This Waterpik has made flossing so much easier, boosted my oral health and cut down my dentist visits
Let’s not lie: flossing is the worst. If, like me, you have tightly packed teeth, flossing can be difficult, annoying and sometimes even painful. But I’ve found the secret to easy, pain-free flossing – the Waterpik.
My dentist loves to gleefully tell me that “you only need to floss the teeth you want to keep”, and while technically true, it doesn’t make the act of flossing easier, less annoying, or painless.
I’ve had a journey with flossing since my last root canal in 2020. From occasionally flossing when I felt like I needed it, I’ve made more of an effort to do it every day – first with string floss, which was a nightmare to use, then with floss sticks, which were easier to navigate but exceedingly wasteful. But now I’ve found the silver bullet to solve my flossing dramas: the Waterpik.
Waterpik Cordless Advanced Water Flosser
This water flosser cleans along your gumline and between your teeth without the need for traditional string floss, promising to remove up to 99% of plaque.
Waterpik review: easy, painless flossing
I bought my Waterpik during Prime Day 2021. It’s one of the products that Amazon loves to discount during their annual sales, sometimes for up to 48% off the RRP of £100. I managed to bag a humble 15% discount, paying £84.99, but over the course of my year of using this Waterpik, it has more than proved its worth.
I use it every day, after brushing my teeth, before using mouthwash, and as a result, my teeth are kept in their best condition, and my mouth feels cleaner and fresher than ever before. Even my dentist was impressed.
What is a Waterpik? Water flossers explained
Waterpik is one of the leading brands of water flossers available to buy online. Instead of using string floss or floss picks, a water flosser uses a highly concentrated jet of water to clean between your teeth, making it easier and faster to use and less wasteful than traditional flossing.
The Waterpik I have is the Cordless Advanced Water Flosser model, which features a 207ml water reservoir (that will last approximately 45 seconds of use) that you fill via a small hatch opening at the back of the flosser.
Once switched on, Waterpik sprays a concreted stream of water from the top of your chosen tip - there are three in the pack, with additional tips available to purchase online. It’s this stream of water that cleans between the teeth, removing debris, plaque and other nasties that may be lodged between your pearly whites.
Features: How to use the Waterpik
The Waterpik is incredibly easy to use. It has two large buttons on its front, one to switch the flosser on and off and another that controls its three power settings – High, Medium and Low – which dictate how powerful the stream of water is from the tip.
In the box, you get four tips. Two classic jet tips (which I’ve found to be the most effective for water flossing), one specialist orthodontic tip designed to be used to clean braces and other orthodontics, and one bristle tip, which Waterpik calls the “Plaque Seeker™ Tip”, designed to help remove stubborn plaque and for use around dental implants, crowns, bridges and veneers.
There are other tips you can buy online, including a tip designed for cleaning your tongue and a toothbrush tip designed for manual brushing, either with or without toothpaste.
Personally, I always use the High setting with a classic jet tip. Using the Waterpik over my bathroom sink, after brushing, I follow the outline of my teeth, along the gumline and between each tooth.
The whole process usually takes less than two minutes, followed by a quick rinse with mouthwash.
Charging the Waterpik is incredibly easy too. Its included magnetic charger clips onto the bottom of the front of the flosser and charges it fully within four hours via its 2-pin plug.
Performance: How well does the Waterpik clean?
After more than a year of use, I’ve found the Waterpik to clean my teeth exceptionally well. Guiding its powerful steam of water between my teeth, it effortlessly dislodges anything that may be stuck between them, something I often struggled to do with traditional string floss.
I have a quite tightly packed mouth. Growing up, I had to have teeth removed because of overcrowding, and despite that, my teeth are still relatively crowded, especially my bottom set. This means that eating grains, nuts, cereals, popcorn, spinach and even meat can result in food being uncomfortably lodged between my teeth.
When I was using standard string floss, I could spend up to 5 minutes fiddling with the string, trying to get the right angle, before managing to wrestle out whatever was stuck between my teeth. Floss sticks definitely made the process easier, but using multiple sticks daily felt unnecessarily wasteful. Using the Waterpik had made flossing so much easier, and as it only uses water, it’s effectively waste-free.
Is the Waterpik worth it?
After using the Waterpik for more than a year, I cannot imagine ever going back to using string floss. Using my electric toothbrush, the Waterpik and mouthwash twice daily has resulted in my teeth being kept in the best possible condition, boosting oral health and confidence in my teeth and smile – with even my dentist commenting on how well I’ve been looking after my nashers.
If you struggle with using string floss or just find flossing annoying in general, I cannot recommend the Waterpik enough.
Authors
Ruairidh Pritchard is the Digital Editor of The Recommended, and interviews some of the world's most knowledgeable product experts to help readers make smarter decisions about which products they buy online.