Flossing can be a bit fiddly and, at first, it can make your gums bleed a little but this will stop over time.

If you’re flossing your child’s teeth lean their head back into your lap so you can see into their mouth. Or they can stand in front of you and tip their head back against your chest.

A: Take about 30 cm of dental floss and wrap most of it around your left middle finger.

B: Wind the remaining floss around your right middle finger.

A: Grip the floss between your thumbs and index fingers then gently slide it between two teeth, using a saw-like motion.

B: Be very gentle and try not to scrape the floss too hard against your gums.

C: Slide it up and down against the teeth.

A: Gently remove the floss from the teeth. Wind a little bit of the floss from your left finger to your right finger to move along the dirty part and to give you a fresh area of floss to clean the next two teeth with.

B: Repeat this wherever two teeth are touching.