How to floss your teeth

Flossing in between your teeth removes food debris and plaque from in between the teeth that a toothbrush can't reach. The 5 steps below show you how to correctly floss your teeth:

  1. Everyone should floss, including children. Flossing should begin as soon as two teeth are touching.  It should be done at least once a day.

     
  2. Use enough floss so that you can wrap it around your middle fingers. Use your thumbs and index fingers to guide the floss.

     
  3. Gently ease the floss between two teeth and form a ‘C’ shape against the surface of one tooth.

     
  4. Pull the floss so that it is tight around the tooth and gently guide it up and down from the chewing surface to under the gum. Repeat for each side on all teeth. Don't forget to floss the back of your last teeth.

     
  5. Samples of floss products available from supermarkets and pharmacies.
      Five steps on how to floss your teeth
'How to' charts


How to brush charts are also available in Arabic, Chinese, Somali, Turkish or Vietnamese from our translated materials page.