Is the water flosser good or not?

From the earliest willow leaves to toothbrushes and toothpicks, and then to dental floss, people's requirements for deep oral hygiene cleaning are increasing. Among these cleaning tools, there is also a kind of water flosser that cleans dirt like a high-pressure water gun.

What is a dental flosser?

Water flosser is also called water flosser. It is a tool to assist in cleaning the oral cavity. It uses pulsed water flow to clean teeth and the gaps between teeth. Water flosser is a dental floss formed by water flow, which can achieve the purpose of flushing and cleaning teeth. Its principle is that the electric motor or tap water generates pressure to spray high-speed pulse water column, and the frequency and pressure of the water column are adjusted to achieve the cleaning effect on the teeth and the gaps between teeth.

There are many types of water flossers on the market, mainly electric water flossers and faucet water flossers; they can also be divided into three types: fixed frequency type, household variable frequency type and portable type. Today we mainly introduce electric portable water flossers, which are characterized by simple maintenance, easy use and can be carried around.

Difference from traditional cleaning methods

At present, the most commonly used oral cleaning tool is the toothbrush, but the shortcomings of the toothbrush are very obvious. It can only remove dirt on the relatively flat surface of teeth. It is powerless to remove some nooks and crannies, or even tiny gaps.

Image source: Pixabay

After the widespread use of toothbrushes, simple smooth surface cavities have been greatly reduced, and the remaining ones are mainly pits and fissures in hidden corners and adjacent surface cavities. Therefore, cleaning tools such as toothpicks and dental floss have appeared on the market.

In fact, most dentists are rather averse to rough and violent objects like toothpicks, but we cannot deny that in certain specific historical periods and some economically underdeveloped areas, toothpicks can still play a relatively positive role. At least compared with our fingernails, toothpicks are still much stronger.

The emergence of dental floss basically completes the last puzzle piece in the area of ​​tooth cleaning. Dental floss is very effective in cleaning the residue and dirt hidden between teeth. Compared with toothpicks, dental floss can penetrate deep under the gums while causing less irritation to the gums, removing soft scales that cannot be seen by the naked eye and preventing the formation of dental calculus. Therefore, the correct and standardized use of dental floss can achieve a higher level of oral hygiene and cleaning. However, dental floss also has disadvantages such as being inconvenient to use and not environmentally friendly. Therefore, the emergence of the water flosser makes up for this deficiency very well.

Water flossers use electricity, do not produce a lot of white pollution, and are very convenient to use. Unlike flossing, you do not need to readjust the position of the floss or deal with the "trophies" on the floss stick after cleaning a tooth. It ensures the continuity of the cleaning process. Secondly, compared with the flossing method, the water flushing method of the water flosser makes the cleaning more thorough. From a microscopic point of view, the surface of the teeth is not absolutely smooth. The uneven areas after flossing cannot be completely cleaned. The attached bacteria only need a thin layer of biofilm that has not been completely cleaned to continue to "make trouble", affecting the health of the teeth and gums.

Therefore, the best oral cleaning method recommended by dentists is a combination of brushing your teeth in the morning and evening + flushing your teeth after meals, and then seeing a professional doctor for regular check-ups.

Image source: Pixabay

Is the water flosser suitable for everyone?

In theory, water flossers are suitable for all people who need oral hygiene. However, for some special groups of people, water flossers are even more necessary.

First, the orthodontic group. As an orthodontist, I strongly recommend that all friends who are undergoing orthodontic treatment use an oral irrigator, whether it is a traditional metal appliance or a bracketless invisible appliance (a 100% must-have for those who choose lingual correction). Because no matter what kind of correction method is used, there will be more or less some correction accessories in the mouth, such as brackets, lingual buckles, rubber rings, etc. A temporary cleaning blind spot will also be formed around these accessories. If you only brush your teeth with a toothbrush, it is difficult to effectively clean your teeth, and an oral irrigator can play a good role. Of course, relatively healthy periodontal conditions are the prerequisite for the smooth movement and even successful correction of teeth. If oral hygiene is not in place, it may lead to gingival hyperplasia, alveolar bone absorption, "black triangle" and other periodontal tissue damage.

"Black triangle": refers to the triangular gap seen by the naked eye when the gums between two adjacent teeth cannot completely cover the gap from the adjacent point of the two teeth to the neck of the teeth.

Secondly, people who wear dental implants, dentures, etc. With the current technical level, even the most realistic dentures are difficult to achieve 100% natural connection with human tissue. Conventional crowns and abutments have marginal sealing problems, and implants need to consider the possibility of inflammation of the surrounding gums. If the teeth cannot be properly cleaned in this case, long-term restoration can only be a "beautiful luxury." However, conventional cleaning methods can hardly guarantee health care after restoration, and the emergence of water flossers meets this demand well. The flushing of tiny water streams can greatly remove the plaque in the marginal closure area, and appropriate pulse jets can also massage the gums around dentures and implants.

Finally, people with inconveniences after oral surgery. For some patients who have undergone perioral and maxillofacial surgery, it is difficult to achieve the desired effect with traditional oral cleaning methods due to pain or limited mouth opening or the surgical incision itself is in the mouth, which will further affect the healing of the postoperative wound; for some elderly people and children with poor cooperation, it is difficult to achieve oral hygiene and cleaning with regular brushing; oral hygiene care for some disabled people is generally not taken seriously. If these vulnerable groups are in an awkward situation with the help of a water flosser, it can often achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Source: Chongqing Science and Technology Museum

Author: Xie Yueqiang, dentist at Guangdong Provincial Stomatological Hospital.

Statement: Except for original content and special notes, some pictures are from the Internet. They are not for commercial purposes and are only used as popular science materials. The copyright belongs to the original authors. If there is any infringement, please contact us to delete them.