Tong Family

Well, I’ve had one of these water flossers for years and they do seem to work. So along with ultrasonic toothbrushes, this seems like an essential Smart EDC for everyone, so what can you get now?

In looking at lots of reviews it’s pretty clear that they work better than regular floss. There are lots of reviews that don’t sound like reviews in that they just seem to list the models rather than doing any testing, but for instance, Dentaly, Tooth Sayer, Health, and New Mouth, mainly look at Amazon review numbers. At least Live Science, Moo Review and NY Times bought the product. But there are basically three sorts. The traditional corded variety that sits in your bathroom. You need space for it and a plug. Then there are stationary ones that are cordless, so you have to recharge them. Finally, there are the small ones that you take on the road.

I usually recommend getting the corded ones if you have room for it. For one thing, it needs to be right there so at night (the key time!), you can just take the five minutes to run some warm water and floss. It’s best done I think right after you brush and you will be amazed at what you find (or disgusted depending :-).

Best choice: Waterpik Ultra

Well, Waterpik seems to be the leader here and they have essentially a bunch of products from $40 for the basic and $65 for the Ultra to $90 for the Advanced and Advanced Pro. As with many of these products, I typically look for the model that is one above the lowest (when I really like the product, I go to one below the highest). The main reason is that there is typically a loss leader which you don’t want and if it is a commodity, then the higher units are there for fluff.

If it is something that is evolving quickly like laptops for instance, then the top-of-the-line tends to be the halo overpriced product, but the one below is going to have more longevity. In this case, the Waterpik I bought 10 years ago has not changed from the one offered today, so I’d suggest the second from the bottom which is the Waterpik Ultra which is a bit uglier but has the same features for $20-30 less. The top-of-the-line by the way is the Aquarius and Aquarius Professional which definitely looks prettier.

If you don’t have any plugs in your bathroom, then the Waterpik Ion works and saves some space but is $80-100.

It turns out the Ultra is $60 or so at Best Buy or Wal*Mart and I couldn’t find a good reseller on Amazon (which is par for the course these days).