Stringing Your Smile: How to Floss More Often for Your New Year’s Resolution

Compared to other ones, regular flossing can sound like a fairly easy New Year’s resolution. Just use some string on your smile, call it a day, and repeat. All that said, learning to floss more often for your New Year’s resolution is trickier than you’d think; you’ll likely need help. The good news is that your Hillsboro dentist has some useful tips and tricks to share. So, keep reading to discover why flossing matters and what you can do to make it easier.

Why Should You Floss at All?

Before anything else, you should reflect on why daily flossing is a crucial habit. You’ll feel more motivated to maintain it by doing so.

The issue is that a toothbrush alone can’t keep your smile clean. Though brushing can remove bacteria from your grin, it fails to reach your mouth’s hard-to-reach areas. By flossing between your teeth, you remove wedged-in debris you’d otherwise miss or overlook. The result is that you face a much-reduced risk of oral issues like tooth decay or gum disease.

What Can Help You Floss More Often?

To make your flossing more consistent, you can adopt several viable methods. These include the following:

Create Helpful Cues

A failure to floss is sometimes a failure of memory. That being said, create helpful cues that’ll serve as reminders to maintain daily flossing.

The cues in question can be pretty simple, all things considered. One example would be a designated alarm you set on your smartphone. Alternatively, you could place a sticky note labelled “Floss” on your bathroom mirror; you’d see it first thing in the morning.  There’s even the option to place your dental floss on top of your toothpaste!

Work Your Way Up

Going from “no flossing” to “flossing daily” shouldn’t be rushed. To better make that transition, work your way up and start with baby steps.

For instance, set your immediate goal as “flossing twice a week.” This project will strike you (and most others) as much less daunting than the task of trying to floss each and every day. By the time you’ve adjusted to the “twice a week” habit, flossing daily won’t sound as bothersome or annoying; you’ll just add an existing routine to a few more days of the week.

Try Other Flossing Tools

If regular floss doesn’t appeal to you, don’t worry. You can always try other flossing tools to make your New Year’s resolution stick.

Several alternatives to “traditional” floss exist these days. Many people swear by Flossers, which are hand-held pieces of plastic that hold a string in the middle. Others enjoy using a Waterpik – a device that uses a stream of water to clean between teeth.

With the guidance above, you can floss more often for your New Year’s resolution. You’ll then start 2026 on the right foot!

About the Practice

The Dentists at Orenco Station is based in Hillsboro, OR. Led by Drs. Brandon and Malinda Kearbey, our practice strives to embody the highest standard of oral care. We thus offer personalized help for every patient, including preventive, cosmetic, and even restorative treatments. Our team is also a certified provider of SureSmile aligners, as well as dental sedation services. For more details or to book a visit, please contact us on our website or by phone at (503)-640-4262.