I’m not a flosser. I brush my teeth religiously, morning and night – but flossing has never been a thing for me. I don’t even have bad teeth because of it! In fact, I have perfect teeth.
Not to say I shouldn’t be flossing – I constantly feel this low-level guilt about the fact I don’t do it. I just find the process gross (holding spit-covered string and dragging it through my mouth) and time-consuming (find the floss, take a bit off, do all my teeth).
For a long time, I’d fantasised about using a WaterPik though. You know, the machine that shoots jets of water out to clear your teeth gaps? This thing:
So I finally bit the bullet and gave one a whirl. Shaver Shop generously gave me the WaterPik Ultra Plus White Water Flosser, which seems to just be a slightly upgraded version of the original.
It retails at $199.95, so expensive but not out-of-my-league exxy.
It’s pretty easy to set up. You put water in the water thingy, plug it in, and flick the on button on both the tub thing and the handheld device. Obviously have it in your mouth before you do the device or you’ll shoot water in your eyeball. May/may not have done that initially.
From there, it’s a bit more trial-and-error. The dial sets the intensity of the jet. So 1 is lowest, 10 is motherfucking insanity.
Now, here’s where I should have read the instructions. You’re supposed to partially close your lips, and let water flow from your mouth into the sink. So you need to be fully bent over the sink.
Here’s me, instead.
Basically, I stood straight, looked at the mirror and hit go. Do. Not. Recommend. The water jet is small, but powerful – so it’s a bit of a shock when it first hits your teeth and yes, water IMMEDIATELY starts dribbling out of your mouth.
Once I nailed the use of the thing, however, it was much easier to manage. It’s a very strange mood to stand over your bathroom sink and let water dribble out of your mouth for a minute, but once you get over the weirdness the whole process is easy.
It definitely doesn’t hurt – although I recommend starting on the lowest setting (which is still pretty powerful) and not giving 10 a go until you’re used to the thing. It’s mainly the initial shock when the jet hits your teeth and gums that’s alarming. Once you’re underway it’s just a pressure, no pain or tickling or anything like that.
In terms of a difference made to my teeth – I’d say I definitely felt it cleaned them more effectively than just brushing. As I’m not a regular flosser, I can’t speak on the flossing vs. WaterPik debate that much, but I can say it was easier for me than flossing – less messy, once I worked out the over-the-sink trick, quicker, and I also felt like I was doing the environment a favour because shooting a bit of water into my mouth each night is surely better than filling landfill with string.
Would I invest in one? If I had gum or teeth issues that flossing could assist with or prevent, absolutely. It’s a one off two hundred bucks instead of increments of, say, five dollars every couple of months if you use it regularly.
If I was a regular flosser, I probably would too – I just think whatever we can to to reduce landfill is excellent, and while floss string is tiny, if you multiply it by the billions that use it daily, that’s a situation.
As a never-flosser, using the WaterPik has been great to up my teeth cleanliness game… but I also am a lazy bastard and use it only semi-regularly. I’m trying, guys!
If you wanna try the same one I used, it’s the WaterPik Ultra Plus White Water Flosser.
