Waterpik: The Future of Flossing?
Good oral hygiene has two important components. Regular visits to your dentist and the implementation of a good home hygiene regime. Most of us have the habit of regular brushing instilled in us as children, but flossing is much less common. The Oral Health Foundation reports that fewer than a quarter of British adults floss regularly. Will the water flossing technology being pioneered by companies such as Waterpik encourage more people to take up the habit?
The Benefits of Flossing
Flossing is interdental cleaning – removing the plaque that has built up between your teeth. The bristles of a standard toothbrush can’t fit into these gaps. But TePe interdental brushes, dental floss or a jet of water can. Removing plaque daily – before it has a chance to calcify into tartar – may help to reduce the amount of scaling you have to undergo at your regular hygiene appointment. Regular flossing is good for the health of your gums. It helps to remove plaque which is where there is a high concentration of the bacteria that cause gingivitis.
The Problem with Dental Floss
The recommended method for using dental floss is to remove a long piece and wrap each end around your middle fingers. The central couple of inches of the floss can then be gripped between thumb and forefinger. Sliding the floss in a gentle up-and-down motion around each tooth in turn provides effective interdental cleaning. However, some people just don’t like the sensation of using floss or dental tape.
The Water-Flossing Alternative
Nowadays, there is an alternative to dental floss. Water flossing involves pointing a jet of water into your mouth to clean between your teeth. A standard model consists of the flossing device, the unit's charger and a reservoir to be filled with water. This makes it quite a bulky piece of kit to store behind your bathroom sink. The brand leader, Waterpik, has been evaluated in over 55 independent university-based studies. For cleaning around dental implants, we would always recommend the use of special softer bristled TePe interdental brushes in conjunction with your Waterpik.
Crowns and Implants
At Norfolk Dental Specialists, we help our patients to adapt to new home oral health routines after their treatments. Interdental and gum line cleaning is particularly important to ensure that there are no problems following implant surgery and crown restoration. There are various tools that can be used to achieve this – dental floss, interdental brushes, water flossers and soft-bristled TePes. Our hygienists work with our patients to figure out what works best for them. For patients with no pocketing around their gums, our hygienists will often recommend an AirFlow (an interdental cleaner that combines water with compressed air) rather than a water flosser. But we always reiterate that TePes should be used as well.
If you have any concerns about your home oral hygiene routine, our team of dental hygienists will be only too happy to help you out.
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