Flosser picks (also called floss picks) have become very popular in recent years, especially for families with young children.
Manufacturers have touted their benefits as a great, fun way to get kids into the healthy habit of flossing by even putting children’s hero icons on the handles. (Anyone up for a Dora flosser?)
But do these flosser picks really provide the benefits suggested or are they actually ingraining poor oral hygiene habits?
Here are our 4 main reasons why flosser picks are not a healthy floss option.
If you’ve been reading our blog for a bit, you’ll know we like to stay firmly rooted in solutions. In other words, there’s plenty in the oral health/dental world to complain and ‘yell fire’ about.
But that’s not our style. We like to share our thoughts/research on solutions that will help you navigate this path to greater oral health.
So, it’s in this spirit of helping that we share why we consider flosser picks a very poor choice of floss for anyone looking to navigate the path to a healthier mouth.
1. Floss picks lack the powerful feedback info regular floss can provide
One of the biggest hurdles anyone on the path to greater oral health has to get over is a lack of awareness with what’s going on in our own mouth. We call this a mental disconnect. In fact, a lack of awareness is ‘step 1’ in our free video tutorial series, the 5 Steps to a Healthy Mouth.
The absolute best strategy to provide more information about what’s going on in your own mouth is to ‘consciously floss’. We coined the term ‘conscious flossing’ to describe a strategy of flossing and checking for any smell and/or color at each flossing site.
This conscious flossing technique gives us very important feedback information regarding where in our mouths we might have active infection.
The first problem with flosser picks is you don’t have a clean segment of floss to use at each flossing site to determine what’s going on at that site. So, we lose this very important opportunity to gain more insight into the health of our gum pockets by using a flosser pick.
Here’s a link to learn more about conscious flossing.
2. Floss picks can be tough on sensitive gum tissue
When I was a kid (Will here), my friends and I would dare each other to sit still while the other held a rubber band between thumb and index finger and ’SNAP’ the rubber band by pulling the middle back like a slingshot and releasing onto our cringing buddy. (What are friends for, right?)
Floss picks can function similar to the rubber band torture toy we used to play with as kids. If you have tight contacts between teeth which provides a bit of resistance when inserting floss between your teeth, when flossing with a segment of floss, you can wiggle the floss back and forth to avoid snapping the floss onto your gum tissue.
However, the floss pick lacks the space to do this ‘wiggle the floss into the pocket’ strategy. So, you’re left with snapping the floss between the tight contact and risk torturing your gum tissue.
For clarity, gum tissue is resilient and likes to be massaged, even stimulated. But it doesn’t like to be banged by floss being inserted roughly into the gum pocket.
3. Floss picks risk spreading thug bugs into healthy parts of your mouth
Our biggest reason for not being fans of floss picks is using the same little piece of floss between many teeth risks moving thug bugs from one pocket to other areas of the mouth that may not have been infected by thug bugs yet.
Think about it. One of the main functions of flossing is to disrupt and disorganize thug bugs. When you do this with a piece of floss, some of the thug bugs are left clinging to the floss segment. This is why is it very important to always use a clean bit of floss at each floss site.
To add insult to injury, by using the same segment of floss throughout the mouth, not only are you giving thug bugs a free ride around your mouth, you are actually inserting them right where you least want them, where they thrive best, and where they can do the most damage… at the bottom of your gum pockets.
4. The impact of single use plastics
Even if you don’t consider yourself much of an ‘environmentalist’, I’m sure we can all agree that any chance we can lower our consumption of ‘single use’ plastic, it’s a step in the right direction regarding lowering our impact and helping the world be less polluted one floss pick at a time.
If you keep your eyes open for flossers, you’ll see them everywhere, from parking lots to playgrounds. Sure, if we all put our trash in trash cans, we wouldn’t have to look at these flossers all over. But an even better step is to just stop using them.
If you’re not aware of the work the folks at the Ocean Cleanup Project, you owe it to yourself to take a look at what amazing progress is being made toward leaving the earth to our children in a little cleaner condition than we received it.
