I've never flossed, I don't have gaps in my teeth to get the floss in. My first trip to the dentist in 25 years was a few weeks ago and my teeth were perfect except for a wisdom tooth and the damage it caused.
So i'm kind of skeptical of the effect.
Edit - I always wonder what kind of toothbrush other people use. I've always used electric ones so I wonder if that helps.
You might find that if you go to the dentist for teeth cleaning and they clear away all the plaque buildup that you'll be able to get the floss in between your teeth.
Like you, I have good teeth (never had a filling) and on average have visited the dentist about once every 10 years.
Like you I also used to never be able to get floss in between my teeth, but after a dental checkup some years back the dentist cleared all the plaque buildup and from then on getting the floss between my teeth was no problem, and I've been flossing regularly since.
Once the plaque builds up and hardens, it's very difficult to break it up with just floss and you'll have difficulty getting floss in.
For what it's worth, my teeth definitely feel cleaner after flossing, and if I miss a couple of days they start to feel dirty.
I had the issue that I couldn't floss due to lack of gaps too, I even have a wire behind my bottom teeth keeping them together after having braces when I was younger. This meant I had to visit the dentist if I wanted to clean between my teeth and even after that, normal floss just didn't fit.
But now I have discovered floss tape; it's just what it sounds like, a thin strip of tape that you can slide between your teeth to floss. Now I can actually floss and it makes a big difference to how clean my teeth look and feel. I'm in the UK and the product I use is Oral-B Satin Tape - worth trying or finding an equivalent if you have teeth very close together.
My gaps are small. My dentist says my teeth are tight. I have found that using Glide is the best floss. Even with that I have at times cut right through the floss with a particular pair of teeth. You might want to try Glide.
I floss daily and sometimes twice a day. I keep floss at my desk at work and some mouthwash to kill some of germs that get stirred up. It is easy to fit that in when thinking through a problem.
I also take vitamin C twice a day. My dentists always comment on the good health of my gums and say "you take vitamin c don't you?" At 62 I want to maintain my gum and teeth health.
I have to use a plastic floss needle sometimes, you thread the needle with floss in order to get floss between teeth when there is some food stuck in there.
Amazing that people are wondering what the "scientific" value in getting food particles out of your mouth.
A few people are certainly "gifted" teeth-wise (I know another case), but not going to the dentist for 25 years would be disastrous if applied on large scale.
> Well that's the problem, we don't have better evidence.
We actually have had it for quite a while. The CAMBRA MOOC is put together by a dentist/statistician and lays out a point system based on correlation between patient behaviors/health and carries. It has been iteratively corrected based on effective and ineffective results when modifying behavior according to the system.
Notably in that system, floss is not given a point. Whatever effect it may have is either too weak or better described by other factors flossing correlates with.
When points like that come up, the teacher stresses that the system is only measuring odds of near term carries, so flossing may be effective for something else with regards to oral health or preventing one of the negative factors.
The sentence above was about considering the extreme case irrelevant.
Focusing on flossing itself, as person who started doing it regularly only as adult, I think that researching on how frequently one should floss (or not) is in a way like researching how frequently one should change underwear. It may make sense theoretically, but ultimately all it requires is just to pay attention.
I never noticed the bleeding and/or irritation of the gums (which dentists always mention) until I started flossing regularly.
Now I do feel a difference (as a matter of fact, I floss irregularly, depending on how the gums feel). Of course, I'm pretty sure I could survive without flossing at all.
This is in line with what dentists generally suggest. Given that flossing can be ultimately considered as simply extra cleaning, and that the presence (or not) of the effects can be easily observed, a couple of weeks of flossing should be enough for anybody to make a solid judgment more than any theory.
If it works for you, then no need to change it. For me, it depends on which tooth I'm flossing. Some are easier than others. Some are so tight that floss won't come out, it feels like I'm pulling a tooth out. For this reason, I don't floss often and not every tooth. I use toothpicks though.
I have tight straight teeth on one side and I wicked with little gaps on the other side. There is a big difference when I floss. On one side is usually clean, on the other is not. It requires a lot more maintenance.
For some teeth, I have to force it a little, my teeth are pretty close too. Its so worth it though: much better breath, clean feel, minimized risk of cavities.
I avoided purchasing one by forming a loop with the wire. I cut a 20cm (8in) piece, then I tie a triple knot (the simple over hand knot with both ends). The wire is very slippery so I move the first knot as close to the ends as possible, so as not to waste floss.
Having a loop allows to have a firm hold on the floss and adjust tension. I use it with both hands though. And I waste very little floss because I can rotate the loop and use every inch of it.
Thing is, teeth are so close to each other that literally nothing can get between them, not even food. I have however few teeth that get food in between, but these are the ones that already went bad and were fixed, and have gaps as a result of that.
So i'm kind of skeptical of the effect.
Edit - I always wonder what kind of toothbrush other people use. I've always used electric ones so I wonder if that helps.