While technology can improve many things, some remain deliberately old school. Dental floss, for instance, but there are electric solutions, as Panasonic shows.
You can probably name several things in your life that technology has changed — the way you listen to music, how you communicate with friends, how you watch TV — but some things can feel Iike they stay the same.
Flossing your teeth is one of those, because while some things have changed, typically we’re still doing that the same way. Your toothbrush might be electric and wirelessly charged — it might even have Bluetooth — but if you’re flossing, there’s a good chance you’re still doing it with some string dispensed from a small plastic container.
Technology has changed flossing slightly over the years, though only if you’ve looked into it.
While there are picks you can use, there are also small contraptions that shoot little jets of water into your teeth, pushing out the bits of food and other gunk that get stuck in your teeth and have the potential to cause long term damage, such as gum disease. In fact, with research showing around a quarter of Australian adults aged 35 to 54 having some form of gum disease, it may be quite important to get it checked out.
Locally, Panasonic is joining the electric approach to going on the defensive against gum disease, building an Ultrasonic Portable Oral Irrigator, a product which has the rather unsexy name of the Panasonic EW1511, and yet is built to deal with flossing without the cord. Essentially, it’s a water-based flosser, providing a way of dealing with flossing by using a gentle water-based approach as opposed to traditional wiry flossing.
Panasonic’s approach is to use tiny water jets with what the company calls “micro bubbles”, small bubbles shot from the unit that force food debris and junk from your teeth, including bacteria found around your teeth. It’s an approach Panasonic says improves gum care by stimulating the gums, while dealing with both interdental cleaning (the regular flossing) and periodontal pocket cleaning (the bacteria), while also handling the surface of the teeth, too.
“We know consumers are concerned about their dental health and the appearance of their smile, so we have developed a flosser which not only deep cleans and improves oral health, but also keeps the surface of teeth looking bright,” said Tory Rooney, Product Marketing Manager for Personal Care at Panasonic in Australia.
The Panasonic Ultrasonic Oral Irrigator is also waterproof, portable, and rechargeable, making it ideal for both in and our of the shower, similar to many an electric toothbrush, but that’s one area Panasonic doesn’t have products in for Australia.
Panasonic Australia told Pickr that while it does have electric toothbrushes overseas, in Australia, the company “is focusing on their oral irrigator range at this time”.
At $199.95, the Panasonic EW1511 Oral Irrigator isn’t going to be an option for all, but if you’re wondering if you can share it between family members, Panasonic says it comes with two interchangeable nozzles to let two people share the same main unit. Like toothbrushes, it’s not advised to share the same nozzle with other people, and to just go with one per person.
