Floss is an important part of a daily oral hygiene program. A toothbrush will reach the sides and chewing surfaces of the teeth, it can not fit in between the teeth. This is where floss comes into play. Just imagine floss as being a bristle from a toothbrush and with it you scrub the plaque off from between the teeth. Dental plaque is a collection of sticky bacteria that is essentially invisible. It takes the sugar that you eat and produces acids which leaches the calcium from your teeth causing cavities and produces exotoxins which causes an inflammatory response leading to gum disease. This layer of plaque requires about 24 hours to organize and do its dirty work. By getting the floss cleaning between the teeth daily, cavities and gum disease can be greatly reduced. The key to flossing is to make sure that the floss is wrapped around the tooth and then the tooth is scrubbed along its side. It’s a common misperception that the floss merely needs too be placed in between the teeth to be effective, however, floss has no magical properties and must be properly manipulated in order to remove the layer of bacterial dental plaque.