We can see using these floss picks as an emergency, after a meal out tool to remove some food stuck between a couple teeth. However, we just keep a spool of our favorite floss in our car for these moments.
“So, if floss picks aren’t the best flossing solution, what is?”
Well, since you asked :), here’s a link to our analysis of 12 popular brands of floss on the market. We rank each in 4 separate categories. If you ever feel dizzy or numb from all the options of floss available, this should help. “What’s the best floss on the market and why?”
Until then, may you have an awesome week filled with lots of healthy smiles!
Helpful, Related Resources:
5 Steps to a Healthy Mouth (free video tutorial series)
How to Create Greater Oral Health for the Whole Family (article)
Does Flossing Really Lower My Risk of Heart Attack? (article)
“What’s the best floss on the market and why?” [floss analysis]
What is a “thug bug”?? Now I’m freaking out that I might have mites living on my toothbrush. This is going to give me nightmares!
ミ(☉﹏☉)ミ
Please clarify.
Aloha Betsy,
We just have to say, while we don’t want you to have nightmares about thug bugs, we REALLY love your scared face. 😄
We all have bacteria and other microbes in our mouths (and everywhere on our body, for that matter). Try as we might, we can’t completely wipe them out, and we wouldn’t want to even if we could, because they are there on purpose.
There are different species of microbes (ex: bacteria) in the mouth. Some of them are more health-supporting, and others are more health-undermining. It’s the health-undermining ones that we refer to as “thug bugs”. They thrive in an anaerobic (low-oxygen) environment. So, they create plaque that they stick to our teeth and gums to reduce the oxygen they’re exposed to and to protect themselves from us.
Since we can’t wipe out any one species, like so many things in life, the key is to maintain a balance and not allow any one species of oral microbes to overrun the rest.
That’s one of the main reasons why we brush twice daily: to balance our oral flora. Here’s an article that explains more on this.
We hope that helps!
Aloha! 🙂
It’s obvious floss is your favorite for the reasons you mention here and the fact that it can reach 4mm into pockets. I read that floss is not advised, because it doesn’t touch a large are of the tooth, like toothpicks and interdental brushes do. And when you go towards the gums with floss, you probably choose to go left or right, against one tooth or the other. What’s your opinion on that? I use wooden toothpicks now, because it fills the whole space between my teeth. It does make my gums in some places look a bit battered I have to say: not red, not receded, it just looks a bit mushy. But I don’t think it’s a big problem or is it?
Aloha Kelly,
Thank you for reaching out to us.
Great questions!
From our perspective, it’s not so much that we’re trying to reduce plaque with flossing. Sure, flossing does help to remove food that’s trapped between our teeth, and this is a wise habit. But thinking that we’re going to effectively lower our risk of decay between our teeth by flossing isn’t really backed by the research. Instead, we are simply trying to disrupt and disorganize the main bugs implicated with gum disease, especially the ones that tend to colonize between the molars. Not to mention the fact that flossing gently stimulates gum tissue, which is something that our gums love.
We can’t say whether or not using a toothpick or interdental brush is a problem. If it feels good to you to use those tools to clean between your teeth, our suggestion is to keep things very gentle. You mentioned that in some places your gums look mushy; healthy gum tissue is firm, pink, and doesn’t bleed. If it were us, we would focus on gently stimulating the gums with conscious flossing and the Bass Brushing Technique. Feel free to check out these articles for more info:
https://orawellness.com/avoid-4-common-flossing-mistakes/
https://orawellness.com/flossing-actually-bad/
https://orawellness.com/how-to-brush-your-teeth-to-reduce-gum-disease/
I hope that helps!
Aloha!
I’m trying to find out why my Health Smart floss picks have a Cancer warning on back. Can’t find them but found you guys. Thank you so much for your valuable information but another reason to not use them is some kind of toxicity in materials -not addressed here. I think I’ll throw them out. Isn’t dental floss a worry in landfills as well, and to environment? I think it’s a three-sided coin. Glad to have found you to help with better Dental Care.
