Top 5 Dental Floss for Braces in Canada, 2026
Published on Thursday, January 1, 2026
With fixed braces the archwire blocks floss from dropping between the teeth, so ordinary floss simply cannot reach the contact points. Three things get past it: a floss with a stiffened end you thread yourself, a separate threader you feed regular floss through, or an ortho pick with a flat tip shaped to slide beneath the wire. Oral-B Super Floss covers all of it in one pre-cut strand - rigid tip for threading, spongy midsection for brackets, plain floss for the tooth surface. Platypus skips threading entirely. The five picks below are compared on that one question: how each one gets past the wire, and what it costs per use. Prices are Amazon.ca listings and move around.
Top Picks Summary
Oral-B Super Floss
Oral-B Super Floss comes as 50 pre-cut strands, each built in three sections: a stiffened end you push under the archwire, a spongy segment that expands to wipe around brackets and bridgework, and a length of regular floss for the tooth surface itself. That combination is why it stays the default recommendation for orthodontic patients - one product covers threading, cleaning around appliances, and normal interdental flossing, with nothing else to buy. Mint flavoured.
Platypus Orthodontic Flossers
Platypus flossers do away with threading altogether. The working end is an ultra-thin flat spatula that slides straight under the archwire, so you are not feeding floss through a loop tooth by tooth - the manufacturer puts a full arch at one to two minutes, and that speed is the real reason people stick with the routine. The opposite end is a pick for clearing food off brackets. Unflavoured, shred-resistant, vegan and biodegradable, 30 to a pack.
GUM Waxed Orthodontic Floss
The listing behind this pick is GUM Pro-Weave, a woven waxed floss rather than a purpose-built orthodontic one. The weave is the point: interlaced filaments resist shredding on bracket corners and metal edges far better than thin unwaxed floss, and 165 m for CA$4.47 makes it the cheapest floss here by a wide margin. What it does not have is a stiffened end, so with fixed braces you need to pair it with a separate threader - GUM's own Eez-Thru or EasyThread threaders are made for exactly that. As the floss half of a threader-plus-floss setup, it is hard to beat on cost.
Dentek Triple Clean Floss Picks
Straight talk on a braces list: DenTek Triple Clean are standard Y-frame floss picks, and the floss span is fixed, so it cannot be fed under an archwire. On braced teeth they clean chewing surfaces and the outside of brackets, plus any teeth that are not bracketed - useful, but not a substitute for getting under the wire. Where they genuinely earn a place is aligners, retainers and life after the braces come off, and in the school-bag or desk-drawer role a spool of floss never fills. The floss is shred-resistant and the order is 3 x 150, so cost per pick is the lowest here.
Crest Glide Threader Floss
Glide Threader Floss is a threader and a floss in one disposable strand: a stiffened leader at the front, then Glide's PTFE floss behind it. You push the leader under the archwire, pull the floss through, clean the contact, move on. Thirty single-use packets per box. The Glide filament is the slipperiest thing on this list, which matters if your teeth are tight as well as braced. The catch on Amazon.ca is supply - it is a marketplace import at CA$34.91 for 30, roughly CA$1.16 a packet, making it the most expensive way to floss here.
What separates orthodontic floss from ordinary floss is simply how it gets under the archwire - a stiffened threading end, a threader loop, or a flat pick tip - paired with a waxed or woven build that will not shred on bracket corners.
Understanding Dental Floss for Braces
What actually matters when you are choosing floss for fixed braces:
The archwire is the whole problem - it stops floss from dropping in from above, so any floss for braces has to get underneath it somehow.
Three approaches work: a stiffened threading end built into the strand (Oral-B Super Floss), a separate threader loop you feed floss through (GUM Eez-Thru, Glide Threader Floss), or a flat-tipped ortho pick made to pass under the wire (Platypus).
Waxed or woven floss shreds far less on bracket corners than thin unwaxed floss, which is why every pick on this list is one or the other.
Standard Y-frame floss picks do not work on braced teeth - the floss span is fixed and cannot be fed under the wire, so they only reach chewing surfaces and unbracketed teeth.
The spongy section on super floss is what wipes the sides of brackets and the gap under the wire; plain floss skips that surface entirely.
Once a day is the usual recommendation during treatment. Some gum bleeding in the first week of a new routine is common and settles; bleeding that keeps up is worth raising with your orthodontist.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which floss is best for braces and appliances?
Oral-B Super Floss is the strongest all-round pick because each pre-cut strand does three jobs: a stiffened end threads under the archwire, a spongy midsection wipes around brackets and bridgework, and a length of regular floss cleans the tooth surface. No separate threader needed. It rates 4.4 and costs $11.99 CADfor 50 strands.
Does Oral-B Super Floss have a threading end?
Yes. Every strand has a rigid, stiffened end you push under the archwire or between a bridge and the gum, which is what lets you get floss into contacts that ordinary floss cannot reach. It rates 4.4 at CA$11.99 for 50 pre-cut strands.
Can you use regular floss picks with braces?
Not for the contacts that matter. A standard Y-frame floss pick holds a short, fixed span of floss that cannot be fed under an archwire, so on braced teeth it only reaches chewing surfaces and any teeth without brackets. The DenTek picks on this list are worth having for that, for aligners and retainers, and for after debonding - but for braced teeth you need super floss, a threader, or a flat-tipped ortho pick like Platypus.
How does GUM Waxed Orthodontic Floss compare on price?
At $11.99 CADfor a 165 m spool it is by far the cheapest option here, against $11.99 CADfor Oral-B Super Floss and $11.99 CADfor Platypus. The trade-off: the listing is GUM Pro-Weave, a woven waxed floss rather than a purpose-built orthodontic one. The weave resists shredding on brackets, but there is no stiffened end, so with fixed braces you have to buy threaders separately.
Conclusion
If you want one product that handles everything, Oral-B Super Floss is the safe default. If the nightly routine is what is actually failing, Platypus is the one that gets a full arch down to a couple of minutes. Check with your orthodontist before switching if you have a bonded retainer or a palatal expander, since those change what physically fits.