This is something I get asked about on a daily basis, both in the dental surgery and through messages on my social media feeds so for my lovely friend Ashton as so many others, this ones for you <3.

Cleaning in between your teeth is such an important step in your oral hygiene routine but it’s regularly skipped because people either don’t have time, or they forget, or it feels tender, or people stop because their gums bleed. Even the fanciest, sexiest electric toothbrush will not clean in between your teeth thoroughly enough to remove plaque from these surfaces, and it is plaque that’s the real problem.

Plaque is a sticky substance, full of bacteria, that forms about 30 minutes after you eat, drink or brush or clean in between your teeth. If this plaque is left for long enough, it will start to cause a cavity or a gum problem.

Now your body is pretty clever and it will try and help you by turning plaque that is missed or left over after brushing into tartar and this will happen quicker in some areas of your mouth than others. Tartar is like fossilised plaque and won’t cause cavities as the plaque bacteria is not active. Isn’t your body wonderful?

But when your mouth is OVERWHELMED by plaque your body can’t do everything, so we need to give it a hand. Tartar will also increase the surface area for more plaque to form, so as much as I would rather look in someones mouth and see tartar rather than soft plaque, I would far rather look in and see beautiful sparkling clean teeth - that’s the dream right? But how do we get there?

Well we need to use something to clean in between your teeth as well as brushing. Now there are lots of dental hygienists and periodontists that will recommend one method and one method only, I like and respect them very much but I disagree with them slightly here.

Totally normal for your gums to bleed when you start to clean in between your teeth don’t panic!

I would rather you used something in between your teeth rather than be really picky and saying you can only use one method or one brand, there are definitely some that I favour and some that will work better and clean more plaque off than others BUT the main message that I want to get across is CONSISTENCY.

In an ideal world I would like you using the best possible method, everyday, as many days in a row as possible, ideally everyday. But I would rather you used a method that you liked, that perhaps didn’t lift off as much plaque as other methods but you used it everyday rather than me banging on about you using a gold standard method that you only use once a week if even. So I’m going to give you some choices.

Interdental Brushes

The gold standard, go to, will remove the most plaque around natural teeth method. Interdental brushes are amazing at removing plaque because they mouth to the shape of the gap and the bristles sweep plaque away. They can bend, be uncomfortable and like all of the methods we are going to discuss today can cause some bleeding of the gums if you’re using these for the first time or haven’t used these in a while. Always best to have these demonstrated and sized for you at your dental appointment with your Dental Hygienist so you know how you should be using them but I will leave a video here. They are made of plastic but are reusable and there are some great environmentally friendly options out there.

Lots of different brands will make interdental brushes at varying prices like iCon, Tepe, Curaprox Iwaves*, Curaprox Prime *, Boots* and Picksters, pick one that’s in your budget. Colour coding isn’t always consistent so make sure your Hygienist writes the size down for you too. My favourite right now are Curaprox CPS Prime*, now these do need to be sized up for you at your appointment because the colour coding system is completely different to other brands, but I like them because you hold onto the handle and just replace the bristly bit at the end, so less plastic waste. Yay!

If you’re reading this and want to try interdental brushes for the first time without guidance from your Dental Hygienist my advice would be:

Start small something like a pink (0.4mm) or orange (0.45mm) interdental brush - Tepe are probably the most widely available.
Start with your back teeth and work forward.
Aim for the area closest to your gum line.
Insert the tepe, it should be a balance between ease and effort and feel like its tight enough to move something out of the way, if it doesn’t feel like this you need a larger interdental brush
Repeat about 8 times - this might feel tender and the area will probably bleed.
Move on to the next space cleaning in between all of your teeth.
Do this at least once a day everyday.

Purists will say do this before you brush, I don’t mind when or where you do this, do what works for you.

Floss/Expanding Floss/Flossettes

Using dental floss is an excellent way of cleaning plaque and bacteria from in between your teeth, there’s a bit of a knack to it, and it’s better for front teeth than back teeth, but it will remove plaque from all interdental areas. I prefer tape floss to string floss but that’s just my personal preference. There are lots of different brands available, I prefer Oral B, but again find a brand that’s in your budget.

Expanding floss is great and my favourite tool for cleaning crowns, bridges and implants. Thicker than regular floss it can get into nooks and crannies and clear plaque from vulnerable areas. It can be a bit more expensive than regular floss and you use it slightly differently. You should start by threading it in between your teeth like a shoelace, sweeping it under your dental bridge or under the edges of your dental crown or implant, and then moving it back and forwards in a super slowed down shoe shine technique. I always like to demo this method at your dental appointment but hopefully the video will demonstrate what I mean. Lots of different brands are available from Oral B, Curaprox and IDontix, my favourite is XFloss lite (the blue one) from IDontix but again pick one that’s in your budget.

Flossettes or Dental Harps will also remove plaque, these are probably my least favourite method for removing plaque in between your teeth but they will STILL REMOVE PLAQUE and SOMETHING is BETTER than NOTHING. So if these are all you can get, all your can afford or the only thing that works for you and you feel you can use them everyday, work away.

You might still have a few problems if you are using solely these methods especially around back teeth, but you will still be removing plaque if you can do this everyday, at any time that works best for you.

Water Flossers

Everytime I clean my teeth I use a waterpik water flosser (and usually some interdental brushes too - i know i know I’m brilliant) and it works really well for me. I find it also works really well for my patients who:

Hate the feeling of using something in between their teeth.
Find it difficult to use something in between their teeth.
Feel that they don’t have time to use something in between their teeth - it takes about 27 seconds, yes I have timed it.
Feel that the gaps in between their teeth are too tight for floss or interdental brushes.
Feel that using something regularly in between their teeth is bad for the environment.

My favourite is the Waterpik cordless advance water flosser but again lots of brands are available at various price points, my advice would be go for something rechargeable, cordless and in your budget. Start with your back teeth, aim for the area between two teeth kind of like you’re going to use an interdental brush, close your mouth around the water flosser and sweep the plastic tip along the gum line and in between your teeth until your reach the middle of your mouth. Stop the water flosser, spit out the water, then continue as you did before with the other 3/4s of your mouth. Ideally you should use a water flosser before you brush your teeth, especially if you use a sensitive toothpaste. You can read more about water flossing in my blog post here.

So now we’ve seen the options, how do we decide? I think you should be:

Picking the best tool for the job for YOU the closest thing to the gold standard that has been reccomended by your Dental Hygienist.
Picking something that fits in well with your lifestyle, that you can see yourself picking up and using everyday not just something that’s going to sit and look pretty in the bathroom.
Picking something that fits in with your morals, if you want something that’s going to be good for the enviroment have a little research or message me or your own Dental Hygienist for options rather than leaving this step out for environmental reasons.
Picking something that works with your budget. Everybody has one and if you don’t, you’re mad. Dont put yourself under financial pressure to spend £8 on floss just because I recommend it, but understand like anything you’ll get what you pay for. Also making a bigger initial investment for something like a water flosser might save you money in the long run. Remember you’re going to have to buy these things every couple of weeks because cleaning in between your teeth is a lifelong kinda thing.

I really hope this was helpful, normally, I would always recommend talking this through with your Dentist or Dental Hygienist at your appointment but if you would like to go over anything specifically please send me a message or a DM on my Instagram page. Lets get rid of that bacteria in between those teeth for good! Thanks so much for reading <3.

*gifted products