Is it hard to brush/floss your teeth?

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It's hard for me to do things like brushing my teeth and flossing. It's not that I don't want clean teeth, nor is it that I simply hate doing those things, it's just that I think so much because I'm autistic that it can make doing things that seem simple for most people hard for me. Sometimes it takes much longer for me to do such things. I found out I have a couple cavities today, and I feel horrible because I want to have good teeth and always used to but it's such a hassle for me.

I know how you feel.

My teeth are crooked due to an accident from childhood, and yellow due to the fact I didn't brush them enough as a kid.

Now I'm living with the consequences.

I brush 2-3 times a day and use mouthwash straight after each and every time.

I've been doing this for about the last 2 years or so when I started brushing them seriously again.

Niether my teeth or gums have improved at all.

It feels like all I'm doing is stopping them from getting worse, but they're not getting better.

Plenty of cavities, all adult teeth at this point, unhealthy looking gums, officially have one spot where the adult tooth is mostly gone except for the very bottom of it.

I was supposed to get a plate/braces but the dentist always told me to go back home and brush some more before they'd do it.

Well, I do that every time and they always send me away again.

I don't really care at this point, though. I just wish other people didn't care so much about good-looking teeth.

There's some spots in my mouth where I can't brush a tooth because another tooth blocks it, so cavities have built up in the spots I can't touch, and I'll probably lose that tooth one day.

Fillings are absolutely useless. I hate them, I hate the feeling of them in my mouth and they usually decay after a day or so anyway.

My diet is perfectly healthy and rich in calcium. If it's had any positive effects I certainly haven't noticed it.

I too brush my teeth 2-3 times a day. I start of by using wooden tooth picks, then I brush with fluor containing toothpaste, finally I rinse my mouth well with tap water. I don't floss because I find that that is not worth the effort.

Tips I can give you:
- brush your teeth at fixed moments, eg right after breakfast, and just before going to bed. This helps establishing your routine;
- brush systematically, eg first the front upper, front lower teeth, then the back of upper and lower teeth, finally the 'floor' and the 'roof';
- brush your tongue as well;
- learn to appreciate the clean and fresh feeling after brushing instead of have a sticky inner mouth feeling.

I play the oboe and this is an extra motivation for having a clean mouth.

I love to floss my teeth. I wash my hands first and then use 60cm of floss. I have to wash my hands afterwards too as flossing smells horrible - which is a good sign as I'd rather my breath didn't smell like that. I keep tooth floss in both our upstairs and downstairs bathroom as sometimes I need to floss my teeth urgently - such as when I've been eating cornflakes or museli and someone has just pulled onto the drive who is going to knock on the door. If I have to talk to someone with food or plaque between their teeth I find it hard not to stare. I don't want to look like that.

My dental habits have paid off. I only have one filling.

Floss sticks make flossing a lot easier and a lot less effort.

I never had a problem brushing my teeth except when I had braces. My orthodontist kept gripping about how I wasn't doing a good enough job but the dentist I saw always said I did a good job. I brush my teeth longer than most people do at a time but I only brush after I wake up. I only had one cavity in my life. I never floss thou because I have bad fine motor-skills & a tremor disorder that acts up when doing things with fine motor-skills. I never tried those floss sticks thou. I should try em one day.

I got yelled and screamed at about being late in the morning for school so I fell out of the habit and don't brush as much as I should. I also like the idea of dentures very much because I always felt having a mouthful of teeth was very uncomfortable. I brush when going into public so my mouth is clean looking and will not stink.

Hard? No.

Do I have to make myself spend the extra few minutes to do it vs. going straight to bed after brushing? Yes.

I had minor issues with manual brushing, mostly the sound or scrubbing. Not sure what it is, it bothered me. So, years ago, I switch to a Sonic Care tooth brush. My teeth look and feel much better… I can’t floss, only because my teeth are crooked.

I think it can be hard to floss correctly, but that can also depend on what sort of teeth you have. It is easier to floss if they are widely spaced, less so if they are closely packed - unfortunately the latter increases the priority of flossing. I've read it can be damaging to gums to floss too vigorously, which I am guilty of. I worry that I won't get the balance between not hurting the gums and not doing a good enough job right, but the penultimate point is that one can do worse than floss occasionally, that and try to be gentle about it.