3 ms·

Is a water jet equal to or better than flossing?

• vmh1928 7y ago
  Dental plaque is a biofilm. The point of flossing is to break up the biofilm. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque Here's a study (just read the summary here) that says a water jet (waterpik brand,) is effective. No idea who paid for the study and didn't research the plaque types mentioned against the wikipedia plaque article to see if there are other types of plaque. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19385349 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19385349 I have to say if I go a couple days without flossing (once in the evening,) but with water jetting, I can feel the floss sliding across something, presumably the plaque/biofilm between the teeth before the floss cuts into that layer and I can feel it against the tooth. I use one of those forked flossers which isn't the best approach as it doesn't wrap around the tooth but you can pivot the fork to get some extra coverage. It makes an onerous task slightly less onerous. You can buy plaque staining tablets to visually evaluate your plaque condition. Buy some, water jet and test. Floss and test. let us know the results. I do both plus an Oral-B electric brush. Probably too much for most people.
• pkaye 7y ago
  Not sure about waterjet but a electric toothbrush like Sonicare is pretty good at cleaning the teeth. You can just feel the teeth are much cleaner with very little left for the floss to clean. Maybe the back molars need some flossing. I kind of enjoy using the Sonicare too since it makes the job of cleaning trivial.