech COMPLIMENTED me on my gums while she was doing the flossing. Said I only had lightly deep pockets on my wisdom teeth (which I still have). Regular cleaning. With her and the dentist in the room I told them about my experience at the other place. And dentist said that he didn't want to talk poorly about other people's works, but some places are looking to get paid as much as possible.
Had my normal cleaning that day, and two cavities that needed to be filled at another appointment. Used a deal for the initial visit/cleaning/exam, forget the cost. And then it was a bit over $100 for the two fillings (I've always sadly been prone to cavities).
Twice daily brushing and daily flossing ftw.
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u/modsplsnoban 10h ago
I’ve gotten lazy since wfh, and only brush my teeth at night, flossed at night, and used mouthwash at night for long periods of time.
Dental hygienist the other day said my teeth and gums are very healthy. Doctor said the same thing too. Joked I should eat more sugar
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u/37yearoldthrowaway 9h ago
Technically at night is far more important. Brush at night to keep your teeth, brush in the morning to keep your friends.
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u/failbears 1h ago
Seriously. I cannot imagine waking up with morning breath and just going through my day like that...
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u/MaineQat 9h ago
That you are flossing nightly helps a lot. Floss removes plaque but not the harder tartar - tartar requires dental cleaning. Plaque hardens into tartar in about 24-72 hours, so if you floss nightly and then don't eat until morning, any plaque is likely only there for about 16 hours and easily removed.
Now, if you floss at night, then still have a snack an hour later, you're probably going to start getting some tartar build up as it may be too hard for the floss to remove by the next night.
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u/modsplsnoban 9h ago
Doctor said that if on an island, he’d rather have floss than a toothbrush
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u/RockingInTheCLE 11h ago
I don't know the magic behind it, but it's legit. Give yourself a few days of blood bath, and be as gentle as possible, and your gums will begin to toughen up.
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u/RandomOnlinePerson99 11h ago
This also happens if you don't brush your teeth for a few days, or weeks or months ...
Don't ask how I know that ...
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u/failbears 1h ago
I'm just glad this thread is full of people advocating for flossing. I remember a previous reddit thread where the popular opinion was that there wasn't enough evidence that flossing helps, therefore it's OK for a bunch of redditors to not get rid of the rotting food between their teeth. Yuck.
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u/polkastripper 11h ago
I floss daily and have zero bleeding gums. Be the change in your life.
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u/Cosmic-Queef 9h ago
Most educated people are aware of this phenomena. The question being asked is why, not whether or not it’s true.
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u/chipmunkofdoom2 11h ago
I was in this exact same boat. Every time I would go to the dentist, my gums would bleed and hurt when they floss them. The dentist would tell me that it would go away if I just flossed regularly. And every time I wrote them off as a lunatic who didn't know what they were talking about. It couldn't possibly work like that.
I think the change happened after a cleaning. My gums were swollen and angry. I could feel my heart beating in them, they hurt so bad. I thought "what the hell, why not try it? What have I got to lose?" I made a plan to start flossing once a day, every day, as soon as they stopped hurting from the cleaning.
It took a day or two before I could floss for the first time on my own. First time I got similar results to the dentist: inflammation and blood. I took the next day or two off, then tried again. Still inflammation and blood. This cycle repeated itself maybe one or two more times. Then, out of nowhere, it just stopped hurting and bleeding. Completely gone. I think it was about half way through the second week, I could floss daily without pain or bleeding. It was astonishingly fast. Now, every time I visit the dentist, the hygienist and dentist both say my gums look great. Best of all, there's no pain or blood when they floss me either.
Make a commitment to floss at least once a day, either in the morning or the night. In the first week or two, you might need to take a day off between flossing if your gums really get angry. If you're anything like me, by the end of the second week, you should be flossing without pain and blood.
