You can clean between your teeth with standard string floss, interdental brushes, water flossers, floss picks, dental tape, or rubber-tipped picks. All of these remove the film of bacteria that builds up between teeth before it hardens into plaque. The best option depends on your tooth spacing, dexterity, and whether you have dental work like braces or bridges.
Standard String Floss
Traditional nylon floss is the most common interdental cleaner and comes in a few varieties worth knowing about. Unwaxed floss is thinner, making it a good fit if your teeth are close together or tightly packed. Waxed floss slides more easily between teeth and is less likely to shred, but its slightly thicker profile can make it harder to fit into narrow gaps. Both types work equally well at removing plaque when used correctly.
Dental tape is a broader, flatter version of string floss. It covers more surface area per pass, which makes it a better choice if you have wider gaps between your teeth. If your teeth are crowded, though, tape can be difficult to work into the contact points.
Interdental Brushes
These are tiny bottle-shaped brushes sized to fit between teeth. They come in a range of widths, from very fine wire-based models for tight spaces to wider brushes for larger gaps. Research consistently shows they outperform string floss at removing plaque. In one clinical trial, interdental brushes reduced plaque scores from 3.09 to 2.15 over six weeks, while string floss only brought scores down from 3.10 to 2.47. The brushes also produced a greater reduction in pocket depth around the gums.
The catch is that interdental brushes need enough space to fit. If your teeth sit very tightly together, a brush simply won’t slide in without forcing it. For most people with moderate or wider spacing, especially around molars, they’re one of the most effective tools available. You may need two or three different sizes to cover all the gaps in your mouth.
Water Flossers
Water flossers use a pressurized stream of water to flush debris and bacteria from between teeth and along the gumline. They’re especially useful if you have braces, implants, or bridges where threading string floss is difficult. In a trial with orthodontic patients, those using a water flosser saw a 32% reduction in gingival bleeding and a 22% reduction in plaque over two weeks. That was slightly better than the string floss group, which saw 24% and 16% reductions respectively, though the difference wasn’t statistically significant.
Water flossers are a solid option if you find string floss painful, if you have limited hand dexterity, or if dental hardware makes conventional flossing impractical. They do require a power source and a water reservoir, so they’re less portable than other options.
Floss Picks and Dental Picks
Floss picks are Y-shaped or F-shaped plastic handles with a short piece of floss strung between two prongs. They let you floss with one hand, which makes them useful if you have trouble gripping or maneuvering traditional floss. The tradeoff is that you can’t curve the floss into a C-shape around each tooth as effectively as you can with a longer strand, so they may miss some plaque along the tooth’s curved surface.
Wooden picks (like Stim-U-Dent wedges) and rubber-tipped soft picks are another category. These are tapered sticks you push gently between teeth to dislodge food and stimulate gum tissue. The ADA recognizes wooden and plastic picks as legitimate interdental cleaners. Soft picks with flexible rubber bristles tend to be gentler on gums than rigid wooden versions, and they adapt better to irregular spacing. Neither type replaces full-contact flossing as thoroughly as string floss or interdental brushes, but they’re useful for quick cleaning after meals.
Tools for Braces, Bridges, and Implants
If you have fixed orthodontic hardware or dental bridgework, standard floss can’t pass through the arch wire or under a pontic without help. Floss threaders solve this problem. They’re flexible nylon loops that work like a sewing needle: you thread your floss through the loop, pass the stiff end under the wire or bridge, then pull the floss through and clean normally. It adds time to the process, but it gets floss where it needs to go.
Superfloss is a pre-made alternative that combines a stiff threader tip, a spongy section for cleaning around hardware, and regular floss in one strand. Orthodontic-specific floss picks with thin, rigid tips that slide under arch wires are another option. For many people with braces, a water flosser ends up being the most practical daily tool simply because it doesn’t require threading anything.
How Often and When to Floss
Once a day is the standard recommendation, but the biology offers some flexibility. Plaque bacteria go through a maturation process where harmless early colonies gradually shift toward the more destructive species associated with gum disease. Research suggests that mechanically disrupting plaque every few days may be enough to interrupt this succession and prevent the biofilm from reaching a disease-causing stage. That said, daily cleaning is a safer habit because most people miss spots, and consistent disruption keeps the bacterial community from ever getting established.
Timing matters too. A clinical trial comparing floss-then-brush versus brush-then-floss found that flossing first produced significantly greater plaque reduction between teeth and left higher fluoride concentrations in those areas afterward. The likely reason is simple: flossing loosens debris and opens up the spaces, so when you brush next, the fluoride in your toothpaste penetrates more effectively into those gaps.
Choosing the Right Tool for You
- Tight teeth with no dental work: Unwaxed string floss or thin waxed floss gives you the most control in narrow spaces.
- Wide gaps between teeth: Interdental brushes (sized to fit snugly) or dental tape. Brushes remove more plaque than string floss when they fit properly.
- Braces or bridges: A water flosser for daily use, with floss threaders or superfloss for targeted cleaning.
- Limited hand mobility: Floss picks or a water flosser, both of which require less fine motor control than wrapping string floss around your fingers.
- On the go: Disposable floss picks or soft picks fit easily in a pocket or bag for after-meal use.
The ADA evaluates interdental cleaners for safety and efficacy through its Seal of Acceptance program, which covers string floss, dental picks, and interdental brushes. Products carrying the ADA Seal have been independently tested and shown to reduce plaque and gingivitis. If you’re unsure which product to trust, that seal is a reliable starting point. Whatever tool you choose, the one you’ll actually use every day is the one that works best.