Dental crowns and bridges are among popular restorative dental procedures. If you have damaged or missing teeth, you can replace them with a dental crown or bridge.
Dental crowns are single-unit prostheses that cover the entire surface of a weak or damaged tooth. On the other hand, dental bridges have two or more units that replace missing teeth within an arch.
To maintain your dental crowns and bridges, you should brush and floss them regularly. Flossing around artificial teeth can be a little tricky. So in this blog post, we will discuss some easy techniques to floss around crowns and bridges.
Flossing Around a Dental Crown
Dental crowns resemble the anatomy of your natural teeth. When it comes to cleaning them using dental floss, you can follow the same technique as for healthy teeth.
Cut a small length of dental floss and wrap its ends around your fingers. It is better to use waxed floss, which does not have stray threads. Gently slide the floss down around the dental crown in a C-shaped movement. Make sure to clean the areas between your teeth and gums to remove plaque and food debris.
Once you have cleaned a side, pull out the floss carefully from the side and move on to the next side. This helps to prevent the floss thread from entrapping in the crown margin.
Flossing Around a Dental Bridge
Flossing around a bridge can be difficult as the units of a dental bridge are fused together, preventing up-and-down movement. As food debris can accumulate along the bridge margins, you need to clean that area.
To floss underneath a dental bridge, it is wise to use a floss threader for ease. A floss threader resembles a needle and has a small loop at one end. Slide the floss thread through the loop and thread it under the bridge margins between each unit. Use gentle to-and-fro motion to clean this region.
There are other tools available to floss the area beneath dental bridges. These include:
- Interdental brush: It is a small-sized brush with soft bristles to clean the areas between teeth. You can slide it carefully under a bridge to floss around the margins.
- Dental picks: These are small, angulated plastic tools that help clean hard-to-reach areas between teeth. Use the end of a dental pick to remove plaque and food debris beneath a bridge.
- Waterpik: It is an advanced tool that releases a thin stream of water to clean the areas between teeth and gums. Waterpik takes less time and provides efficient results.
Get Regular Dental Cleanings
Regular dental visits are necessary to maintain optimum oral health along with a home care routine. Our dentists at Porter Smiles Dental will evaluate your oral cavity to check for signs of any dental issues.
If there are plaque deposits or signs of gum inflammation around your teeth, crowns, or bridges, we will schedule dental cleaning to minimize further damage.
Call us at 281 519 7200 to schedule a consultation with our qualified dentists.