Flossing my back teeth hurts my lower jaw. is there an alternative method?

Stimudents: Or see your dentist and hygienist to show you proper flossing. You may be digging the floss to deep into your gums.

Orthodontics: Are your back teeth second or third molars? If they are third molars, your current dentist or oral surgeon can give you advise on keeping them. If it is your second molar, then i would consider a visit to your orthodontist , as flossing should not hurt your jaw.

It depends: Flossing shouldn't hurt. You may be doing it too roughly or there may be an underlying problem. Dr. Wright is correct in that it may be related to wisdom teeth. Is there a lot of bleeding? Are you flossing there daily? Gum disease may be present so a visit to the dentist or the periodontist can probably give you a better answer!

Other Options: Other options would be for evaluations by a dentist that is very familiar with treatment of TMJ via use of a multiple of treatment options to select from based on the actual findings.

Jaw pain: There are alternatives to flossing, interproximal brushes, soft picks, water picking air flosser are just a few.

Wisdom teeth: If the problem is between your wisdom teeth and adjacent molars. removal of wisdom teeth may help. Discuss with oral surgeon.

Painful flossing: Should not be painful. Either your technique is incorrect, or there is underlying pathology such as gum disease with bone loss/impacted wisdom teeth with possible decay of roots of "last" molar/traumatized, gums/malocclusion with malposed teeth/pernicious habits, etc. In the meantime a WaterPik is a marvelous floss-substitute. Don't try to fix this yourself, see your Dentist to be evaluated.