Do You Floss Before Or After Brushing?

The million dollar question is not what the meaning of life is, but whether you floss before or after brushing. After my most recent dentist visit, I have enviably been looking after my teeth after the dentist told me how much plaque I have. Usually I brush and floss twice a day for a few weeks after visiting the dentist before I become lazy again and start forgetting to floss and only brush once a day. This time, I hope to keep brushing and flossing twice a day until the next dentist visit next year.

However, one day I was flossing and the philosophical dilemma of whether to floss before or after brushing popped into my mind. When you have questions of this magnitude, where does one turn in these times, the internet of course, and more specifically Google. A quick Google search and it turned up with divided opinions.

Here is an excert from a website

Periodontists are about equally divided on whether you should floss before brushing or brush before flossing. Taking into consideration that flossing may carry bacteria and food particles below the gum line, it is probably better to brush first to reduce the food particles, bacteria, and foreign matter that can be transferred below the gum line by the floss. The argument for flossing before brushing is based on the idea that the fluoride in toothpaste can only strengthen teeth by coming in direct contact with the enamel. Removing the plaque by flossing can expose the enamel to the beneficial effect of the fluoride in toothpaste.

Looking at more and more sites just kept coming with the conclusion that some people floss before brushing while after floss after brushing. For me personally, I have decided to floss before brushing now instead of after like I used to. My reasoning for this is not so the toothpaste can get to that area, it's more so I will floss. When I was flossing after brushing, sometimes I just forgot or got laser and decided not to do it. But if I floss before brushing, I will always brush my teeth so hence it means that I will also have flossed.

So what is your opinion on this weighty issue. Should you floss before or after brushing your teeth. I think as long as you floss, that's better than not flossing. To floss before or after, that is the question.