Hi! I’m working on an essay and I’m using this article as source. I need to cite this article. Could you please tell me when this article was published and for the author, should I just use your names (Susan & Will)?
Thank you
Aloha Nathalie,
Thank you for reaching out. It’s an honor that you want to use our work as a source for your research.
Hmm, I don’t know when the article was first published, but if you go to the top of the comments and look for dates, I think you’ll be able to answer this.
You can site the authors as Will and Susan Revak, co-founders of OraWellness
Thanks!
I’m currently home with a bad case ofTrench Mouth.
I brush my teeth two times aday , I also floss daily with floss sticks..
I have never had any gum infections in my life.
The usual cause of Trench Mouth, according to Google is poor hygiene .
In my case it seems that the infection came from floss sticks that I was reuseing.
I hope my story helps others.
Prior to flosser picks I never flossed. I rarely even brushed and lost a quarter of my teeth and now have to wear a partial. Now that I have decided I need to take care of what I have left flosser picks have been great because they are easy to use. I floss every day. A hell of a lot better than the never I was doing before. Also yeah anyone who is littering should not be doing that. It’s not my fault because I use these picks.
For most people that don’t floss regularly if there’s something that makes it easier and they do it daily. Why on earth would you tell them not to. Yeah the floss pickers might not be the best option but not doing anything is even worse. Just floss with regular floss or the floss pickers but floss daily. Either or is better than nothing.
My biggest complaint is that I see them EVERYWHERE. They are outnumbering cigarette butts 2 to 1, and they never go away. Every parking lot, every city street/sidewalk, park. Do people just walk around flossing constantly? Or is it an addiction, I know I am overreacting … but if I see someone flossing in public … I don’t want to see you pick your butt either …. it is gross
I agree entirely with your points but the fact remains that small children can’t floss themselves & I find it literally impossible to do the job with my grownup sized fingers inside a child sized mouth. Any suggested alternatives?
My dentist recommended GUM Soft Picks (NOT flosser picks, very different), which address nearly all of the issues this article raised.
You can find better deals than this, this is just for you to get an idea of what I’m talking about:
https://www.gumbrand.com/between-teeth-cleaning/picks/gum-soft-picks-original-120-30-ct-bonus-pack.html
Is there scientific evidence to suggest that we actually are transferring bad bacteria to other parts of the mouth by using the same section of floss, even if we’re removing the previously lodged food and plaque? Saliva is pretty effective in general at combatting bacteria. I’ve always thought the problems usually only arise when food becomes lodged in the teeth and provide bacteria with a feeding source. I’m also semi- talking out of my rear end, and just giving my own understanding, so if someone has better insight this would be much appreciated!
It’s good to read this because I’ve never understood floss picks. As someone who long ago accepted the reality of flossing, the whole idea of the pick has seemed to not make sense. Anyone who flosses knows that a fundamental part of the act of flossing is to use a clean segment of floss for each tooth surface. Right off the bat, that makes floss picks more than a bit questionable. Anyone who flosses also knows that holding a length of floss in your hands offers you alot of control over where that floss goes, how gently or deeply, etc. All this becomes part of basic ingrained habits of a flosser. A floss pick seems clumsy in comparison. I’ve never seen the point of these picks, and I appreciate the wise words here.
I am addicted to them, constantly chewing on the remains. I find it helps align my canines, though it has worn them down a bit. I think they are great and I haven’t had a cavity for over 30 years, and no problems with the gums. The only problem is that it doesn’t look good to be seen chewing them in public.
I was injured by flosser picks from Gum because the plastic holder was broken and it poked into my gum.
Do floss picks cause more harm than not flossing at all? I use one pick for the top teeth and one for the bottom, and I rinse it in hot water in between each tooth. Am I still spreading bacteria?
I have nerve damage from a dental procedure, it causes me a lot of pain to open my mouth so I can’t open wide enough to get my fingers to my back teeth. Floss picks allowed me to start flossing again after giving up for a couple years, during that time my gums recessed, now my teeth are very sensitive. I can’t go back to regular floss but I don’t want to cause more damage so if floss picks are worse than nothing, I’ll just stop using them.
