Floss Sticks vs Regular Floss

Floss sticks are quickly becoming the way of the world. They are easy to use, make flossing quicker and saves you from getting the string imprints in your fingers, but it is really the best option?

Traditional dental floss has been used for years. It is tested, approved, recommended and used by most dental centers. It is great at removing the excess food particles, plaque and bacteria between your teeth. However it is really difficult to control. It takes some work and technique to make sure that you do it right especially if you are trying to get in between the back molars. It also requires at some point for you to stick your fingers inside your mouth, which is a problem for some people. However it is really effective at cleaning your teeth properly.

Floss Swords are less intrusive in your mouth. The are simple and easy to use and allows you to reach the back molars without much trouble. However, their effectiveness of cleaning teeth is in question. Ideally when you floss with traditional floss, between each tooth you pull a fresh piece of floss. With a floss sword, you use the same piece until you are done. This can transfer bacteria from between one to tooth to another. One can argue that if the sword in rinsed before each tooth that it wouldn't do that, but ideally does anyone actually do that? Also, they are often accused of pushing plaque back and forth in because the plastic piece stops it from being easily removed.

Personally, I use both. In some areas of my mouth, my teeth are tight to each other and it is hard to get the thick piece of floss on sword between them, so I use traditional floss on those. I use tradition floss on all of my front teeth and I use a floss sword on my molars. I do rinse the floss sword after each tooth, but that's just me. 

It basically comes down to your preference and the recommendation of your dentist and hygienist so make sure you check with them. Regardless of which one you choose you will definitely get kudos for flossing. That's the part of self dental care that is skipped the most!