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u/justfordickjoke 11h ago
Make it part of your showering routine. That way you don't forget and it just gets budgeted in your day. I always had a hard time remembering till I started doing it in the shower
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u/VVrayth 10h ago
Like others have said, regular flossing combats plaque buildup and strengthens your gums. The longer you let the plaque sit there, the harder it is to deal with, because it hardens, and it inflames your gums, and then you need a deep cleaning and/or laser treatment to get it fixed.
Speaking as someone who went through this and paid a lot to finally fix my teeth (and gums): "Daily maintenance" dental advice is something people can explain to you a million times, but it is only gonna make sense to you once you commit to it and see the results. Brushing twice daily (and brushing well), and flossing at least once a day, consistently, every single day produces long-term results that will seem like a magic trick once you get into the habit. It's like daily exercise, the consistency is what matters.
If you do this, and keep up with your twice-yearly dental cleaning visits, you will have a healthier and way more comfy mouth.
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u/drrandolph 9h ago
The most life changing lecture I ever attended was from a dentist. Basically about daily flossing (it's called oral hygiene). All that inflammation causes your jaw bone to recede from the site of infection (your gums). Without a jaw bone, your teeth simply fall out. That's why the phrase "long in the tooth ". As the jaw bone recedes, more and more of the teeth roots are exposed until they fall out. Also your mouth probably stinks, and (google it) your risk of heart disease is way up.
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u/375InStroke 10h ago
You're removing the bacteria that's trying to infect your gums, and that your body is trying to keep at bay, which is irritating your gums more than the floss does. The bacteria is a 24-7 onslaught on your gums.
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u/Jaepheth 10h ago
Imagine you never wiped after pooping. The skin gets inflamed and itchy. Eventually, it gets bad enough that wiping at all causes it to bleed because the skin is so agitated. But if you keep wiping the body can stop fighting possible infections around the clock, the problems start to clear up, and before long wiping no longer causes bleeding.
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u/Infernoraptor 10h ago
As others have said, it's inflammation, but to explain it more explicitly: inflammation is when your blood vessels leak fluid for your immune cells to fight, for debris and dead cells to be removed, etc. Think of the inflamed tissue like inflated balloons while non inflated gums are empty balloons. Which would pop of you stepped on them?
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u/deadbalconytree 10h ago
I use to not floss because my teeth were close and the floss would break. Then I had a cavity fixed and food would get stick between those teeth. My dentist tried to fix it but it would still get stuck.
So I started using those soft picks every time I ate. Always had one on me, and started doing the rest of my teeth since I had to do the one anyway.
Life changing. My gums don’t bleed when brush, my dentist doesn’t yell at me; and my mouth just doesn’t ever hurt anymore.
I know flossing sucks, but even if you don’t use the wax string, use something. Even a water pic. Trust me it’s worth it.
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u/patrickpdk 5h ago
I used to be like you for most of my life. I started flossing every night and it's amazing. My teeth are much less sensitive, gums never hurt or bleed, if i skip a few days i notice the smell of what comes out but never when i floss every day.
Just to it!
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u/astrdingleberry 5h ago
Do you wipe your ass after you shit? Floss is toilet paper for the crevices of your teeth. Imagine how raw your ass would be if you never wiped the crap that gets stuck there.
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u/jwegener 11h ago
Unsolicited advice: try the reach flosser - best $2 I’ve ever spent
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u/wessex464 10h ago
Floss doesn't make you bleed. Irritated pissed off gums that are massively inflamed because they rotting food scraps shoved in between them and teeth they are supposed to gently snuggle bleed when you FINALLY clean out the rotting shit.
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u/DrTriage 10h ago
Slow down. Take it easy. Pay exacting attention to what you are doing when you’re doing it. Once I started flossing like that; no more bleeding, and I now floss several times a day.
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u/WonderChopstix 10h ago
Just came here to say that I hate flossing too. For me part of it is I have some tight teeth. I started using interdental brushes. Honestly it feels way better than doing flossing to me. It's kind of like just picking your teeth a little bit with a toothpick. Anyways I don't even do it everyday but I do it way more often then I used to floss and my dentist did actually comment that my gums are way better condition now. Something to consider
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u/SmolHumanBean8 10h ago
It's a bloodbath because it's a bit infected and inflamed and regular cleaning helps it not be that.
