This Cheapie Waterpik Might Finally Get You to Floss
The first time I used my Waterpik Cordless Express was nothing short of a disaster.
Water shot from the water flosser with alarming intensity—which makes sense, considering that the stream needs to be strong enough to effectively clear the gunk from between teeth. Still, I wasn’t prepared for the immediate waterworks.
My first mistake was turning on the flosser before sticking it in my mouth. Water instantly sprayed from the spout, soaking my shirt, splattering against the mirror, puddling on my countertop. No surface was safe from the stream of water propelling across my bathroom.
This handheld, battery-operated cordless model is more portable than its corded counterparts—and it’s waterproof, so it can go into the shower with you.
Even once I’d gotten a handle on using the Waterpik, I still managed to create mayhem. To be fair, I knew that using a water flosser was going to be messy, even if I was using it correctly. As Wirecutter’s guide explains, the flossers we recommend dispense a continuous stream and fill your mouth with water rapidly, which essentially requires you to learn to drool neatly. There is little I can do gracefully, and as it turns out, drooling is not one of those things. I learned quickly that if you’re not consciously leaning over the sink with your head angled while maneuvering the tool around your mouth, you’re drooling on yourself. Little feels as icky as a stream of slobber snaking down your chin and neck into your pajama top.
Going cordless is about more than just convenience
To mitigate the chaos, I now use my waterproof, handheld Waterpik Cordless Express only when I’m in the shower—and, for me, there’s no better place to floss. Some people might even call me the Floss Boss. (Note: No one but my editor calls me this.)
The Waterpik Cordless Express also happens to be the only cordless flosser of our official picks, though the pricier $79 Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000 also has fans among our staff. Supervising editor Tracy Vence said she prefers the Sonicare for its more capacious basin: “You can clean your whole mouth without having to refill mid-floss.”
With a cordless flosser, It’s actually feasible to take the thing into the shower (unlike bulkier models, which need to be plugged in). Showering with a Waterpik is great for all the obvious reasons. It’s virtually mess-free, considering that the shower is the one place in the house where water everywhere isn’t an issue. And I find refilling the water reservoir by sticking it under the showerhead to be convenient and easy, especially since I need to refill the canister at least once to floss my entire mouth.
And the device is easy to clean—I can just toss the reservoir in the dishwasher.
But the hidden benefit of keeping my slim Waterpik flosser in the shower is that I actually use it when I see it there. Remembering to floss was never my strong suit—it’s why I ended up investing in the Waterpik in the first place—but keeping the flosser on the counter wasn’t going to serve as an adequate reminder if I never wanted to use it for fear of making a mess. Tucked between bottles of shampoo and body wash, my Waterpik is hard to ignore while I’m going through the motions of showering. Now that I’ve removed the mess from the equation, I have no excuse not to floss.
If you're tidy, try a plug-in pick
The more dextrous among us might want to try one of the Waterpik countertop models that we recommend. The Waterpik Ion Water Flosser is our top pick for several reasons: First, thanks to its cordless charger, you don’t need a sink-adjacent outlet to use this model. It also comes with a wide variety of pressure settings, stream widths, and spray tips. And our testers found that it left their mouths feeling the cleanest. Our runner-up pick, the Waterpik Aquarius Water Flosser, is just as effective at cleaning as the Ion but is fully corded and takes up more space on a counter, shelf, or sink top.
No matter what kind of flosser you choose, just remember that you deserve to have a bathroom that’s as clean as your teeth when you’re done using it.
An earlier version of this article was edited by Catherine Kast and Christine Cyr Clisset. This version was edited by Rachelle Bergstein.
Further reading
If You Hate Floss, It’s Okay to Try These Alternatives
by Sarah Witman
Experts with the ADA and the CDC told us five things to try if you hate regular floss—and what you should avoid.
Most People Don’t Need This Fancy Toothbrush Feature. But I Do.
by Phillip Zminda
My dentist told me I’m brushing so hard that my gums are receding. My toothbrush’s pressure sensor is teaching me to brush right and keeping my gums healthy.
The Best Electric Toothbrush
by Nancy Redd
We’ve tested 66 electric toothbrushes in hundreds of trials at the bathroom sink. The minimalist yet effective Oral-B Pro 1000 is our top pick.
How to Remove Coffee Stains on Clothes, Furniture, and Teeth
by Sarah Bogdan
Coffee stains are easy to get out—if you attend to them early. Here are tips for removing stains from clothes, upholstery, and teeth.
