Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

A periodontist recommended I try the Water Pik about 6 years ago, and I have used it ever since with great success for maintaining healthy gums--in particular for one problem molar. At that time, due to years of use of a Sonicare Essence electric toothbrush and flossing after every meal, as well as regular dental checkups and professional cleaning of my teeth two-three times per year, all of my gums were healthy--except for an area around one back molar, which developed a deep pocket of 7 mm. (normal is 3 mm.) My dentist recommended a gum graft with an oral surgeon, but this didn't fix the problem. Soon after the surgery, the pocket started coming back and, within months, was as bad as it had been before the surgery. Because the pocket continued to exist, I began to experience bone loss--which is a slippery slope to losing the tooth entirely. Another oral surgeon performed a bone graft on the tooth, but it continued to lose bone because of the big pocket. Fortunately, I went to a different periodontist than the one who had done the original gum graft about the problem, and he informed me that these Waterpik Pocket Tips would greatly help with this ongoing gum-pocket situation. He said that he and many other periodontists had lobbied Waterpik for years to create Pocket Tips before they were available on the market in the belief--since borne out--that they would be a tremendous boon to anyone wanting to prevent or actually heal periodontal disease. A regular Waterpik attachment simply can't adequately clean out gum pockets. My periodontist told me to do the following as I used the Pocket Tips: After cleaning between my teeth with the regular tip attachment on the Waterpik, remove and clean it, then attach the Pocket Tip. Empty all but about an inch of water in the water container. Then add to the water a capful at most of 3% solution hydrogen peroxide (which you can get in any drugstore). Stir it to mix it well (you can use the Pocket Tip to do this if you are gentle and don't let it touch anything but the water, avoiding banging it into the sides of the container). Run the Waterpik a moment to get all the plain water out of the tubes. Then place the Pocket Tip's point directly inside the problem gum pocket, turn on the Water Pik at a fairly low level (the narrow opening of the Pocket Tip will slow down the speed of the water in and of itself), and let it run until the water is gone. Using this therapeutic intervention, within a couple of months my pocket reduced to 4 mm. and a few months after that to a normal 3 mm. It has been 3 mm. ever since and there has been no more bone loss or gum receding--and no more danger of losing my tooth! In the years since, whenever I get a checkup and the dentist tells me that any particular gum is starting to develop a pocket, I simply start using the Pocket Tip in that tooth's pocket, too, and voila! It soon goes back to a normal 3 mm. as well. Waterpik in general, and this little attachment in particular, are a miracle invention, and I can't recommend them highly enough. By the way, I have received differing opinions from dentists on the safety of using hydrogen peroxide inside the mouth in this manner. One dentist told me that using undiluted 3% solution hydrogen peroxide as a mouthwash on a regular basis has been linked with developing mouth cancer. But I've also been told that using a small amount such as described above that is highly diluted and aimed at one small spot in the mouth is not particularly dangerous. In addition, one dentist told me that there are anaerobic bacteria in the notch of the bone of my tooth that has been exposed by that pocket for years, and the oxygen in the hydrogen peroxide kills them like almost nothing else can. Regardless of whether you use hydrogen peroxide, it is crucial to have a dentist who is competent to assess early signs of mouth cancer--and sadly, not all dentists actually make such assessments during a routine examination.