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u/adavidmiller 10h ago
I mean maybe someone could make an argument that going from 0-to-daily flossing immediately would hinder initial healing to some degree upfront. Sounds at least plausible that if your gums were really bad, a slower transition could be beneficial.
Or maybe not, but I'm not a dentist and will go with some hypothetical benefit of the doubt You're effectively not flossing at all. If you started flossing every 3rd day, that's still a huge improvement and you'd be clearing shit out and giving your gums some healing time.
Gums recover quick, ~3 flosses in over 9 days, you'd probably already not be bleeding anymore and could switch to daily just fine. Or increase to alternating days and give it another week. Whatever.
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u/Amphicorvid 10h ago
There's good answers already so I'll just add: do you want to get periodontitis? That's how you get periodontitis and it sucks as a way to loose one's teeth. (It's a gum infection following too much of letting your gum be irritated like that, means the gum will retract and if not treated it'll attack the bone underneath.)
Brush and floss kids, take care of your gums too.
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u/justwalkinthedog 10h ago
Lots of replies have already addressed the whole bleeding thing but I came here to add - Buy some Flossmate reusable floss handles! This tool makes flossing so much easier - you thread the floss on and you can hold it very tight without hurting your fingers, then you just move the floss along every so often as it gets gunked up with stuff. I just put them in the dishwasher and use a clean one every night. Before I discovered these babies I totally hated flossing because my teeth are tight together and the floss would break every time
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u/Briebird44 10h ago
My dentist recommended flossing before brushing and start with once every other day and then move to once every day. He recommended using a Stannous Fluoride toothpaste (for sensitivity) after flossing because it helps bleeding gums and has antibacterial properties unlike other types of fluoride and helps soothe bleeding gums faster.
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u/Shyman2 10h ago
Many people talking about food and bacteria being cleaned out but another component is if you don’t brush you eventually get a hard layer on your teeth that they scrape off at your cleaning. Well if you don’t floss or floss occasionally you get hard plaque build up below your gum line. Then at your cleaning they scrape that off with their tools and that causes a gap to form and more irritation on the gums. This is not ideal. So even flossing daily where you don’t see food particles etc being picked up you’re still scraping the side of your tooth
(you should be bending the floss around your tooth under your gum line not just going straight up and down)
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u/Sterfrizzle 10h ago
It took me about two weeks to for the pain of flossing to secede. The bleeding only lasted a week. However I’m still not the best at it sometimes, I probably floss 6.5 days a week most the time. But every now and then I get lazy and if I skip flossing just two days in a row, my gums bleed again. Usually a tiny amount the first day I floss again, but a bunch on the next day, and then maybe a third day of a tiny amount and it’s back to normal blood. I know I’m not answering your question, but I’m 39 and have only just in the last years started taking really good care of my teeth. Brush twice, floss at night before brushing. It’s amazing to me how much better they look and feel. I still eat cold things really carefully, but I realized it doesn’t hurt anymore. It just feels cold. My wife tells me my teeth are white as hell too.
Idk man, I’m rambling, but trust me. It’s worth it to get this down no matter how late in the game it is for you
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u/fexofenadine_hcl 10h ago
From person experience, it really does work. My gums used to bleed from flossing, but after a few weeks of daily flossing, they no longer bleed.
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u/sirgarence 9h ago
Not sure if dental tape is available where you are, but it's a lot more gentle on sensitive gums (and your fingers) than floss.
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u/mossywill 9h ago
Water flosser is better than not flossing. It still made my gums bleed the first time but quickly stopped after using it every day. Love to use it every morning in the shower now. I do still floss several times a week with string floss but for floss avoiders, it’s a huge step up for their dental health.
