At some stage yes, but some opinion is 50-50 wether the dental flossing is helping gums or not. I have heard that frequent flossing is not good for the gums, instead of making it clean,some gums will be infected because too much will hurt the enamel of the teeth causing more buildup of plaque. I am not expert about teeth or toothache but, I keep my teeth clean and away from plaque by eating fruits even when I was a kid. MY dental floss is eating guava fruit, because it will clean your gums and away from plaque. Of course, not everyone will do that, but that's how I grow up and brushing teeth twice or after meal is our routine. But, time changes, and now I can't eat anymore guava because there is no available fruit from where I live. But apple fruit can help and I am trying to do that now. I don't normally go to dentist nowadays because its too expensive for dental cleaning. Maybe one day for once in a while I will visit dentist for cleaning up, because brushing along and eating apple is not enough.