It’s quite common for a piece of food to get caught between your teeth or in your gums. Sometimes, these piece of food can get stubbornly stuck in your gumline. This could be even more serious if you have a bad habit of chewing on objects, like pencils, pens, and your fingernails.

Your dentist, Dr. Susan Chmiel, offers a few basic tips to safely and effectively remove the object from your gums.

First and foremost, you need to stay calm and keep a level head. You should never try to use toothpicks or sharp, pointed tools to pry the object loose. This could injure your gums and potentially damage your teeth.

Sometimes vigorously rinsing the area with lukewarm saltwater can loosen the object or at least wash away any detritus to give you a better look at the problem. Try not to rinse with antiseptic mouthwash because this could potentially irritate your gum tissues.

If the object is still stuck, you can use waxed dental floss to try removing the object. The waxy coating allows the strand to slide easier between the teeth to work around the foreign object. You should never force the floss into place because it could seriously injure your gums.

If you still can’t remove the food or foreign object from your gumline, you can always call our experienced dental team at 414-525-0300 for further advice or to have it professionally removed from your gums. Your dentist in Franklin, Wisconsin, looks forward to helping you!