How to actually clean between your teeth

Interdental brushes usually beat floss

This surprises people, but for most adults small interdental brushes - the little bottle-brush ones - clean more effectively than floss and are considerably easier to use well.

Floss is better where teeth are very tight together, which is often the case at the front. For the back teeth, and for anyone with gaps, recession or bridgework, interdental brushes are usually the better tool.

The size matters. A brush too small does nothing; too large and you force it and damage the gum. You will likely need two or three sizes for different parts of your mouth. We can show you which at a check-up - it takes two minutes and makes a genuine difference.

How to use floss properly

Most people who say floss does not work for them are snapping it straight down onto the gum, which hurts and cleans nothing.

• Use a decent length - around 45cm - wound round your middle fingers, guided with thumbs and index fingers
• Ease it between the teeth with a gentle sawing motion; do not snap it down
• Curve it into a C shape against one tooth
• Slide it gently under the gum line, then up the side of the tooth
• Repeat against the other tooth in the same gap - one pass does two surfaces
• Move to a clean section of floss for each gap

The bleeding question

Almost everyone who starts cleaning between their teeth after a long gap finds their gums bleed, and almost everyone takes that as a sign to stop.

It means the opposite. Bleeding indicates inflammation, and the inflammation is there because bacteria have been sitting undisturbed. Healthy gums do not bleed when cleaned gently and properly.

Keep going, gently and daily, and for most people the bleeding settles within one to two weeks. If it has not settled after that, that is worth getting looked at rather than pushing through.

When to do it

Once a day is enough, and the evening is the sensible time - you are removing the day's accumulation before the long stretch overnight when saliva flow drops.

Do it before brushing rather than after. Loosening the debris first means the fluoride in your toothpaste reaches surfaces it otherwise would not.

And a small thing that matters: after brushing, spit but do not rinse. Rinsing washes away the fluoride you have just applied. Leaving it there keeps working.

What about water flossers and mouthwash

Water flossers are genuinely useful for people with braces, bridges or implants, where getting a brush or floss into the space is difficult. For most people with ordinary teeth they are a supplement rather than a replacement - they flush debris but are less effective at disrupting the sticky film on the tooth surface, which is the thing that actually causes problems.

Mouthwash is the most oversold product in the category. It freshens breath and some types have specific therapeutic uses, but it does not remove plaque. Rinsing is not cleaning.