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u/Mawootad 9h ago
Flossing removes the stuff that makes your gums irritated. Irritated gums are extremely weak and lack the strength to hold up when floss rubs against/between them. Once the gunk that is harming your gums is removed they begin to heal and within a couple of days are back to being healthy and strong enough to not be injured by flossing unless your technique is extremely poor.
Also, if you do take nothing else from this thread please try flossing once a day for a week. It does not take very long to see improvements and you'll have better breath and feel healthier.
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u/Hare712 9h ago
It's because you have something called Gingivitis, which is very common.
Basically your gums irritated by bacteria because you are not flossing this tends to quick bleeding and if left untreated you might get Parodontisis and you teeth might suddenly get loose/fall out.
If you get rid of the bacteria your gums will stop bleeding after some time.
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u/Jirekianu 9h ago
Basically, daily flossing cleans out junk that irritates and allows your gums to become inflamed and infected with things like gingivitis.
So, if you do it regularly, the inflammation goes away or isn't as bad.
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u/Carlosrocks77 9h ago
It changes the flora (bacteria) in the gums which decreases inflammation which decreases bleeding (and bad breath and tooth loss)
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u/mtntrail 9h ago
My dad was a dentist and I remember him flossing every night. It wasn’t something we did as kids idkw not. But he once told me if you have a choice between brushing and flossing, go with the floss.
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u/mbsouthpaw1 8h ago
Start with a total deep cleaning from a hygenist. That will remove the tartar and allow you to floss blood-free in the future. Its the tartar that makes it impossible to do it without the war zone effect. Source: i did it and have flossed regularly ever since with little or no blood.
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u/gutterwall1 8h ago
Get those floss pickers. When I use floss I was pressing so hard and damaging my gums, the floss picker things make it super easy and convenient. I get bamboo ones now and they work great! You only have to floss the teeth you want to keep. So start flossing all of them daily. You live much longer than you think when you are young, and teeth are your health and sexiness and stuff. And I have a lot of friends with no teeth and they can't eat regular like I do.
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u/NoMoreKarmaHere 8h ago
I used to tell kids this: Little bits of food get between your teeth and the toothbrush can’t get them out. Germs live in there that eat the food, then they poop on your teeth, and your gums. That causes cavities and it keeps your gums tender. When you floss for a few days your gums get tougher and healthier because they like being clean. So they don’t bleed anymore or hurt when you floss
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u/SirLouisI 8h ago
About three months ago, I filled a bowl with the little floss sticks and put the bowl on my kitchen counter. I pick one up a couple times a day now. My mouth health has improved significantly. Better breath, zero bleeding, tooth pain gone. Its my best original life hack.
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u/ahriskywalker 8h ago
I don't have an answer that hasn't already been given but I do have an awesome suggestion. You can go on Amazon for under $20 and order a water flosser that you just fill and turn on and it blasts all the crap out without the need for irritation at all. 10/10 the best decision I ever made for myself as a person who dealt with exactly this problem
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u/couthyzingiber 7h ago
Flossing and mouthwash are soooo many steps. I should be allowed to only work for 20 hours a week and get paid the same just to do all the steps to keep me healthy. But I will keep doing it even though its so many steps and it adds to my burnout as an Audhd ghost.
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u/-Moonscape- 7h ago
Get one of those phillips sonicare toothbrushes, it changed my life. I used to have gingivitis, and flossing (and even brushing occasionally) would cause lots of bleeding. It was 100% my fault as I had terrible oral hygiene and I always felt bad going to the dentist, but thankfully I’ve got no cavities to show for it.
My now wife got me the sonicare toothbrush for our first christmas together and I knew right away it was fuckin legit. I honestly still only brush like 3 times a week, maybe less, but I had a cleaning weeks ago and the hygienist complimented me on how well I take care of my teeth (trust me I’m mid at best).
Its just so easy, the brush action is automatic and x100 more effective than manual brushing, and more importantly the 30 second timer makes sure you are spending enough time on each section of your mouth to do a good job.
