It's floss, but I'm not so sure it's super! (Oral B Super Floss)

Member Name: bamamo

Product:	Oral B Super Floss
Date:	23/07/09 (21 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Easy to thread using braces, more comfortable during orthodontic treatment when teeth can be tender

Disadvantages: Fibres come loose and stick to braces, expensive, perhaps not very thorough

Since I got braces in April, I have discovered all kinds of weird and wonderful dental products I didn't use before. Admittedly, I was pretty lazy with my tooth-brushing routine, although somehow dentists always marvelled at how clean they were and how, at 24, I don't have a single cavity. Anyway, I realised that I couldn't afford to be lazy any more, unless I wanted gross stained teeth by the time the hardware, as I like to call it, comes off. So interdental brushes, fluoride mouthwash and flossing was in.

Unfortunately, flossing is not so straightforward when you have a wire running across your teeth. Threading floss between each tooth can be incredibly time consuming, and a little fiddly when it gets towards the back of your mouth. What's more, normal dental floss or tape is thin and floppy, which makes aiming it under a wire quite tricky. Add to that the pain that occurs when flossing some teeth in movement with a regular floss, and you've got a bit of a problem.

Enter Superfloss. It's geared towards for people with braces or a bridge, or even those with particularly small gaps between their teeth who find regular flossing uncomfortable. The design is pretty different, with each strand individually cut rather than it being on a roll dispenser. Each piece has one stiffened end which acts as a needle when threading underneath the wire. The rest of the strand is a spongy sort of weave of fibres rather than being one rigid piece, so it squashes into smaller places and is more forgiving to sore teeth during orthodontic treatment.

In theory, a great idea, but unfortunately it has a few downfalls. First of all, despite it being aimed towards brace-wearers, it can be a bit of a nightmare as the fibres easily come loose and stick to brackets. It is incredibly annoying trying to pick tiny strands of thread from your grill, and kind of defeats the purpose of flossing to begin with!

This also means that instead of a more traditional back-and-forth flossing motion, you pretty much have to just pull the floss in one way and out the other in one go so that it doesn't make contact with brackets. Somehow I feel this isn't necessarily as thorough at cleaning the sides of the teeth, although it does of course dislodge any food which may be stuck.

The other problem? The price! I couldn't remember exactly how much I paid, and when I got this I was taking advantage of a conveniently-timed 3 for 2 offer at Boots, but when I looked it up online I was a little surprised. A box of 50 strands is currently priced at £2.33, which is after a 1/3 off promotion on Oral-B products currently. The regular price is £3.49, which I believe is around what I paid - for a box of 30! That's hardly fair! I remember thinking it was a little ridiculous a price, but when you consider that flossing with braces regardless of what you're using is going to take an age, this is more like a product to use once or twice a week. Still best to find it on offer, though, and incidentally you will probably only find this in larger chemists with a wide dental range.

While this is a novel idea and I have certainly been able to floss a lot quicker and more comfortably than had I been using a standard floss or tape, I generally get at least one strand stuck in a flossing session, which is annoying and time-consuming to fix, not to mention could break something on my braces if I tugged too hard. Not only that, but it is pretty pricey. As it's not completely impossible to floss using a regular tape, and there are "floss threaders" available for people in my predicament, I probably won't be buying this again.

Summary: I think I'll just use normal floss and take a bit longer!