Dr. Sanda Moldovan demonstrates how to use a Waterpik water flosser and explains why cleaning between teeth matters. Hold it at 90 degrees to your gum line and trace across each tooth. Different tips work for periodontal pockets, implants, braces, and tongue cleaning.
Questions this video answers
May 15, 2014.
About 60 to 90 seconds.
A dial from 2 to 10.
Start at the lowest power setting and gradually increase; she recommends using a medium power for regular use.
About 3 millimeters under the gum at the lowest setting.
Chapters
Foreign I'm Dr. Sandhya. Welcome to my channel Today. I want to talk to you about alternative to flossing. Let's face it, most of you out there watching, I know you don't like to floss because I see it every day in the office. Some of you are honest, some of you are not. So I want to give you some tips. How can you keep your gums clean and your overall body healthier by cleaning in between the teeth? Because basically this is the problem. Okay. If you're going to wash your hand with the fingers locked like this, you're not going to get right in between here. You're still going to have dirt there. Well, it's the same thing with brushing and flossing. If you're just going to brush your teeth on the outside, we're still going to have dirt and bacteria stuck in between the teeth. And that's what's ultimately going to cause problems. So I would say flossing is more important than brushing. So if you were to pick one, floss first. So what are some things that we could do as an alternative to the string floss that's so hard to do, especially if you have poor dexterity. Let's say you have arthritis and you cannot reach all the way back there, or let's face it, you just don't have the inclination to even go there. So can we use something like a toothpick? Absolutely not. Actually using a toothpick that's made out of wood every day can actually injure your gums. So I would not recommend it. We also have, like little interdental brushes that you could actually fit in between. And those I actually do like, those are a great alternative to flossing. But my favorite alternative to string floss is water flossing. So I want to show you here, my personal water flosser and how to use it. The research that we have today actually does show that water flossing is just as effective, if not more effective, around dental implants and around natural teeth. So ever since I've been using it, I've noticed that especially the gum around a crown that I have in my mouth has gotten a lot healthier. So let's go over that. So I have mo here to help me demonstrate how to use the Waterpik correctly. Here it is, the latest model of the Waterpik. It has an on and off button. So what's going to do? It's going to pulsate water right around the teeth. So treat each tooth like its own individual person and the whole procedure is going to take you really about 60 to 90 seconds. So what you want to do is point it at 90 degrees right at the gum and just trace the gum with stopping for a couple seconds in between each tooth. So you want to go all the way across the arch and then do the back of the teeth and then follow up with the bottom, going all the way across by counting each tooth individually and go all the way across on the bottom. Now you're going to want notice that the Waterpik actually has a dial to increase the power from 2 to 10 on the latest model. So. So I recommend you actually start at the lowest power and see how it feels. You may have more sensitive gums than others, so start there and just gradually increase the power. What I recommend is for you to use a medium power on your water pick. If you don't have counter space, and let's say you don't want to put this on the counter, you can actually get a shower pick and you can install that on your shower head. And it's just as effective as having this on the counter. The disadvantage with that one is that you cannot put any kind of mouth rinses in order to water floss your teeth. Is that necessary? Not really. Really? All the studies that we have are done with water, so it's not really necessary unless you have one periodontal issue. And I'll be recommending that you do that with a special periodontal tip. Let's go over that. We actually have different tips that attach to the Waterpik. The one that we commonly use is the one that's already attached here. So this is just a regular cannula. Now, if you have a periodontal problem in a pocket, you can use this one, and it's made out of rubber. And you can actually put this underneath the gum about a good 3 millimeters. And at the lowest setting, I repeat, at the lowest power, you can actually put special mouth rinses inside there and flush out the bacteria that develops. We also have an implant tip. So if you have dental implants, this is the best way to clean. And we know that from all the research that we have. And it has the little bristles in order to protect the implant from getting scratched. So make sure that you don't use the glass tip around the implant. You actually use the specific implant tip with the bristles. If you have somebody in the house that has braces, they also have a tip for braces. And it's the best way to really clean around your braces. It's almost impossible to floss when you have braces, so this becomes your next best friend. Last but not least, a lot of people don't brush their tongues well. Waterpik has actually an attachment for a tongue cleaner, and I love this because it's a low profile, so you can really put it all the way in the back without gagging. And you want to pull it forward and go all the way across the tongue to get rid of the white film on your tongue. So if you go in the mirror and look and you see a white film on your tongue, that's all dead bacteria. So when you're going to clean it up, you're going to feel the difference. Your breath is going to be so much fresher. Do you have any questions about alternative to flossings? Go ahead and tweet me rsanda or send me a message@drsandamoldovan.com until next time, floss regularly.
