June 24, 2025
Your TikTok feed is filled with influencers oohing and aahing over their water flossers, meaningfully suggesting that these sleek tools will change your oral hygiene game. But before you toss that old-fashioned floss in the waste bin, we should take a closer look at the actual science behind this viral trend.
Here’s a question that might help to shift your thinking about oral care: If you found soap scum in your bathtub, would you just spray it with water and consider it clean? Or would you reach for a scrubbing brush and do a little work?
It seems ridiculous in the context of cleaning a bathroom, but for some reason or another, we’ve been sold on the idea that plaque, a tacky and deeply annoying biofilm that sticks to our teeth, can be sufficiently scraped from our tooth surfaces with mere water pressure.
Just like soap scum, dental plaque isn’t just sitting loosely on your teeth waiting to be rinsed away. It’s a complex bacterial film that adheres firmly to tooth surfaces, especially in those tight spaces between teeth where your toothbrush can’t reach. This sticky substance requires mechanical disruption – physical scrubbing action – to be properly removed.
We’re not saying that water flossers are absolutely worthless. They’re particularly good at a few jobs that traditional floss can’t compete with:
Flushing Out Food Debris: Rinse away large food scraps and other excess grease with water pressure. If popcorn kernels or bits of herbs are lodged between your teeth, a water flosser is a game changer.
Reaching Deep Pockets: For people with gum disease who have deep periodontal pockets, water flossers can irrigate areas that string floss simply can’t access.
Gentle Gum Massage: The pulsating water could encourage blood circulation in your gums, which might contribute to the general health of your gums.
Convenience Factor: For some people, water flossers are simply more enjoyable to use than traditional floss, and if it makes it more likely they’ll do it, that’s a good thing.
This brings us to the bathtub analogy. Dental plaque is much like soap scum in how resolute it is in staying put. Both are biofilms that accumulate there over time, both are not easily removed via rinsing, and both need to be abraded away to be effective.
Multiple studies have shown that while water flossers can reduce gingivitis (gum inflammation), they’re significantly less effective at removing plaque compared to traditional string floss. The American Dental Association has consistently maintained that mechanical plaque removal – the kind you get from the scrubbing action of floss – remains the gold standard for interdental cleaning.
Think about it this way: if water pressure alone could remove plaque, wouldn’t aggressive rinsing or powerful electric toothbrushes solve all our problems? The reality is that plaque removal requires the physical disruption that only comes from something actually scraping against the tooth surface.
Social media has a way of making complicated health topics seem simple, and oral care is no exception. Water flossers are visually impressive – there’s something satisfying about watching debris get blasted away by a stream of water. They’re also easier to demonstrate in a 60-second video than the proper technique for traditional flossing.
In addition, many people find traditional flossing tedious, uncomfortable, or difficult to master, and you have the perfect storm for a product that promises an easier solution to go viral.
The most honest answer about water flossers versus traditional floss is that they serve different purposes, and ideally, you’d use both. Traditional floss remains unmatched for removing sticky plaque from between teeth, while water flossers excel at flushing out loose debris and providing additional gum stimulation.
If you had to choose just one (perhaps due to budget constraints or travel considerations), dental professionals consistently recommend traditional floss for its superior plaque removal capabilities. Remember, preventing cavities and gum disease is primarily about removing plaque, not just achieving that fresh, clean feeling.
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Before jumping on any oral care trend, consider your specific needs:
Just like you wouldn’t rely on water alone to clean your bathtub, you shouldn’t rely solely on water pressure to clean between your teeth. While water flossers can be a valuable addition to your oral care routine, they’re not a replacement for the mechanical plaque removal that traditional floss provides.
The best oral hygiene routine is one you’ll actually stick with consistently. Whether that includes a water flosser, traditional floss, or both, the key is making interdental cleaning a non-negotiable part of your daily routine.
