Is a water flosser better than dental floss?
Neither is better for everyone. Floss and interdental brushes scrape sticky plaque off the sides of the teeth; a water flosser rinses debris away and is easier to use around braces, bridges and implants. Research suggests all three may reduce gum inflammation when added to brushing, with interdental brushes doing well where they fit. At Creative Arts in Dubai, the hygiene team shows you which tool and size suits each gap.
Who treats you here Dr. Duaa Ameen General Dentist · Dr. Julia General Dentist · Dr. Taban Ameen Dentist
Every dentist’s licence can be checked on the DHA Sheryan medical directory.
Why does cleaning between teeth matter if you brush well?
Each tooth has five surfaces: the biting surface, the cheek side, the tongue side and two contact sides where it touches its neighbours. Even careful brushing reaches the first three well and the contact sides poorly, because the bristles cannot get into the narrow space below the point where two teeth touch. That space is sheltered, stays undisturbed for long periods and is exactly where plaque matures.
Two problems tend to start there. Gum inflammation often begins in the small triangle of gum between the teeth, which is why bleeding is usually first noticed when flossing rather than brushing. Decay between the teeth can also develop out of sight and is often only found on X-rays, by which time a filling may be needed. Cleaning between the teeth once a day disrupts the plaque before it can do either.
This guide covers the tools for that job. How to brush the other three surfaces is explained in our guide to how to brush your teeth properly.
Floss, interdental brushes or a water flosser: how do they compare?
Each tool reaches the space between teeth differently. Many people end up using two: one for tight contacts and one for wider gaps or around dental work.
| Tool | How it cleans | Works best for | Limitations |
|---|---|---|---|
| String floss or tape | Scrapes plaque off the contact sides of two teeth and just below the gum | Tight contacts between healthy teeth with no gaps | Needs technique and practice; hard to use with braces, bridges or limited hand movement |
| Floss picks | The same scraping action, held in a small plastic handle | People who find wrapping floss around fingers difficult | Harder to curve around each tooth; reuse the same section and you move plaque around |
| Interdental brushes | A small bristled brush pushed through the gap, cleaning both tooth surfaces and the gum between | Visible gaps, gum recession, under bridges, around implants and fixed retainers | Each gap needs the right size; a brush too large hurts, one too small misses plaque |
| Water flosser (oral irrigator) | A pulsing jet of water flushes debris and loosens soft plaque along the gum and between teeth | Braces, bridges, implants, crowded areas and anyone who struggles with floss | Rinses rather than scrapes, so it removes sticky plaque less reliably at tight contacts; needs power and water |
| Wooden toothpicks | Dislodge trapped food | Removing an obvious piece of food in an emergency | Not recommended for daily cleaning; they can damage the gum |
There is no single correct tool. The one you will use properly every day is better than a technically superior one left in the drawer.
How do you floss properly, step by step?
Most people who say flossing does not work are snapping the floss straight down onto the gum and pulling it out again. That removes food but leaves most of the plaque. The technique that cleans the contact surfaces looks like this:
- Take about 40 cm of floss and wind most of it around the middle finger of one hand and a little around the other, leaving a short working section between your thumbs and index fingers.
- Ease it through the contact point with a gentle sawing movement. Do not snap it down onto the gum.
- Curve it into a C-shape around one tooth and slide it gently just under the gum line, where you feel slight resistance.
- Move it up and down the side of the tooth two or three times, then curve it around the neighbouring tooth and repeat. Each gap has two surfaces to clean.
- Use a fresh section for each gap, and do not forget the back surface of the last tooth in each row.
Once a day is enough. NHS advice is that it is best to floss before brushing, so the fluoride toothpaste then reaches the surfaces you have just cleaned. Expect it to take a few minutes at first and less with practice.
When are interdental brushes the better choice?
Where there is space between the teeth, an interdental brush usually cleans better than floss because its bristles fill the gap and touch both tooth surfaces and the concave areas floss slides over. That makes it the usual first choice after gum recession, around bridges and implants, behind a fixed retainer and for anyone with wider gaps. NHS guidance notes that interdental brushes can be used instead of flossing.
