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Dr. Mark Bohnert recently attended a birthday party for one of his patients, Joan, who is 90 years young. Dr. B noticed that Joan’s son, Steve, was “cutting” Joan’s birthday cake with dental floss! Ingenious!

We all know dental floss as that thin, lightweight, wax-covered string that our dental hygienist insists that we use for removing plaque from between our teeth. While floss is thin and lightweight but it is also surprisingly strong which means it has a lot of non-tooth applications.

After a search of the internet, the Southeast Family Dental team has come up with 8 ingenious uses for dental floss that don’t involve your teeth.

1. Soft Cheese Cutter: Floss is better for cutting soft cheeses into neat slices than a knife or even a cheese cutter. In addition to cake and cheese, floss can be used to cut eggs, banana bread, and canned cranberry sauce.

2. Cookie Spatula: Ever have cookies and other baked goods stick to the cookie sheet? Sliding floss under them can work better than a spatula.

3. Jewelry Making: The strength of floss makes it good for making bracelets and necklaces. You can also use it to restring broken jewelry.

4. Emergency Shoe Lace: Use floss until you can replace the lace. It may not be fashionable but it works in a pinch.

5. Hang Christmas Ornaments: Use mint flavored floss to hang ornaments and to string popcorn. The green color will fit right in with your Christmas décor.

6. Hang Picture Frames: The sturdiness factor makes floss a great option for this job. Unlike picture wire, dental floss will not mark up the wall.

7. Ring Remover: Who hasn’t had a ring on a finger that won’t come off? Tightly wrap your finger in waxed floss right up to the ring and it should slide right off.

8. Home Cleaning: Think about how you use floss to clean the tight spaces between your teeth. What crevices around your house could use a good cleaning? Stoves, tightly built-in counter tops or other tight places can be cleaned easily with floss.

Happy Flossing from Southeast Family Dental!