A water flosser, also known as an oral irrigator or a Waterpik (which is actually a brand name), is a bathroom countertop appliance that shoots a concentrated stream of water at your teeth and gums to remove food remnants and plaque. After 2 weeks of testing 12 different water flossers, I found that the best water flosser overall is the Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000. For brand purists, the Waterpik Aquarius Professional was the best Waterpik (you can also get the near-identical Waterpik Aquarius, which comes with a few less features). If you want the best portable water flosser, I recommend the Quip Rechargeable Cordless Water Flosser. And if you’re looking to spend a bit less, go with the Waterpik Ultra for the best value water flosser.
Here are the best water flossers I found after weeks of testing:
- Best Water Flosser Overall: Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000
- The Best Overall Waterpik-Brand Water Flosser: Waterpik Aquarius Water Flosser
- The Best Upgrade Waterpik: Waterpik Aquarius Professional Water Flosser
- The Best Portable Water Flosser: Quip Rechargeable Water Flosser
- The Best Value Waterpik: Waterpik Ultra Water Flosser
If you feel guilty when your dentist asks about your flossing habits, or you find traditional floss too fiddly or uncomfortable to use, then a water flosser may be for you. They’re great for folks with orthodontics who want to get in between all the nooks and crannies of their braces, and people with limited grip strength who may struggle with small pieces of floss. However, there’s still debate about how effective water flossers are. They’re more expensive than traditional floss, they are often loud and they take up precious space in your bathroom. But a lot of people prefer them to traditional floss—and any oral hygiene tool that you’re going to use consistently is better than one that you won’t.
To read more about the winners, check out my Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000 review and Waterpik Aquarius review. And if you’re looking for the best electric toothbrush to go with your flosser, Forbes Vetted recommends the Oral-B Pro 1000 Rechargeable Electric Toothbrush.
The Best Water Flosser Overall
Shh, It's Quieter Than A Waterpik
Dimensions: 5.4 x 4 x 11 inches | Capacity: 19 fluid ounces | Warranty: 2 years | Power levels: 10
Best for:
- Those who want the quietest water flosser they can find
- Lots of pressure settings
Skip if:
- Space is tight in your bathroom
- You want to refill the water reservoir as infrequently as possible
After two weeks of testing water flossers, I found that for most people, the best option is the Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000. Most water flossers do a comparable job of cleaning your mouth, with similar pressure levels, ergonomics and general usability. But the Power Flosser 3000 stood out because it’s notably quieter than any other model. And that matters when you’re holding something next to your head for the recommended twice-daily sessions for the foreseeable future. It’s also easy to use, has a large enough reservoir and has 10 pressure settings to choose from.
Choosing between water flossers can feel like much of a muchness. Most of them look all but identical, regardless of brand. They’re white rectangles with a water reservoir at the top and a pick attached via hose, and they take up just a bit too much space in your bathroom. The Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000 hits all the beats of a great water flosser: The reservoir is large enough to last you multiple uses per day, it’s easy to fill up with more water when you need to and the controls are eminently straightforward.
What separates the Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000 from every other countertop water flosser I tested is that it runs notably quieter than the competition. Part of this is due to a fundamental difference in how it uses its water pump. With a Waterpik, the pump activates as soon as you turn on the base of the device, even if you’re not actively shooting water at your gumline. With the Power Flosser 3000, the pump activates only when you press the button on the handle, which is usually only when it’s in your mouth. This means less ambient noise while you’re not actively water flossing. And even when the pump is going, it’s quieter than most other water flossers, especially on the lower pressure settings.
Philips Sonicare water flossers have built-in timers that give you a 1-second break every 15 seconds, so that if you’re trying to floss for a specific amount of time, you can know to move to a different area of your mouth. For those who don’t like that feature, it can be disabled by holding the on/off button and the mode button together for five seconds.
Water flossing left my mouth feeling decidedly cleaner. The tool excelled at clearing food remnants that were wedged in there—if you’ve ever had a popcorn kernel or seed really cemented into the crenulations of your teeth, a water flosser is definitely the best thing for clearing it out. But as with manual flossing, you still need to do it regularly. Like most of the healthcare items in my bathroom, it was easy to ignore after the initial glow wore off.
There are some reports in user reviews of units breaking down, or of hoses leaking. These reports are common across many, if not all, water flossers—and are found in anything that pumps water, if we’re being honest. Ask people with aquariums. The Power Flosser 3000 comes with a 2-year warranty, which should cover these issues.
Unlike many Waterpiks I tested, the Power Flosser 3000 doesn’t allow you to rotate the tip in place to get the perfect angle of approach. This can be handy if you like having the tip angled a specific way from your grip, say for getting behind your molars. However, the handle was small and nimble enough that this didn’t give me any problems.