What about rubber tip gum stimulators? I have a periodontist telling me to use one every day and the calcium therapy dentist telling me I’m spreading infection. Then my husband’s dentist said that my mouth has the same bacteria all around. I’m so tired of being confused about how to care for my receding gums!
P.S. I’d love to see a more precise term than “bad bugs”. It’s catchy but is this the best issue for a catch all phrase?
I’ve tried almost all flosses on the market and find that they all splinter in my closely-spaced teeth, and are painful on my fingers. It’s also nearly impossible to get my fingers to the back teeth. Through experimentation, I found that the plastic flossers — specifically the Reach toothbrush-shaped with replaceable tips — are the only ones that are comfortable to use. Due to the attached handle, I can feel when the tooth is smooth and continue to the next tooth.
It’s not ideal, as I have torn the short segment of floss rarely, but it has none of the issues you suggest. One solution might not be right for all people’s teeth.
Hi – If you don’t know what this is – look in a parking lot or go for a walk – you will see one on the street.
The issue with these is earth. We manufacture disposable consumables for individual gain while discarding ( look at a package – benefits focused on health not recycle )
If we continue to teach our children with easier / better / manufactured solutions and to not put effort in the things that matter and the value that is obtained by that – then our children will be stupid sheep (waiting for feed rather then eating the grass under them )
Well said AJ.
I’m rather confident we align on our values of using packaging that considers future generations.
So true?
Always go for bio degradable flosses and toothbrushes and tell your Dentist to keep his/her free plastICK crap!
Let’s take into account that replacing one tire on your car produces more waste than a lifetime of flossers. In fact, the packaging for a 30 yard spool of floss contains almost as much plastic as 30 flossers.
For all the flossers you see in parking lot and on sidewalks, blame those who throw the flossers out on the street, not the flossers. When someone gets ran over, do you blame the driver or the car?
I for one would floss far less often if it were not for the convenient and comfortable flossers sold next to the spools of floss in stores across America.
I was thinking the exact same thing! Blaming the flossers and not the lazy people who litter.
While this is a fine article, there was no actual classification of what flossers they’re referring to. People will surely get these confused with the Soft Gum Picks, which were actually referred to me by a dentist.
I thought you were going to say floss picks are bad because of the chemicals added to them for flavoring. That is what I was wondering about. The ones made for kids have a sweet flavor, and I wonder about what they added to achieve this. No ingredients were listed.
Aloha Sheryl!
Great additional reason to stay clear of those little nasty flosser picks! 🙂
By using floss picks you are successful Lyn transferring bacteria from your child’s back teeth, where it probably IS- to all the front teeth-where it most likely isn’t.
Of course if you effectively clean the floss pick thoroughly in between each tooth, or use 12 of the environmental nightmares with each cleaning-then perhaps that wouldn’t happen? Why not teach the children to floss with silk, or hemp? Or anything biodegradable? And give them the gift of intact teeth-for life? Just a suggestion?
What if you’re an adult who’s currently using flossers because you hadn’t heard about the downsides and you know if you don’t, you won’t floss at all?
What about then, huh?
hahahahahahahahahahahahah
My husband and I hate to floss, so we tried using floss picks like the ones in your video. It makes the job a lot easier than having to wrap floss around your fingers and stick your hand in your mouth. I will have to ask my dentist what other alternatives there are to floss picks.
What’s a floss pick? A photo here could help…
Thanks for your efforts to educate us in keeping healthy teeth.
Aloha Susan,
Thank you for stopping by! Here I was assuming that everyone knew what a floss pick is! 🙂 My bad for making that assumption…
I don’t think I can place an image here, but it’s a little plastic device that holds a tiny amount of floss between two little plastic arms. Think of it as a fancy plastic toothpick with a bit of floss strung so you can floss with it. Not sure if the description will get you there. 🙂
I know, here’s a link to some on amazon! 🙂