I prefer Gum Soft-Picks to flossing

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Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/11/i-prefer-gum-soft-picks-to-flo.html

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You can usually score samples from your dentist if you want to give them a try. I call them my Little Green Friends.

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My dentist is a fan of these, but I like the curved handle and more robust construction of the “advanced” version better. The advanced ones are easier for me to use without breaking and the curve is much more ergonomic to get in between back teeth.

https://www.gumbrand.com/between-teeth-cleaning/gum-soft-picks-advanced-90-count.html

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Can those really get as close to the gumline as floss? I can appreciate their convenience benefits, but do they do a provably better job?

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Just please be a mensch and properly dispose of them. The number of these sorts of things (usually the floss-on-a-green-plastic-stick) I see on the ground in parks, parking lots, etc. is thoroughly disgusting. A toothpick will biodegrade, slowly. These won’t. It’s been in your mouth, I don’t want to pick it up without nitrile gloves.

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ARE THEY RECYCLABLE, THO?

It would help maintain BB’s overall cred if the increasing tide of product endorsements included a useful nod towards the sustainability of what’s being flogged.

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My understanding from my dentist is that these are a helpful tool to supplement regular flossing, but not to replace it.

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If you don’t like this, try a water pick. My gum health has done a 180 thanks to this and an electric tooth brush (and a deep cleaning).

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I don’t care if it’s been in someone’s mouth or not. Just don’t litter, period.

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I use 'em! If BB ever wants to do the teeth-for-eyes thing on me I want to look my best!

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I was going to go this route, but the idea of daily throwaway plastic just didn’t jive with me.

Instead, I went with a waterpik, which, frankly, performed astonishingly well once my gums were used to it!

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I was into this idea, but it just turned into a bloodbath. I think you need a certain amount of space between your teeth.

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Floss biodegrades (at least the old school waxed kind). Toothpicks biodegrade.

Can we stop promoting products that destroy us? Where are your ethics, boingboing?

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Nope. Sorry. Reminds me too much of the tentacle bat from Saints Row IV.

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This thread is awesome. It’s like most people see flossing as a moral problem instead of a technology problem.

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Maybe this is the higher way actually. Too much plastic in world. Waterpik… thanks.

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I prefer Gum Soft-Picks to flossing

I prefer Snickers to broccoli.

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They aren’t.

I’m conflicted about these things. On the one hand they cured my inflamed gums. On the other hand I had promised myself to no longer use single-use plastic crap. So now I’m back to wooden picks, and if I am careful I can get the same result with the wooden picks combined with those small (wire-metal) interdental brushes. Those are crap as well, but at least I can use one brush for about 2 2.5 weeks before it gets bent too much.

Well, the flossing itself isn’t. But using single use plastic crap is a moral problem. And a technical problem currently not really dealt with as well btw.

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interdentals work, flossing doesn’t (well not for me)

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I tried these things. I can only fit them in the little gap at the root of the tooth between teeth but not all the way between the teeth. Maybe my teeth are closer together than most peoples’. Half the time I break the floss before getting through all my teeth. These things bend and break after one tooth. Ha.

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