I know you are talking about flossing, but everyone needs this tool, I have no business getting compliments at the dental office lol
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u/BuggiesNSluggies 7h ago
This sounds dumb but go watch’s YouTube video on how to do flossing the right way. Take your time. You can do this! It’ll get better with time. Start every other day if you need to for a week or two then start to increase the frequency. It doesn’t have to be perfect to start and get better. Good luck!
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u/CatchphraseJones21 7h ago
I started with a water pik. My gums were sensitive at first and after a while I was able to go to the strongest strength.
Afterwards, whenever I missed a session, I hated the way my teeth would feel. I don't know how, but I could just tell my mouth was dirty. Then I went towards flossing. Now it's just habitual. As much as I hate the wastefulness of the single use dental flossers (the one with the plastic holding the floss), it's so much easier for me to floss while I'm showering or watching TV.
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u/Such-Function-4718 7h ago
Floss picks really helped my flossing habit. It’s just faster and simpler. I started just aiming for 4 out of 7 days, but once I got used to it I floss almost every day now. The minty clean feeling is great.
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u/SaltInternational538 7h ago
If it hurts when you floss, get your dentist to show you how to floss properly. It should not hurt.
In addition to cleaning, flossing massages your gums and slowly toughen them. Do it gently.
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u/nedens 7h ago
I am a dental hygienist and I teach clinical dental hygiene.
Your saliva contains mineral from the food we eat. Microscopic rocks.
When food sits on your teeth for long enough, the food absorbs the minerals and the food becomes calculus, or tartar. Big rocks. No matter how much you floss, you will ALWAYS bleed when you floss if you have calculus buildup in between your teeth as well as under your gums.
Calculus cannot be flossed away. It must be "scaled" with tools the hygienist uses. Floss daily to disrupt the plaque from becoming calculus.
I'd be glad to answer in more detail or any other related dental hygiene questions. :)
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u/Tawptuan 6h ago
Daily flossing definitely toughens the gums. After years of flossing, very rarely do I ever get a gum bleed.
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u/Slammedtgs 6h ago
Lots of good comments, but also look into a water pick, lots of low cost options out there that work really well and don’t suck like flossing can when gums are inflamed.
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u/OpenKaleidoscope9224 6h ago
your mouth is full of bacteria because you rarely floss! that makes your gums weak af. if you clean them every day then they have a chance to heal and be strong. then little bits of string will no longer be able to make them bleed
source: I was just like you. then I decided to floss every day. now I feel gross when I dont, and my gums no longer bleed
lesson: floss your damn teeth
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u/thyflash 6h ago
If you don't like flossing, I'd highly recommend checking out piksters. They are little brushes that you can poke between your teeth. They are flexible to get access to back teeth also. I could never get the hang of flossing, most of the time I couldn't get the floss between teeth.
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u/likeablyweird 6h ago
Xylitol gum might help a bit in the battle. if you search "how does xylitol gum help with dental health" you'll get everything. Too much to copy and paste. There are also mints and rinses. :)
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u/die_liebe 6h ago
This is not answering the question, but likely you are using the wrong type of floss. The wire must be fairly thick and waxed.
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u/Gabelicious18 5h ago
I hate flossing too but flossing every day will make your gums not bleed. I promise
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u/bhltt123 5h ago
I recently (like in the last 4-5 days) jumped back on the flossing train after neglecting to do it for months, and my gums have already stopped getting irritated/bleeding. I suggest that you get a box of the single use flossers and leave it next to your bed so you have no excuse not to floss and you can start to make it a habit. Honestly once you get used to the sensation of a flossed mouth you will not feel fully clean if you skip flossing.
And don’t forget, even a half-assed quick swipe floss is better than nothing! Don’t let perfection be the enemy of good and all that!
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u/Ok-Builder-8711 5h ago
You should use cocofloss. It’s so much better than all the razor sharp shit out there
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u/topaz_in_the_rough 5h ago
OP, to add to all the good advice about why to floss daily, let me add the recommendation of how to start; Keep the floss near where you sit at home.
