I was a total, arrogant skeptic about water flossing “voodoo” until I randomly won one in a contest and my partner dared me to try it for a month. Two things happened: 1) my gum sensitivity disappeared and 2) my dentist actually asked me what had changed at my next checkup (which, to be honest, had me feeling pretty self-conscious afterwards… was I that memorable before?!)
These things are magic, but you have to learn to actually use them as designed. It’s faster than flossing for me now, but at first, until I got the intensity settings, mouth position, and angles right, it was pretty uncomfortable and messy.
I see the dentist twice as often as usual - every 3 months - because I get mad tartar buildup. But when I’m using the flosser regularly I don’t get it nearly as bad.
The assumption/assertion is that a water pic is a replacement for flossing. I eventually realized that that is BS, and although I hate the hassle, I find that it’s best to use both the water AND the floss.
Having said that, I do not like that water flossing (and also Sonic Care toothbrushes) throws a mist to the back of my throat to the epiglottis, which almost always causes a slight aspiration-like reaction.
Those are great, though I’d replace the cord with something stretchy and market the product as having a later, secondary use: miniature slingshot. Watch the spinach bits fly!
Flossing may not be some kind of dental panacea but it obviously does something, because if you brush your teeth and then floss, you’ll unearth all kinds of revolting crap that the toothbrush didn’t remove. I floss a couple of times a day and brush just before bed, and my dental hygienist is delighted with the state of my gums.
I had a Waterpik years ago and it’s just a huge fucking mess, water dribbling out of your mouth and spritzing all over the place. No thanks.
whenever i use it i am clean down to the enamel there is absolutely nothing that could be scraped away, i’m cleaner then one could scrape, or even when they use the buffer.
to be fair, i’m not someone who has ever struggled with tartar or any other dental issues, so please do whatever works best for you. just in my experience the water flossing is far superior to string flossing, and in my mouth gets my teeth so clean there isn’t anything left to possibly clean off of them.
what setting are you waterpik’ing on?
(i personally find that it really gets you clean at around 8, 6 is too little and 10 is a bit rough on the gum tissue.)
do you brush your teeth first?
do you circle each tooth with the waterpik getting from the top between and along both gumlines?
not necessary, but i like to use warm water with sea salt and 1 drop iodine dissolved, just make sure the salt is 100% dissolved.
hahahaha i shot myself in the eye twice in the first week, and the mirror, and my shirt, and…i think anyone would have laughed watching me get the hang of waterpiking. now it is second nature.
That would be the right level of paracord mania, I think; once a month you invoke the free/libre open source circle at a table full of holey socks/leggings with some sharps handy, chant over them as you drop in the used all-colors floss picks, and come out after so much ceremony made whole (sockwise) or with IKEA pencil holsters stitched in.
I should be a little more precise. There is no data showing flossing to be effective in plaque removal. That is very different from brushing, and has led the Department of Health and Human Services to drop flossing from its list of recommended practices.
“Among experts, however, it has been something of an open secret that flossing has not been shown to prevent cavities or severe periodontal disease.”
Removing chunks of debris is different from removing plaque.
After I read this research, I did a little experiment. I stopped flossing. At my next dental appointment, the hygienist was unable to detect a difference from the previous visit. That is an N of 1, so it isn’t scientific, but that plus the expert research convinces me that flossing may make you feel better but it doesn’t affect your health in any significant way.
