Talk to me about water flossers!

[MyGhastIsFlabbered]

Sorry it’s a dull one! I have quite bad gum disease and my dentist recommended a water flosser so I bought one. I can’t remember which brand, it’s not a water pik one though. I hate the feel of it. Do they all feel much the same or is it worth trying a different one to see if it’s better?

Hi, I have a water pik one but I just can’t get used to it - it is noisy and messy and I find it quite harsh on my gums

I love mine. I don’t love doing it but I do love how clean my teeth feel. I do it over the shower so I can focus on not choking to death.

Dreadful things. At best it's like being waterboarded and at worst you end up dripping from head to foot (unless you have the foresight to only use it when wearing a wetsuit )

I had a water pik one... had being the word.. it was horrible. As a previous poster said, it was like being waterboarded and you get soaked! I chucked mine and went for really good dental floss and picks!

I love mine and use it everyday. I have implants and they are good to use around them. I always get lots of praise from the dentist and hygienist about how clean my teeth are. I also use floss and those little stick things.

I think they are a con

My brother has one. They are the thing everyone American has. He only ever uses it in the shower!
I have not tried one yet.

watching this thread with interest!

I was recommended one by the dentist some years ago but hygienist has recently told me they are better than nothing but not as good as teepees.
I liked mine once I got the angle right.

I had one and less it did get messy but stopped went it chipped two filings!

I’ve used one for years, three different brands. They are brilliant once you get the hang of them. Aim for the gaps between your teeth and use your tongue to feel the water coming through the gap. Lean over the sink as you do it so the water dibbles into it, and roll up your sleeves, because water tends to drip down your arm. If your teeth are really gummed up, use an interdental brush first to dislodge the build-up of food etc.

I don't know why the "home waterboarding experience" ones are the only ones being actively marketed now, but the discontinued Philips Airfloss is much better and is still available on ebay sent from various overseas locations. Instead of squirting you with a huge reservoir it just takes much smaller amount of either water or mouthwash and blasts it in short tight bursts so you don't get overwhelmed.

I have one and love how it cleans. It’s very easy to use without getting water everywhere! Just keep your mouth closed…

I use mine in the shower. They are good for squirting particles of food out from in-between your teeth but you still need a teepee brush to brush off the plaque.

I used to have an Aifloss
Used that in the mornings and interdental brushes at night. Every Airfloss died at the age of 13 months, and I consistently had gum pockets ranging from 3 to 6 in depth.

I now have a Waterpik, used in the morning, and rarely bother with the interdental brushes. At my last 3 checkups I've scored 0 on gum pockets all the way round and havent needed any descaling.

Yes it's a bit loud. And there's a knack to using it without drenching yourself. But there's no way I'd go back.

I find them really effective and don’t make my gums bleed like the little brushes. I didn’t enjoy using at all when I first got it - the game changer for me was using lukewarm instead of cold water and holding it very close to the space between the teeth (basically running it along the gum line).

There’s quite a lot of studies you might like to look at. I looked into it a couple of years back and, as far as I can remember, ended up deciding against buying one because some of the studies found you can flush bacteria into the gums. The best thing I have done myself is taking a small amount of xylitol after every meal. I have almost no calculus now.

I love using it after eating porridge or pastries. The amount of crap that comes out of your mouth! Warm water, lean over the sink with mouth mostly closed. The problem I've had is that I keep knocking it over and snapping the spout bit. You need to use brushes or floss as well but for immediately getting rid of your breakfast, they're really effective.

I have a Philips Sonicare one and it is really good. I have to use it because my teeth are mostly so tightly packed that with the exception of a couple of them I just can't get any floss in-between them. The water flosser does the job though.

Use it with your mouth closed to avoid drenching yourself. Pause it and spit out regularly. Use warm water in it to make it comfortable on your teeth and gums because cold water can trigger any sensitivities you have, but I find warm water solves that.

My mouth feels much cleaner every time I have used it and my dentist says I have hardly any plaque build-up.

I had one a few years ago and since then I’ve had nothing but gum problems. The dentist said they are too harsh and can cause damage. Yep, I can confirm she was right

I had a rechargeable one. I could never get the reservoir completely empty. I went on holiday and left it at home and the water in the reservoir went green. So I binned it.

Once you get the hang of it, it's not messy.
I really like mine - I have 2 cheapie ones from Amazon - about £20.
Mouth feels v clean afterwards. I loathe flossing as I'm worried I'll make my gums recede or pull off a filling or crown.

As a gum? What are you doing with it ?

I buy big bags of xylitol on Amazon and take less than half a teaspoon of it after every meal. You want to crunch it up and let it sit in your mouth for about twenty minutes. Some people rinse and spit after that as it is toxic to the liver.

Not worth it. I never got on with it and got rid.

If you have pockets where food/bacteria gets trapped they can be quite helpful for that.

I don't use mine every day because I find it too annoying, but I will go in every couple of weeks and do a sort of "tooth deep clean" I have a wisdom tooth which is at an angle and creates a deep pocket on that side so going through and sort of aiming the water jet at the gum at an angle to try and flush anything out of there helps, IME. Sorry this is TMI - but if bacteria has started to build up, flushing it out like this causes a nasty taste and then I can tell it's gone because the taste goes away.

I used to sometimes put a little bit of hydrogen peroxide in the water for anti-bacterial reasons, but my dentist did say, if you have gums which are prone to infection, just do normal cleaning at home (brushing and some kind of interdental - brushes or floss) and don't neglect the gum line, but don't worry about bacteria fighting at home, leave that to the dentists since you could do more harm than good.

Do you get tonsil stones? I do and I am convinced that there is a link between my tonsil stones and my bad gums, because I think there is a negative feedback loop happening with my oral microbiome in general. I avoided getting these looked at for ages because I thought it was just my fault for having bad dental hygeine but when I eventually went to an ENT he said I have quite deep crypts and an unusually sensitive gag reflex so he recommended that I have the tonsils removed to stop the problem, even though I don't have recurrent tonsilitis.