15 Surprisingly Practical Ways to Floss at Home
It is durable, flexible and lightweight. Sometimes after a visit to the dentist, it’s even free – and it can do a lot more than just prevent cavities and bad breath. It turns out that flossing isn’t just for removing plaque, spinach, and spoiled popcorn. With many unique uses, from gardening and sewing to fishing and leaky faucets, this is the ace up your sleeve you didn’t know you needed in your home.
First introduced in 1815 by Dr. Levy Spear Parmley, a New Orleans dentist who encouraged his patients to use waxed silk floss after every visit, modern floss was patented by Johnson & Johnson in 1898. In the 1940s, when the price of silk skyrocketed during World War II, it was replaced by nylon, a stronger material that was less resistant to shredding. The presence of nylon is what makes flossing not only a staple of oral care, but also a handy tool with many practical uses you never thought possible. Here are some of the lesser known but equally amazing uses for flossing.