Your best options for better flossing: DIFFERENT DENTAL FLOSS: You might find floss coated with wax or Teflon slides more easily between your teeth than uncoated floss. FLOSS HOLDERS: Shaped like miniature slingshots, these disposable devices have handles that help get hard to reach areas, such as back teeth. Their Y-shaped arms hold and spread the floss, allowing you to work it up and down around the edge of each tooth. While not as thorough as hand flossing, they can help and certainly are better than not cleaning between your teeth. Other alternatives: INTERPROXIMAL BRUSHES: Available in manual and power forms, these tiny brushes certainly help clean between teeth and the gum area. If your teeth are too tight against each other, the brushes can't fit in the gaps. WOODEN PLAQUE REMOVER PICKS: These flat wooden picks stimulate the gums and can remove some plaque, but they cannot reach between very tight teeth and are not as good as interproximal brushes for removing plaque. POWER IRRIGATORS: At least one study found that using an irrigator, combined with manual or power toothbrushing, is an effective as flossing to reduce bleeding, gum inflammation and plaque removal. The water streams can't reach everywhere floss can. But if your hands are arthritic, an irrigator is a good alternative. MOUTHWASH: Two studies found that using an antibacterial mouth rinse twice a day was almost as effective as flossing against mild to moderate gum disease. The studies did not examine the effectiveness of mouthwash in reducing tooth decay or advanced gum disease. INSTRUCTIONS: Wrap 18-24" of floss around your middle fingers Hold with thumbs, leaving about 1" of floss between your hands. Guide floss between teeth using a gentle back-and-forth motion Gently slide up and down several times between all teeth.