Flossing Alternatives: Oral Irrigators

Video Transcript

"What we don't hear spoken a lot about these days are the use of oral irrigators. To be honest, irrigation can work very, very well for people who are having some problems with their gum tissues, who have some pocketing. Pocketing is usually a result of the non-flossing aspect of not being able to disturb bacteria that?s in between teeth. Eventually that can lead in the destruction of some of the support of the tooth. As that occurs, and that takes years for it to happen, you are, you end up with gum tissues that actually are, the gum tissue is broken on the tooth and it's more difficult to get the floss, to get your toothbrush up under the gums well. So, an irrigator would make great sense for people in that situation as well as for even healthy individuals because of the fact that it's pressurized, intermittent pulsations of water and what that does is that water will actually get underneath that gum tissue and it will loosen, it will flush out the gum tissue underneath the gum line. It can be more effective than plaque, even, I'm sorry, than flossing. Even people who are dedicated flossers who begin irrigation can often find that there is debris underneath that gum tissue that is still dislodged once they use an irrigator. So, not to be alarmed with what irrigators are and what they do, but it's a unit that holds water and we suggest that you do body temperature water. Something warm, that is going to feel nice and comfortable. And you can even put a cap full or two of an antibacterial mouth rinse in the canister. When the water comes from that tip, you are always holding it perpendicular to teeth and you are basically just tracing along the gum tissue. And you are doing that from the outside and from the inside. And what you'll find is your actually showering your gums with kindness. It is a great feeling, gum tissues become very healthy because you are disturbing all of the bacteria that needs to be disturbed and you are feeling much better as a result of the work that you are completing."