Interdental Brush

Let's face it, most patients hate flossing. If I can somehow convince patients to floss 3-4 times a week, I am a happy camper!!  Reasons for not flossing are varies from finger flossing cut off circulation on their fingers and turn them blue to don't know how to floss even though I demonstrate it at every visit.  So I try to suggest other interproximal cleaning aids to help them clean out plaque and food debris between the teeth. Interdental brushes are one of the many interproximal cleaning aids available that I often recommend and I have been getting good feedback from my patients.  I was worried about its ability to remove plaque as compared to regular waxed floss but it seemed to work well when I see returning patients at their 6 months visit.  One of the important thing is to make sure that patient uses a proper size brush head. If the brush head is much smaller or larger than the interproximal spaces, it won't do the job.  Interdental brushes can also be used around orthodontic brackets, under wires and around implants.  

Interproximal gingivitis and plaque reduction by four interdental products. Journal of Clinical Dentistry. 2006
This study compared four different interdental cleaning aids on removing plaque and reducing gingivitis.  All cleaning aids did comparably well in removing plaque and tools used include, Glide floss, Butler flossers, GUM Go-Betweens, and GUM Soft-Picks.