Clean interdental spaces: Why it is important

You brush your teeth at least twice a day and think that this is enough? Unfortunately not, because for really good oral hygiene you also need to take care of the spaces between your teeth.

No matter how thoroughly you clean your teeth, you only ever reach 70 percent of the tooth surface with your toothbrush. Many people do not realize that the interdental spaces account for 30 percent of the tooth surface, which remains largely unbrushed when cleaning is carried out exclusively with a toothbrush.

Although manufacturers of electric toothbrushes advertise that the rapid movements of the electric toothbrush generate a flow of liquid that reaches the interdental spaces, optimal cleaning results are not achieved in this way.

Cleaning the interdental spaces is important because food debris tends to accumulate between two adjacent teeth, from which bacterial plaque develops. If this plaque is not removed regularly, the risk of tooth decay and gum inflammation, such as periodontitis, increases. In addition, plaque in the spaces between teeth can lead to bad breath. So it's important to incorporate interdental cleaning into your daily dental care routine.

There are several tools available to effectively clean the interdental spaces:

Interdental brushes or interdental brushes.

Interdental brushes or interdental brushes are small brushes specifically designed to clean the spaces between teeth. Their effectiveness in removing plaque is considered particularly high. Another advantage is that there are different sizes. So you can perfectly adjust the size of the brush to the size of the respective interdental space. Since the interdental spaces are usually of different widths, it is recommended to test and also use different sizes. In practice, the use of two to three sizes usually leads to optimal results. With interdental brushes you can also reach the inwardly curved tooth surfaces. Interdental brushes are also a good choice for cleaning bridges, implants or braces.

Dental floss

The use of dental floss is particularly recommended when the teeth are very close together and the spaces between them are therefore also very narrow. The disadvantage is that the inwardly curved tooth surfaces cannot be reached with dental floss. Dental floss is available in different variants, for example waxed and unwaxed. Waxed floss glides better into particularly narrow spaces, while unwaxed floss fibers up and can thus remove more plaque, but also gets stuck in the interdental space more quickly. Everyone must find their own favorite here. To avoid injury to the gums, make sure that you do not insert the floss into the interdental space with too much pressure.

Toothpicks

Tooth flossers are narrow sticks made of a soft, non-splintering wood with a triangular cross-section. You gently push the rounded tip into the interdental space and clean the inside of the teeth by carefully sliding it back and forth. In addition, the gums are massaged. For narrow interdental spaces, however, toothpicks are rather unsuitable.

Oral irrigators

Conventional oral irrigators do not replace cleaning with a brush. They merely rinse food residues and superficial impurities from the interdental spaces. Some manufacturers now also offer devices that generate higher pressure with a mixture of air and water. According to the manufacturer, this should be able to remove plaque. In any case, always use an oral irrigator before brushing your teeth so that the protective fluoride from the toothpaste is not immediately rinsed from the teeth again.