It’s a pretty common occurrence for anyone to eat a meal or a snack and get something stuck between their teeth. Usually you can play with it with your tongue or swish it with your beverage and it comes loose. However, there are times when a tough piece of food, like a popcorn hull, fruit peel or seed can get uncomfortably lodged between two teeth. This can sometimes cause pressure, discomfort and even pain!
In a case like this Dr. Grant Brough offers these simple tips to help you safely remove something stuck between your teeth.
First of all, no matter how much you are tempted, you should never try to use toothpicks or sharp, pointed tools to remove it. This could injure your gums or even chip one of your teeth.
Waxed dental floss is the first thing you should reach for to remove something from between your teeth. Its waxy coating allows the strand to slide easier between teeth to worked around the foreign object. You should never force the floss into place, as it could seriously injure your gums.
A floss threader with wax coated floss can also be handy for working at the object from a different position. Sometimes a dental fountain or oral water jet can loosen debris.
If the object is still stuck between your teeth, you can always call Dr. Grant Brough’s clinic in Layton, Utah at 801-773-5285 for advice or to have it professionally removed.