14 Brilliant Uses for Dental Floss That Make Life So Much Easier
From repairing jewelry to getting a fire started, floss is the household tool we never knew we needed!
If you’re anything like us, you’ve got at least one container of floss in your medicine cabinet and maybe another in your purse or glove compartment. After all, you never know when you’re going to need to floss your teeth. But it turns out that sturdy little string comes in handy for a number of everyday emergencies that have nothing to do with your gums or teeth! Keep scrolling for 14 genius uses for dental floss, from cleaning your keyboard to replacing a lost button. (And of course, dental floss stops bleeding gums, too!)
1. Silence a leaky faucet
If the noise of a leaky bathroom faucet is driving you crazy, try this until you can get it fixed: Tie a long piece of dental floss around the end of the spout and place the other end in the drain. The leaking water will travel silently down the floss and into the drain.
Related: How To Clean Faucet Head Buildup + 3 Reasons Why You Don’t Want To Wait
2. Uses for dental floss: Help blooms stay upright
The vibrant bouquet you received last week really brightens up the kitchen. The problem? Some of the flowers with weaker stems are drooping over the side of your vase. To make the bouquet look picture-perfect again, use a piece of clear dental floss to tie the stems together at the base of the blossoms. The invisible floss will help keep the flowers in a tidy bunch so they stay upright and pretty as long as possible.
3. Repair eyeglasses in a pinch
Just as you’re about to curl up with a book, you find that a screw fell out of your reading glasses. The save: Thread a piece of floss through the holes missing the screw and tie in a knot near the frame, then snip off the excess. The floss will hold the glasses together so you can enjoy your reading session.
4. Uses for dental floss: re-string a broken bracelet
Oh no! The bracelet you were wearing snapped and sent beads scattering. To the rescue: dental floss! Measure out the appropriate length, then string each bead on the strand. The holes in many beads are too small for a needle to pass through, and regular thread is too flimsy to use by itself, but the fibers in floss are stiff enough to string the baubles for quick repair.
5. Quickly remove keyboard gunk
You try to be mindful of snacking while you’re typing on the computer, but crumbs still end up lodged in the keyboard. The solution: Take an arm’s-length piece of dental floss and hold it taut using your index fingers. Then, floss between the keys like you would between your teeth. The thin string fits easily between the keys, swiftly removing debris.
6. Uses for dental floss: ensure a screw fits snugly
The screw in your dresser-drawer handle keeps coming loose, no matter how often you tighten it. To secure it once and for all, remove the screw and wrap a short length of dental floss around its threads, gluing the end of the floss in place. Then put the screw back in and tighten. The floss will make the screw wider, so it fits properly in the hole.
Related: The Rubber Band Trick That Removes a Stripped Screw + More Pro Handyman Tips
7. Lift cookies in one piece
Baking tasty chocolate chip cookies is your favorite way to spend a Sunday — but not so much when they stick to the cookie sheet as you try to transfer them. To avoid cookie crumbles, slide a taut strand of unwaxed, unflavored dental floss between the cookie bottoms and the baking sheet. The ultra-thin string will gently loosen the cookies, so the sweet treats come up in one piece.
“Try this trick when your cookies are still a touch warm,” FIRST food director Julie Miltenberger advises. “if they cool too much, you might not be able to slide the floss under the cookie edges.”
8. Uses for dental floss: Fix a broken umbrella
Suddenly, it’s raining, and the only umbrella in your house has a floppy broken rib. Try this: Cut dental floss into a 1-foot-long piece. Then use a sewing needle to thread it through the fabric part of the umbrella, tying it back to the spokes. The durable water-resistant floss will hold the rib in place.
9. Slice through cheese in seconds
Cutting some varieties of cheese is tough — soft cheeses tend to crumble when you slice through them with a knife. The genius substitution that makes clean slices? Dental floss! To do: Place a block of cheese on a cutting board, hold a piece of unflavored floss taut and slice it through your cheese. The floss is sharp enough to cut the cheese in a clean and precise way. (Click through for easy, yet impressive charcuterie board ideas)
10. Uses for dental floss: safely remove a tick from Fido
If you notice a dreaded black dot on your pup, remove it fast and effectively with floss. Grab a 3″ length of dental floss, tie it in a loop, and place it over the tick, aiming to tighten it right where the head encounters your dog’s skin. Next, gently and steadily pull the floss straight back to remove the pest. Place the tick in a sealed baggie to take to the vet for inspection later (or flush it down the toilet). The floss allows you to remove the tick safely without having to touch it,
“Using floss provides continuous, steady traction. When you pull the floss, it moves in a straight line, meaning the tick is less likely to break apart during removal,” explains veterinarian Sara Ochoa, DVM, founder of How To Pets. “Remember, though, always approach tick removal calmly and never yank or twist the tick out. You’re aiming for a smooth, controlled removal.”
11. Replace a broken shoelace
The little one in your life asked you to tie her sneakers before you bring her to dance class, but when you tugged on one of the shoelaces, it snapped. The in-a-pinch fix: Replace the broken shoelace with a long piece of dental floss. The floss is sturdy enough to keep her shoes closed until you can get to the store to buy a new pair of laces. (Click through to learn how dental floss can help you remove an ingrown toenail, too.)
12. Uses for dental floss: reattach a loose button
One of the buttons on your winter coat popped off — again. To ensure it stays put when you sew it back in place, use a length of waxed floss instead of thread. Just thread the strand through the needle and sew as usual. The coated floss is more durable than thread and won’t break down, so you can be sure your button stays in place for good.
13. Start a fire easily
Nothing beats relaxing by a toasty fire on chilly evenings — if only it weren’t such a struggle to get the flames going! To make the task a breeze, wrap a piece of waxed dental floss around your kindling and tie to secure. Then toss the kindling into the fireplace and carefully light as usual. The wax on the floss will quickly start burning to ignite the fire.
Related: The Cola Trick to Get Bricks to Look Their Best + More Ways to Clean a Brick Fireplace
14. Uses for dental floss: pull off an adhesive strip
You like to hang photos with sticky strips instead of nails to protect your walls, but when you take the strips down, they can stick to the wall. To remove them without pulling off any paint, simply slide a piece of dental floss between the adhesive and the wall. The floss helps pull off the strip safely, without damaging your wall! (Click through for gallery wall ideas.)
See this trick in action below:
For more life hacks, click through the links below:
15 Brilliant Uses for Cardboard Tubes
14 Brilliant Uses for Bubble Wrap
15 Brilliant Uses for Toothpaste That Have Nothing To Do with Cleaning Your Teeth
