Are you getting a little lazy with your daily oral care routine? Or are you looking for ways to speed the process up?
You may be wondering, “can antiseptic mouthwash really replace flossing?”
Sure, mouthwash is a quick and very effective oral rinse, however it does serve a specific purpose.
By changing up your oral hygiene without being properly informed first, could open you up to a range of health risks.
Don’t let that happen to you, read on and be educated first.
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Practicing good oral hygiene is crucial for your teeth and health. Being able to maintain a daily oral care routine really isn’t that difficult.
It only involves brushing your teeth twice a day, rinsing your mouth with mouthwash, flossing regularly and visiting your dentist for oral exams and professional cleaning.
If you don’t develop these habits, you are at risk of developing gum disease, tooth decay and tooth loss. As well as other health problems like heart disease, strokes and even dementia.
Understanding The Bacteria Inside Your Mouth
The mouth, teeth, gums, cheeks, tongue and even the lips all house an incredible amount of bacteria, which are both good and bad. When you consume food, the bacteria reacts with the sugar in the food to form plaque.
The bacteria produces toxins that cause plaque, gingivitis, bad breath and eventual tooth loss. The actions of brushing your teeth and flossing help to remove some of these bacteria from the surfaces of the teeth and spaces between the teeth.
But brushing alone cannot succeed in eliminating all of these bacteria.
Importance Of Flossing
Flossing is said to be one of the most important aspects of good oral care. According to some dental health professionals, flossing might even be much more effective than brushing your teeth.
Flossing works to remove food debris and plaque build-up from areas around the gum line. As well as between the teeth and hard to reach areas of the mouth.
Neglecting to remove this buildup may cause the plaque to harden into tartar which irritates the tissue and leads to gum disease and other oral infections.
Flossing before brushing the teeth also allows the bristles of the toothbrush to reach and clean the areas between the teeth where the plaque would normally be.
Flossing is supported by the ADA
According to the American Dental Association (ADA):
“Interdental cleaners such as floss are an essential part of taking care of your teeth and gums. Cleaning between teeth removes plaque that can lead to cavities or gum disease from the areas where a toothbrush can’t reach.
Interdental cleaning is proven to help remove debris between teeth that can contribute to plaque build up.”
Flossing is an aspect of oral health care and it has benefits that can not be ignored. Gum disease eats away at your gum and teeth and flossing helps to prevent this problem.
How Antiseptic Mouthwash Works
A lot of people include mouthwash as part of their oral care routine. Mostly because it is easier to rinse your mouth with mouthwash than to brush your teeth and floss. It also saves a lot of time.
Using mouthwash is a great way to care for the teeth, especially when you combine it with brushing, interdental cleaners and visits to the dentist.
Mouthwash can penetrate every part of your mouth including your cheeks, tongue, gums and teeth to remove what’s left of the bacteria and food debris. You should also consider the best whitening mouthwash to make your teeth even more beautiful.
Your mouthwash may contain alcohol, chlorhexidine, cetylpyridinium chloride or fluoride. These are substances that kill bacteria, stop their growth, destroy their cell membrane and makes them inactive. All helping to avoid tooth decay.
However, with all of these benefits, it is not advisable to use mouthwash alone in your oral care routine.
Antiseptic Mouthwash vs Flossing
In a clinical trial that compared the effectiveness of using mouthwash to flossing in fighting plaque and gum disease, the study showed that antimicrobial mouth rinse is:
“At least as good as flossing in improving gingival health and plaque reduction, especially in hard to reach areas of the mouth.”
“The findings, however, do not mean that flossing should be replaced with rinsing”
Can Antiseptic Mouthwash Really Replace Flossing, Answered!
Antiseptic mouth rinses may kill bacteria in the mouth and prevent gingivitis, but the effect of this is short term. Flossing removes food from your teeth that rinsing won’t be able to do and makes your gums stronger.
In fact, flossing is crucial for gum health, making it easy to see why mouthwash cannot replace brushing or flossing.
If you want your mouthwash to be effective, you have to include it in a daily oral care routine that involves brushing twice a day and flossing regularly.
Before using mouthwash, it is also important to visit your dentist and ask for advice on the type of mouthwash recommended for optimal oral health.
So in short “can antiseptic mouthwash really replace flossing?”, the answer is no.
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