I got into water flossing because of curiosity — I wanted to see and feel whether it actually works!  For most of my life, I’ve never used any type of dental device besides a standard toothbrush and string floss.  I’d tried a variety of toothpastes ranging from the old Aqua Fresh triple action to various whitening toothpastes, and I’d tried everything from waxed to Glide floss.  It really wasn’t something I spent a lot of time thinking about.  In retrospect, I wish I had known more at the time (don’t we all?).

A couple of friends of mine are true Costco fans.  They love going to Costco, buying Costco food – even talking about what they found at Costco.  One of the things they talked about is their Sonicare tooth brush and how they liked what it did for their teeth.  I have to admit I was a bit skeptical.  After all, why do you need your toothbrush to buzz – why can’t you just brush your teeth like a normal person?  Still, they swore by it and to this day, they still use electric toothbrushes.

Fast forward a few years, my mother-in-law lived with us for a time and the subject of a Waterpik came up.  She said she liked it and so I thought, “Why not?”  When she brought her Waterpik out, it was one of the older models.  As far as I knew, it looked like it was from decades ago.  I plugged it in and it started doing its job – shooting a stream of water from its jet tip.  The only problem was I didn’t have it in my mouth at the time, so it started spraying everywhere!  So, I unplugged it.  I tried again with it in my mouth, but wasn’t to sure what to do at that point and she didn’t really give me a clear answer.  I tried briefly to figure it out myself, but wasn’t too committed to figuring out how to use a water flosser at the time, so I put the idea on hold.

Later, I started to read some reviews about oral irrigators and the idea of trying it came up again.  This time, I bought a Waterpik Aquarius and was determined to get it right.  The difference this time is that I watched some instructional videos which showed exactly how people use it and what the pulsing stream of water is supposed to do.  Finding out how effective a water flosser can be made me more intrigued than ever to try it.

Once I did, I was pleasantly surprised and wondered why I had waited so long.  I started slowly at first, with the pressure setting at one of the lower settings, trying the standard flossing tip, and trying to get the angle right.  I realized right away that it the water jet was getting into areas that I simply could not reach with my regular brushing and flossing habits.

As I started to get used to my Waterpik, I realized that my teeth and gums felt cleaner.  If I had eaten certain foods, like popcorn, it was easier to get all of the debris out — water flossing after brushing and flossing proved that to me.  In the past, I would have not known that there was still more between my teeth.  Now, I have seen that brushing and flossing removes a lot and loosens some.  I’ve found that following up with a water flosser rinses more out.

So now, after years of manual dental care, I’m convinced that oral irrigation is an important part of my hygiene habits.  I don’t plan on going back to just brushing and flossing alone now that I can see how much a water flosser can do.  Like most everyone, I want to have fresh breath and a healthy smile for life.  For me, a water flosser is part of the answer.