Objective To investigate the use and awareness of dental floss in college students in Tianjin Municipality to explore feasible health education methods. Methods A total of 1 169 college students of different majors in Tianjin were selected by multistage cluster random sampling. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS（version 24.0）. The influencing factors of dental floss use were analyzed using multivariate logistic regression. Results A total of 477 respondents used dental floss

with a use rate of 40.80%. The dental floss use rate of respondents who majored in dentistry was higher than that of respondents majoring in medicine（non-dentistry major） and non-medicine major

the difference was statistically significant（P<0.05）. While dental floss use rate of respondents majoring in medicine and non-medicine was not significantly different（P>0.05）. There were significant differences in the correct response rates between respondents from different majors in terms of questions such as ‘flossing will make the interdental space larger and easily accumulate food’

‘flossing and toothpicks have similar function’ and ‘how to deal with food impaction’（P<0.05）

and the correct response rates of respondents from dental majors were higher than those who did not major in dentistry（P<0.05）. There was no significant difference in the correct response rates between respondents from medical majors（non-dentistry majors） and non-medical majors（P>0.05）. There was a significant difference between respondents using dental floss and those not using it in terms of major

place of origin

and grade（P<0.05）. Dentistry undergraduates

senior grade

and average monthly cost of over 1 000 RMB were independent factors influencing flossing use among respondents（P <0.05）. Conclusion The use and awareness of dental floss in college students in Tianjin are significantly improved compared with the previous results. However

the relevant departments should still strengthen the education of dental floss use knowledge for non-medical major college students

especially junior college students

so as to improve dental floss awareness and use rates.