Every time you come to my Garden City dental office for a hygiene visit, we hand you a roll of floss. While we are sure you use most of that floss on your teeth (You floss every day, right?), there are actually other super useful ways dental floss can improve your life. And since you always have some floss with you for after-meal hygiene, floss is right there to help you with more than popcorn kernel removal!

The main reason floss is so useful is its strength and flexibility. It has to be strong not to break off between your teeth!

Here are five of our most used dental floss hacks:

• Clean out nooks and crannies: Use strong and flexible floss to get deep into the crevices of tight, dust gathering places, like your keyboard. Just hold it the way you do when flossing your teeth and clean away!

• Make a clothesline: This is especially good in an emergency drying situation. Floss is strong enough to hold the wettest items.

• Use it as a temporary clothes rack in your car: Just tie it from the safety handles on each side of the car.

• Use it as kitchen twine and to cut delicate foods: Floss is strong enough to truss a turkey but thin enough to leave even the most delicate foods un-squished.

• Use it to hang a picture: Floss won’t scratch your wall the way wire does but it is stronger than most thread and thinner than twine.

We know that there are hundreds more uses like sewing on a button, making a hair tie, or supporting plants. Just use your imagination!

Now that you have all these ideas, do you have enough floss? If it’s time to schedule a hygiene visit at my dental practice in Garden City, we can supply you with what you need. Just ask… maybe we will even give you an extra roll for your purse!

Serving patients from Garden City, Mineola, and Floral Park.