Size is what makes them work. The brush should fit snugly, pass through without forcing and without bending the wire, and you may need two or three sizes for different parts of the mouth. Push it in gently, move it in and out a few times, and replace it when the bristles flatten. If a brush will not go through without force, that gap is a floss gap.
Gaps change over time, for example as inflamed gums tighten after treatment, so it is worth having the sizes checked at your hygiene visits.
What does the evidence say about water flossers?
The most thorough summary is a 2019 Cochrane review of 35 trials of cleaning between the teeth in addition to brushing. It found low-certainty evidence that flossing may reduce gum inflammation compared with brushing alone, and that interdental brushes may reduce it more than floss. For water flossers (oral irrigators), it found very low-certainty evidence of less gum inflammation after one month, with no clear effect on plaque. The authors rated the evidence as low to very low certainty overall, and no trial measured decay between the teeth.
In practical terms, a water flosser is a reasonable tool, particularly where floss is hard to use, but it is not automatically better than floss or interdental brushes for someone who already uses them well. To get the most from one:
- Start on the lowest pressure and increase gradually.
- Lean over the sink, close your lips around the tip and aim it at the gum line at about a right angle.
- Trace along the gum line, pausing briefly between each pair of teeth, on the outside and inside of both arches.
- Use it in addition to brushing, never instead of it.
Which tool suits braces, implants, bridges and other situations?
A guide to common starting points. Your hygienist or dentist can tailor it after looking at your gaps.
| Your situation | Usually works well | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed braces | Interdental brushes under the wire, plus a water flosser if you like it | Floss is slow to thread under the wire; small brushes reach around each bracket |
| Dental implants | Interdental brushes sized for the implant, or a water flosser along the gum | Plaque around implants can inflame the gum and bone, and the crown shape often leaves wider gaps |
| A fixed bridge | Interdental brushes or a floss threader under the false tooth, or a water flosser | Plaque collects under the bridge where ordinary floss cannot pass |
| Tight contacts, healthy gums | String floss or tape | Interdental brushes will not fit; floss is the tool designed for it |
| Gum recession or open gaps | Interdental brushes in two or three sizes | Brushes fill the space and clean concave root surfaces |
| Arthritis or limited hand movement | Floss picks, interdental brushes with long handles or a water flosser | Easier grip, so cleaning actually happens daily |
| Food keeps trapping in one place | Floss or a brush there, plus a dental check | A repeatedly packing gap can mean a broken filling, decay or an open contact |
For professional cleaning during orthodontic treatment, see teeth cleaning with braces; for implants, see implant cleaning.
Is it normal for gums to bleed when you start flossing?
Yes, in the first week or two. Gums that bleed when you floss or use a water flosser are usually already inflamed by plaque, and the bleeding shows where cleaning has been missing. With daily cleaning, healthy gum usually firms up and the bleeding settles within about two weeks. Stopping because of the bleeding lets the inflammation continue.
It is worth a check if the bleeding does not settle after two weeks of gentle daily cleaning, if gums are swollen, receding or tender, if you notice bad breath that does not go away or teeth that feel loose, or if bleeding starts from one particular spot. These can be signs that inflammation has gone below the gum and needs professional treatment, as explained on our bleeding gums page. Bleeding that is heavy or hard to stop, or that comes with easy bruising elsewhere, needs a doctor as well as a dentist.
Not sure which gaps you are missing? A professional cleaning with disclosing dye shows exactly where plaque is left, and the hygiene team can size interdental brushes for you.
See professional teeth cleaningHow does a professional cleaning help with flossing at home?
Home cleaning and professional cleaning do different jobs. Floss, brushes and water flossers remove soft plaque every day; once plaque hardens into tartar, none of them can remove it. At Creative Arts, cleaning follows the Guided Biofilm Therapy approach, which starts by colouring the plaque with a disclosing solution. That step is useful for home care too: it shows exactly which gaps your current routine misses, so the advice you get is about your mouth rather than general rules. Our guide to Guided Biofilm Therapy explains the full sequence.
How often you need professional cleaning depends on how quickly tartar builds up and on the health of your gums; how often to have your teeth cleaned explains how the interval is set. If you are wondering whether a rinse could replace cleaning between the teeth, our mouthwash guide explains what rinses can and cannot do.