I realize this is a pretty old thread, but I found it upon Googling waterpik and hydrogen peroxide
I'm not a dentist or dental student, but a 40-something computer programmer who's had some pereo issues, so I thought I'd post here and see if anyone had any insight for a 'layman.'
Throughout my 20's and 30's I was not very good about flossing, or even brushing for that matter. Even so, have had no cavities for at least 15 years I think. However, I've had to get scaling done both in my late 20's and early 40's, specifically last year. My dentist had concern over a deep pocket in the backmost tooth on the upper left, and said there was bone loss, but wanted to check back a few months later after I'd healed a bit from the scaling. Unfortunately I had to switch jobs and insurance and now have no dental, ugh.
Since last year, I've been pretty good about flossing and would say on average over the past year I probably did it at least 4, maybe 5 days a week.
My father-in-law lives with us and he has lost most of his teeth, unfortunately, but told me about what he's done to manage to keep his last remaining few. He had heard somewhere (this was back 10-20 years ago perhaps?) that using a waterpik-like device with hydrogen peroxide could be very effective and so started doing this. He claims that before he started, these few remaining teeth were really not in good shape, kind of loose and he really feared they'd all be lost. Well, he started using this and he still has them, and they're in good shape now. I know, it's anecdotal, but like him, my thought is, it probably is not going to hurt and could possibly help, so why not? Hydrogen peroxide is very cheap, and you don't have to use a ton of it.
So I finally got one on sale at Target a couple of weeks ago and have basically been switching off so that every night I at least brush, but I also alternate between flossing and the waterpik - usually floss two days in a row, followed by waterpik on the third day and repeat. Sometimes this varies a bit, but in general I stick to that. I've wondered if I should just do the waterpik every day, or even do both flossing and waterpik. My only concern about doing both would be that it already can take a while to brush, waterpik, then rinse with mouthwash, and adding flossing to that means a good 15 minutes or more. Given that I've had trouble in the past motivating myself just to brush, let alone floss, I don't want to present too many hurdles.
Responding to some of your points in this thread: when I was at my dentist last year and talking to him (or maybe to the hygenist) about flossing, their take, at least for someone with pereo issues, was that the main benefit of flossing was not so much in removing particles from between your teeth, but in actually stimulating your gums, and stimulating them helped them stay healthy. Or at least it was AS important as removing stuff. Not sure how accurate that was, or perhaps I'm not remembering it or didn't understand it well enough, but in any case, my thought given the question of which is better, flossing or waterpik, is since I don't know (and since the studies don't seem to be definitive yet), why not do both, just on alternate days? That way if one is better than the other, you are kind of splitting the difference, right?
As far as those who wonder how water could be as effective as floss, I'd just suggest you TRY one of these devices. The strength that it pushes water into your teeth and gums can be pretty great. I general, my mouth feels a lot cleaner after a session with the waterpik than it does with flossing. Flossing can remove particles between teeth, but it doesn't feel like it's cleaning as deeply with as good a coverage as the waterpik.
One final question is that the waterpik manual says something about using mouthwash (it doesn't mention hydrogen peroxide), so I'm wondering if anyone's every tried that and how those two different substances can differ in terms of their effects on your teeth and gums.
Thanks!
