How to Pick Teeth Without a Toothpick

Everyone has been in this situation at some point. You are out to dinner and you get food stuck in your teeth. If there is no dental floss, tooth brush or toothpick in sight, there are still ways that you can get the food out.

Instructions

1. Go to the restroom before you begin picking your teeth. It is not acceptable to sit at the table and pick the food out in public. This is really not a good idea, even if you are using a toothpick.

2. Take a piece of paper towel from the restroom if they have the hard type of towels that are common in public restrooms. Fold the piece of paper towel in half and then in half again.

3. Use the firm corner of the folded piece of paper to pick the food from your teeth. You can also do this with a gum wrapper, or most any other clean piece of paper.

4. Wash your hands with soap and warm water. Then use your finger nail to pick at the remaining stuck food, or use this method if you don't have the type of firm paper towels that will hold up to teeth-picking.

5. Remove an earring from your ear and wash it in warm water if your fingernail doesn't work. Use the post of the earring the same way that you would use a toothpick. Wash the earring again before putting it back into your ear.

6. Use a safety pin or a straight pin as a toothpick in an emergency. Look in the mirror while you are doing this, and be careful to insert the pin between your teeth without stabbing your gums.

Tips & Warnings

• Rinsing your mouth with warm water and spitting the water out into the sink sometimes dislodges a piece of food that is stuck in your teeth.

• Chewing a piece of gum also sometimes helps to get out a piece of food that is stuck in your teeth.