How To Use Dental Floss To Remove A Stuck Ring
You are not alone if you’ve ever looked for something other than a ring remover. Tools like this might be difficult to come by and even more so to use if you don’t have the proper training. So, if your ring becomes caught on your finger, what do you do?
If your ring gets caught on your finger, dental floss is a great tool to use to free it. Nevertheless, I don’t understand how this operates. And what does it take to make use of it? Anything you need to know about using dental floss to take off rings is right here!
Removing a stuck ring is a bit of a nuclear option. This method hardly every works, but when people are desperate then they will try anything. If you want to be able to remove your ring without needing someone’s help and without any tools, then dental floss might just be the best way for you to do it. Read on to learn more How To Use Dental Floss Picks With Braces/how to use dental floss threaders.
How To Use Dental Floss To Remove A Stuck Ring
If you’ve ever had a ring stuck on your finger, it can cause a bit of panic and frustration. For that reason, the Hand Therapists at Athletico are offering a couple of strategies to safely remove a ring from your finger before a more serious situation arises. These strategies can help prevent a trip to the jeweler to have your ring repaired if your precious jewelry were needed to be cut off.
Why Do Rings Get Stuck?
There are several reasons why a ring may become stuck on a finger. A ring could be too small, arthritis in joints can cause swelling, as can fluid retention, or warm weather could all be contributing factors. Over time, your fingers can also become larger on a ring if it is rarely removed, causing it to become stuck.
A traumatic injury such as a fracture, or any injury in the arm or hand, can often cause swelling in the hand or fingers. Not removing a ring in this situation could allow the ring to turn into a tourniquet. This can result in serious side effects including loss of sensation and blood flow and potential tendon damage, which could lead to permanent tissue damage and the need for amputation of the digit. If your finger is swollen because of an injury to the finger, it is best to have a medical professional assess your situation before attempting these techniques. Attempting to remove a ring in this situation could potentially cause more damage, should there be a displaced fracture or other injury that should not be disturbed.
Tips to Safely Remove a Ring
The American Society for Surgery of the Hand and other experts in emergency medicine suggest these method to safely remove a ring.1
- Reduce Swelling
- First, try to reduce the swelling. Place ice around the ring and finger and elevate the hand overhead for 5-10 minutes. The cold will cause blood vessels to constrict, decreasing the swelling. The elevation will allow gravity to assist, keeping some of the blood flow out of the finger. This strategy alone, may be enough to decrease the swelling to allow safe removal of the ring from a finger.
- Use a Lubricant
- Use a lubricant such as soap and water, oil, or Windex. Yes Windex! The surfactants help to reduce the surface tension between the ring and the skin, making the ring easier to maneuver off of the finger. Also, Windex will not gum up your ring like other lubricants such as oil or lotion could.
- Dental Floss
- Below are instructions from ASSH on how to use dental floss or a thin elastic cord to compress the swollen finger for safe removal.
1. Slip the thread, floss or thin elastic cording, under the stuck ring with the bulk of it toward the fingertip. You can use a needle and thread to rung the floss or string under the ring. Thin tweezers can also be used to pass thin elastic under the ring.
2. Beginning at the top of the ring, tightly wrap the finger with the thread/floss numerous times to compress the finger. Continue this until you are all the way up and over the knuckles
3. With the end that was under the ring, begin to unwrap the thread or floss with the ring, by pulling towards the fingertip. This will allow the ring to slide over the knuckle as it continues to unwind.
If these strategies do not work, know that the ring can be cut off with a ring cutter by a jeweler, by a local EMT or fire department, or at the emergency room.
How To Use Dental Floss Picks With Braces
- Identify the end that fits between your wires and teeth (some have a thinner end).
- Line the floss part up between your teeth. …
- Floss up and down between your teeth, just like you’re using regular floss.
- Be gentle and careful as you floss.
For most patients of My Family Dentistry, Invisalign aligners are preferable to metal braces for a number of reasons, including comfort and appearance.
However, metal braces are the right decision for some people, like younger children who may have trouble consistently wearing removable aligners. If you or your child has metal braces, you need to be sure you’re using the best flossing tools for braces to protect the health of your gums and teeth while they’re being straightened.
Flossing is a particular challenge for people with braces. The metal brackets and wires can get in the way of the floss, preventing you from easily cleaning in between teeth. If you want your teeth to be not only straight, but healthy and stain-free, you need to be sure to floss daily as well as brush thoroughly.
