Flossing is important, as your dental hygienist has no doubt reminded you continuously. I really don’t mind the ritual of flossing, but the actual process used to really annoy me for many years until I found this One Weird Trick.
The problem is that my teeth are quite tight, which means it takes a bit of tension to get the floss between them. Using normal floss this means that I have to have the ends wrapped tightly around my fingers for things not to slip. And to move along the floss as I go, this may mean an enormous length to get the job done each morning. I also didn’t like the little tourniquet on my fingers.
I switched to Placker’s. They do work well, but I was bothered by using a big, disposable hunk of plastic to hold 1 cm of floss. And unfortunately, the reusable floss holder gadgets never worked very well for me. Then I stumbled upon a much better option: floss loops
Whereas a Placker closes a loop using plastic, you can instead make a loop with the floss itself:
By having a loop, you can get a firm hold of the floss, and the floss the floss can’t slip out, no matter how smooth it is. An added advantage is that it is easy to rotate the loop as you floss, which lets you put the entire length to use.
Tying a knot that will hold takes a little practice. I’m no Boy Scout so my approach ended up being moar square knots. I’m sure there is a correct knot for this job. Also, I avoid the super thin/slippery floss, preferring instead the thicker styles as shown.