Monday, March 19, 2012

Chew, chew, chomp chomp

I have deep pockets. They're not as deep as they used to be.

No, I'm not talking about money. I'm talking about dentistry. Teeth. Those things you chew with. (See how I got that related to food already. Sneaky, eh?)

I recently got an opportunity to review the WaterPik Ultra Flosser and I leaped on that opportunity. You see, I've been using one for a while, and what-the-heck, it's good to have a backup.

Let's go back a few years, shall we? When I moved to Colorado, I had a bit of a hard time finding a dentist that I liked. Tried one, wasn't happy, tried another ... again ... not so great. Had a really bad dental experience at one place ... So I kept dentist-hopping.

I really liked my previous dentist, the one I was going to before I moved here, but for some reason I had trouble finding someone I was comfortable with here. 

And I'll admit that in between dentist-shopping excursions, I might have skipped an appointment or two, until I landed at my current dentist who told me. "You have some deep pockets."

I can guarantee that he wasn't talking about my ability to pay. Behind my back teeth, way back there where it's hard to brush, there were some spots where my gums weren't quite doing the job they were supposed to do. Pockets. Not good.

A WaterPik was recommended, and it was suggested that I add a good antiseptic mouthwash to the water to help clean out below the gum line, because there's no way to floss there. Uh uh. Nope. Floss just doesn't do the job. So I followed his advice and got the WaterPik Ultra Flosser, and used it daily.

And, gee, surprise, little by little, those deep pockets became shallow pockets. I still have some work to do, but it's great to be seeing improvement with each visit to the dentist. It would have been better if I'd been using a WaterPik three or four dentists ago. But none of them suggest it. Good thing I finally found this one.

A WaterPik would have been great way back in the stone age when I had braces, too. The pulses of water would have made it sooooo much easier cleaning around that mouth full of metal, that's for darned sure. Are braces still metal these days? Maybe not, but I'll bet they're still not fun to keep clean.

So if I've been using a WaterPik for a while, why did I want to do a review to get another one?

Well, things break. Or they wear out. Or clumsy people drop them. After a lot of use, my original WaterPik is still running strong, but I know that sooner or later I'll need to replace it.

And doing this review was a no-brainer. It's a product I know and I like, so I've got NO PROBLEM recommending it.

You need your teeth to eat. You wanna take care of 'em, right? I know I do.

The funny thing is that I knew this device existed years ago, but until the dentist recommended it, I never thought about buying one. To be honest, I thought it was some sort of gimmick. I'm here to tell you it isn't - it really works. And it's cheaper than dental work.
  • There's more info from the manufacturer here.
  • If you want to do a little shopping, WaterPik coupons and promotions are here.
  • You can follow the company on Twitter at @waterpik.
  • Find them on Facebook.
  • And here's a video on YouTube.

For the purposes of this review and post, I received a WaterPik Ultra Flosser and a small monetary compensation.
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