Your children’s morning and evening routines likely include the brushing of their teeth—either by you or by them—but are their teeth getting flossed as well?

Flossing your children’s teeth is important because it removes all the little bits of food between teeth that brushes can’t reach. And flossing is not as hard as you might think, especially if you use a little plastic tool called a floss threader.

Let Dr. Burris and his daughter Berkeley show you how it’s done.

Some key tips of the video:

• Have your child sit in a chair facing you.
• Start with the lower back teeth and work your way around.
• Run the floss along both sides of each tooth getting a little below the gumline
• You should hear a little “pop” each time the threader comes out.
• When your child first starts flossing, there may be a little bleeding, but it should stop once flossing becomes a regular habit.
• Flossing once a day is ideal, but a few times a week will do.