Flossing your teeth with waxed string has been an essential part of everyone’s home oral care routine for decades, but is there a better alternative to string flossing? Yes, there is. It’s called water flossing. Despite strong advocacy remaining for traditional string flossing, water flossing is set to replace it as the most preferred option for cleaning interdentally.
So what are the advantages of water flossers over string flossing? For starters, clinical findings show that water flossing combined with brushing is just as or more effective than string flossing and manual brushing at removing plaque and biofilms from your tooth surfaces.
However, the benefits don’t stop there. It’s the other advantages of water flossing that takes interdental cleaning to the next level.
Electric water flossers are MUCH EASIER to use than string floss
You need a lot of manual dexterity and more time to effectively clean all your interdental tooth surfaces with string floss. However, not everybody has one or both of these prerequisites to floss successfully, especially children and adults with hand motor skill issues, not to mention time-poor adults.
Regular string flossing requires about 60cm of waxed dental floss which you use in 3cm increments to carefully glide up and down each one of your 32 or so teeth. Back molars can be particularly tricky teeth to access, so you’ll need patience, concentration and 10-15 minutes of your precious time. And what if the floss snaps and shreds are caught between your teeth? That’s more time out.
On the other hand, water flossers can get the job done in as little as a minute.
You simply position the nozzle at each interdental space and press a button to get powerful yet gentle bursts of air and liquid micro-droplets. These bursts automatically dislodge trapped food particles and remove plaque with 2 or 3 well-aimed pulses.
Water flossing WILL motivate you to floss more often
So, why are ease-of-use, comfort and convenience so important when it comes to flossing? It’s because most people avoid regular flossing altogether since it is such an awkward, messy and tedious routine. Approximately 40% of Australians never floss or give up for this and other similar reasons.
Perhaps the greatest benefit of all is that water flossing has made flossing so much easier and more enjoyable. This amazing technology is motivating more Australians, young and old, to start over and maintain a daily flossing regime – which for a lot of people is half the battle won.