The 4 Best Flossing Tools for Braces:
#4 – Typical Floss with Threaders
You can still use regular floss with your braces, but a little extra help from a floss threader will make things much easier. You simply thread the floss through the threader, thread the floss around the wire and between teeth, floss, and repeat the process between each subsequent tooth. This process may be a little time-consuming, but it’s cheap and effective. There are a number of great brands of floss threaders available, including Dentek, Plackers, GUM, and Crest.
#3 – Oral-B Super Floss
Especially designed for use with braces, Oral-B Super Floss is a step up from using a floss threader. Super Floss is made from a piece of regular floss. At one end, there is a stiff piece of plastic, no bigger than the floss, but rigid enough to insert between your teeth. This plastic end allows you to quickly and easily insert the floss between teeth around braces wire, floss, and then move on to the next area. This product also includes a small area of “spongy” floss between the plastic threader and the regular floss, which allows you to clean further down under the gum line and around brackets and wires to remove more plaque and food particles before you brush.
#2 – AirFloss
The Sonicare AirFloss is a great choice for kids (or adults!) who have trouble taking the time to floss. In about 60 seconds, it can clean your entire mouth with bursts of air, and there’s no string to get caught in your braces. It’s not as inexpensive as floss threaders or Super Floss, but if you dread flossing, it will help you spend less time in front of the bathroom mirror without sacrificing your oral health.
#1 – Waterpik Water Flosser
A water flossing system like Waterpik’s Water Flosser is also ideal for braces. These systems may have a higher up-front cost than plain floss, but they’re much more comfortable and effective than traditional floss, removing as much as 99.9% of plaque when used correctly. Dr. Mullins thinks that water flossers are actually the best flossing tools for braces, because they make it so easy and comfortable to clean your teeth thoroughly!
No matter which flossing solution you choose, it is imperative to floss regularly to keep your teeth healthy. If you don’t, you may have unsightly stains or even damage when you have your braces removed!
How To Use Dental Floss Threaders
If you or your child wears traditional metal braces, then your orthodontist likely stresses the importance of brushing and flossing every day to maintain good dental health. However, like many braces wearers, you may find flossing such a challenge that you skip this step in your oral hygiene routine on occasion or even neglect it completely.
Unfortunately, no matter how well you brush, you should always floss at least once a day. Flossing helps remove plaque from between teeth and below the gumline that is difficult to remove with a toothbrush alone. If you do not remove this plaque on a daily basis, then you could develop gum disease or cavities between your teeth.
Read on to learn four tips that make it easier to floss while you wear braces.
1. Use the Right Traditional Flossing Tools
One of the most time-tested and affordable ways to floss your teeth while you wear braces is to use traditional dental floss combined with a special device called a dental floss threader.
Check the label of your floss to ensure that it is waxed and not unwaxed floss. Unwaxed floss can shred when it rubs against braces wires and brackets, while waxed floss tends to glide over them smoothly.
Braces floss threaders are small loops of very stiff floss. They resemble large sewing needles. If you have difficulty maneuvering dental floss underneath your braces’ wires, you might accomplish the task much more easily with the aid of a stiff floss threader.
To use a floss threader, simply connect your floss to the loop, as you would thread a sewing needle, then use the threader to thread the floss under your braces’ wires as you floss instead of attempting to do it with your fingers.
2. Look for Orthodontic Flossers
If you enjoyed the use of floss picks — small pieces of dental floss attached to small plastic handles — before you obtained braces, then you will be happy to hear that there are similar flossing tools made specifically for braces wearers.
Traditional floss picks have wide handles that are impossible to maneuver under braces wires, but orthodontic floss picks are attached to very narrow handles that often slide right under braces’ wires. Many braces wearers not only find these floss picks much easier to use than traditional floss but also find that they make flossing a much quicker task.
3. Try an Interdental Cleaner
If you would like to skip the traditional dental floss altogether, then you may want to try one of the many different interdental cleaners available today.
Some interdental cleaners are short, thin sticks made of a stiff, yet flexible material called polypropylene. You simply glide these short sticks between your teeth to remove tartar and food particles.
Other interdental cleaners, called interdental brushes, consist of thin, flexible wires with short bristles attached to them. You slide these brushes between your teeth and under the gum line to remove plaque. These brushes come in many diameters meant to perform different dental cleaning tasks, so be sure to choose a brush with a very small diameter to avoid damaging your teeth or gums.
4. Consider a Water Flosser
Another way to clean between your teeth and under your gum line when you wear braces is to use a water flosser. Water flossers project thin streams of water on and between your teeth. Water flossers can be used to remove plaque between teeth and under the gum line, just as traditional dental floss does.