This mixed-methods study assessed patients' oral health literacy, motivation, and barriers regarding interdental deplaquing. Participants (n=49) from a study comparing GlideRTM Pro-Health Floss Original (F) and GUMRTM Curved Soft-PicksRTM Advance (SP) completed daily diaries and questionnaires discussing motivation, tiredness, confidence and satisfaction for their deplaquing method. Results were analyzed by Mantel-haenszel chi-square tests. Nineteen of 49 participants attended focus groups (F and SP) about oral health behaviors, literacy, motivators and barriers regarding interdental deplaquing. Discussions were digitally recorded, transcribed, and analyzed in ATLAS.ti 7.5.15. F users reported statistically significant higher agreement about ability to remove food/debris (p=.01), cleaning thoroughly (p=.02), and clean feeling of the mouth (p=.01). SP users reported higher ease/efficiency of use (p=.01), convenience (p=.003), easy to hold (p=.0001), and easy use away from home (p=.008). Daily diaries revealed higher motivation/ ease of use (SP). Barriers to interdental deplaquing (e.g. low literacy) may hinder patients' motivation to comply.