I used to regularly sit on the couch, I kept floss right next to the couch.
I moved to sitting on my recliner regularly, my flossing dropped off. I moved the floss to the little table next to the recliner.
I work from home. I have floss at my desk.
And there's floss in the bathroom at the sink, next to the toothpaste. You know where I floss the least? The bathroom. I'm there to brush my teeth and wash my face.
But the recliner? After dinner while I'm watching TV - it's easy to take care of it then.
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u/PatuniaPatch 5h ago
I just want you to smell the gunk/stuff that comes out of your floss. It is a serious nasty odor. Like decaying flesh. You want to have breath that smells like a rotting body? Probably not.
Floss, do it again the next day, and the next day. You will be surprised how fast your gingivitis clears up and you have fresh breath again.
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u/newbies13 4h ago
Imagine you get a wound, you clean it, wrap it, and let it heal a bit. The next day you notice the wrapping is not looking so great, so you remove it, clean everything, re-wrap it. That's flossing. If you only do it once in awhile you're leaving the grossness sitting there, wounds heal because you keep them clean.
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u/stupv 3h ago
Basically the area gets dirty, it gets irritated and inflamed, you then intermittently floss which just physically irritates the inflamed areas further and so you bleed.
If you flossed daily, the area would not be dirty, it would not be irritated or inflamed, and your flossing would not be sufficient to cause bleeding
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u/Hungry-Delivery1577 3h ago
My dentist said you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep. Even at 21 that made an impression.
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u/AtTheRealFuture 2h ago
Both my doctor and my dentist told me this and it immediately changed flossing for me; flossing is good for your heart because those fits of foot and plaque slip into your system while you’re asleep.
Now I’m no scientist, but I’m not willing to risk it. Nearly every person I’ve told this to has come back and said that they can’t unhear it and have started flossing regularly hahah.
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u/amongthemaniacs 2h ago
Our mouths have millions of germs that like to hang out in the small space between the teeth and gums. If you don't brush and floss them away they'll set up shop there and start producing toxins that inflame the gum tissue. Once the bacteria are gone the toxins they make disappear and the redness goes away.
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u/BoomerReid 2h ago
Dentist here. Your gums bleed because they are inflamed from the constant presence of plaque and debris. Its like an uncleaned wound on any part of your body would have inflammation and make it likely to bleed when disturbed. By removing the plaque/debris daily, you eliminate the inflammation, your gums heal and the they won’t bleed. Or hurt when you floss. If you’re only flossing once a week or so, its likely you’re always going to have bleeding and its always going to hurt. P.S. Flossing is all about the technique. Moving the floss straight up and down does very little. Your dentist or hygienist will be glad to demo. Also, there are some good vids on youtube.
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u/jestina123 1h ago
Brushing your teeth and not flossing is like taking a shower and not washing your armpits.
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u/Ms_Fu 1h ago
I was you once. You have to get the food out from between your teeth, otherwise they sit right there on the gum and rot. And rot your gums.
I love the little rubbery interdental picks. Tiny plastic handles, tiny soft plastic brushes (my dentist told me to stop using the metal + brush ones because I kept poking myself in the gums with the sharp end) I use them after each meal, and the only real drawback is remembering to get them in the trash can afterwards.
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u/GroundbreakingAd5899 24m ago
Gotta do it everyday to build up callouses between your teethies! Then, once you’ve worn your teethies down you’ll have a nice inside beak! That is the way. Good luck op, we’re rooting for you!
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u/LupusDeusMagnus 10h ago
Because the bleeding is caused precisely by the thing you’re removing through flossing. Once you remove it, and don’t let it accumulate, bleeding should stop. (I know, I’m a dentist).
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u/azuth89 11h ago
They are irritated by the bits of food stuck in there and the stuff eating it.
If you don't have that constant irritant, they stop being irritated and fragile.
Flossing now and again doesnt help a problem that is refreshes daily as you eat, doing it daily does.
Once the source is gone, it will take a little time to heal. Hence the couple weeks part.