An oral irrigator is basically a jet wash for the mouth, using pressurized water to clean bio-film (plaque) and food debris from between the teeth and around the gum margin. Also referred to as Water Jet’s, Irrigators are particularly useful for those who struggle to clean effectively with a toothbrush and floss alone. You can find out more about oral irrigator and its benefits in this article What is an oral irrigator?

There are a broad range of oral irrigators in the market that fall into the following categories:

1. Counter Top Water  Irrigators: This are mains powered units and with large water reservoirs with sufficient capacity for multiple uses. A flexible tube connects the reservoir to the handle. The flow of water and/or mouthwash is controlled firstly by a variable setting on the unit and also commonly by a button on the handle. Waterpik provides various such models.
   
   
2. Cordless Water Irrigators: These devices contain a re-chargeable battery and have a water reservoir built into the handle. While these are as powerful as the counter top units, they tend to have few power setting and are a little less reliable. These are ideal for those who do not have a shaver socket in their bathroom or travel regularly. Sonicare AirFloss is one such model.

 So what oral irrigator should you buy? Some of the best on the market are:

• Waterpik® Ultra Water Flosser WP100 – with a large enough reservoir for 4 uses, 10 pressure setting and 6 different tips this is unit ticks most boxes. They only downside is that this unit will not run off a UK shaver socket and therefore needs to be used outside of the bathroom….could get a little messy!
• Waterpik® Nano Water Flosser WP250 – slightly smaller and quieter than the WP100 this is an extremely cost effective irrigator. Though with fewer power setting than the WP100 it can importantly can be used in the bathroom off a 2-pin shaver plug.
• Kitty Water® Jet Oral Irrigator -– is the Kitty the most powerful irrigator on them market and also uniquely applies a magnetically charge to the fluid that is clinically proven to be almost twice as effective in plaque removal as unmagnetised units. While the highest price of all the irrigators reviewed the Kitty Hydrofloss is the most effective and highly reliable.
• Philips Sonicare AirFloss® HX8111/2 – as a new entrant to the market reliability is unknown, however being Philips the quality should not be a problem. This unit uses patented microburst technology to cleaning interdental spaces, requiring only a fraction of the fluid of other irrigators. This is significant in two ways; firstly you don’t end up with fluid cascading out of your mouth and secondly it makes it affordable to use your mouthwash of choice as an alternative to water, should you wish to do so.
• Waterpik Ultra Cordless® WP450 – to date the most popular of the rechargeable units this irrigator has much going for it, it is; affordable, powerful and flexible as it comes with 4 tips to perform a variety of functions. Reliability has been an issue, but the unit does come with a 2 year warrantee.
• Panasonic Dentacare® EW1211 – the most powerful of the cordless irrigators, is well made and robust. This unit comes with a recharging stand and has 3 power settings to meet most requirements.

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