We all well know that we need to regularly brush and floss our teeth. However, a question that people frequently ask dentists is which one is better: dental floss or waterpik!
Although tooth brushing is a very effective way to remove dental plaque from the tooth surface, it cannot remove the food debris and plaques stuck between the teeth and under the gums. Therefore, we need to use dental floss to clean these areas of the oral cavity. Dental floss is an efficient and less expensive oral hygiene tool that can be easily used anywhere and anytime. However, dental floss has its own disadvantages; for example, it is difficult to floss some areas of the mouth, irregular flossing can cause mild bleeding gums, dental floss can irritate sensitive gums, and people with certain physical disabilities or diseases such as advanced rheumatoid arthritis cannot easily use dental floss.
Waterpiking means to floss the teeth with water. To this end, there is a need for a device (an oral irrigator) to direct a pressurized stream of water to blast away debris from between and around the teeth. Instead of rubbing the tooth surface with dental floss, this method uses the water flow to clean and massage the gums. Waterpiking is easy to use for those who are undergoing fixed orthodontics (brackets and archwires) or have fixed prostheses (e.g. bridges) in their mouth. It is usually difficult or impossible for such people to use dental floss. However, one of the disadvantages of waterpiking is the expensiveness of waterpik devices. Moreover, since this an electrical device, it is usually difficult to use it outdoors.
Now the question is which one is better: flossing or waterpiking? There is really no definite answer to this question because what matters is to well clean the interdental space and the gingival sulcus. An article published in the Journal of Clinical Dentistry presents the results of a comparison between toothbrush/dental floss and toothbrush/waterpik. The results indicated that there was a reduction of 74.4% and 57.7% in dental plaques in the toothbrush/dental floss and toothbrush/waterpik groups, respectively. Other independent studies have also reported that that waterpik was more effective than dental floss in reducing the risk of gingivitis.
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