One word of caution: The plug on this model is short and wide, and it may block other plugs, depending on how they’re configured in your bathroom.
Philips Sonicare is the only brand other than Waterpik that currently has the ADA seal on its products, marking their safety.
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The Best Overall Waterpik-Brand Water Flosser
Costs Less For A Few Less Features
Waterpik Aquarius Professional Water Flosser
Dimensions: 4.7 x 3.8 x 10.35 inches| Capacity: 22 fluid ounces | Warranty: 3 years | Power levels: 10
Best for:
- People who want a basic, Waterpik-branded water flosser
- Waterpik’s generous 3-year warranty
Skip if:
- You want a storage case for extra tips
- You want LED indicators on your water flosser
The Best Upgrade Waterpik
For Brand Loyalists
Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.5 x 11.25 inches | Capacity: 22 fluid ounces | Warranty: 3 years | Power levels: 10
Best for:
- People who want lots of included tips
- A generous 3-year warranty
- You want to stick with Waterpik
Skip if:
- Space is at a premium
- You don’t want to disturb your roommate or your partner
If you want to stick with the best-known brand for water flossers, the Waterpik Aquarius Professional is the best upgrade Waterpik you can get. It has a 22-ounce reservoir (compared to the Power Flosser 3000’s 19-ounce reservoir) and comes with seven tips, in a variety of shapes as well as a few repeats of the standard ones. It even has a handy little compartment next to the reservoir that holds two tips when they’re not in use, so you don’t have them floating around a drawer alongside a disused emery board and ancient bar of soap. Also in its favor is that it has a knurled pressure control knob, which is easy to maneuver when your hands inevitably get wet from the business of water flossing. If you want a slightly more basic model that costs a bit less, the Waterpik Aquarius is nearly identical—it just doesn’t have a tip storage case or LED indicators.
But it’s impossible to overstate the difference in volume between the Waterpik Aquarius Professional and the Philips Sonicare Power Flosser 3000. The most common complaint for the Waterpik in user reviews is just how loud it is. The desire to avoid being stuck in a small, echoey bathroom with a machine that sounds like a tiny jackhammer is definitely enough to point most people to the Power Flosser 3000.
Waterpik backs up the Aquarius Professional with a three-year warranty, the longest I found in this category after weeks of research and testing. Waterpik, like Philips Sonicare, has the ADA seal on many of its products.
The Best Portable Water Flosser
Compact And Cordless
Quip Rechargeable Water Flosser
Dimensions: 1.8 x 2.5 x 10.5 inches | Capacity: 5 fluid ounces | Warranty: 1 year | Power levels: 2
Best for:
- Throwing in your bag on the way out the door
- People who want a second water flosser for traveling
Skip if:
- You want to fine-tune your water pressure
If you’re hitting the road, the best portable water flosser to throw into your bag is the Quip Rechargeable Cordless Water Flosser. The design is a simple, easy-to-use cylinder, half of which is the reservoir. With fewer buttons, knobs, protrusions or switches than almost any other water flosser, the whole thing is compact and packable. You just pop off the tip, stash it in the (empty) reservoir and you’re ready to go. It charges using a proprietary USB cable, which means that while you will need to bring an extra cable along, at least it plugs into the same charging brick as most other gadgets you likely own. I tested the metal version, but this flosser also comes in a more affordable plastic version.
Quip claims that this water flosser will last up to 8 weeks on a single charge if you use it on gentle mode. On the downside, the Quip has only two pressure modes, which is common for travel and portable flossers—most of the ones I tested either had two or three pressure settings. Countertop water flossers usually have around 10, giving more fine-grained control to the pressure, rather than just maximum and minimum. The difference between the two levels is indicated by a single LED that’s either blue or white. I found myself forgetting if it was on high or low before I started flossing, and I would be surprised by a much stronger stream in my mouth than I was expecting (for the record, white is low and blue is high).
The smooth cylindrical body also lacks any ridges or ergonomic concessions, so it could be tricky to hold when wet or if you have issues with grip strength. And though it’s water resistant, it’s not waterproof, so don’t take it into the shower.
The Quip doesn’t have the ADA Seal of Acceptance, which is a mark of safety from the American Dental Association, but the brand said it’s seeking it at time of publication.
The Best Value Waterpik
A More Affordable Flosser
Dimensions: 5.5 x 4.5 x 10.25 inches | Capacity: 22 fluid ounces | Warranty: 3 years | Power levels: 10
Best for:
- Those who want a budget-friendly countertop water flosser
- Families that will share one machine
- Flossers who want to store multiple tips
Skip if:
- You want a quieter option
For around $60, the Waterpik Ultra offers a great combination of features, plus a large 22-ounce reservoir, an attractive blobject look and large, easy-to-use controls. It has one feature that’s not even found on higher-end Waterpiks, and that’s a compartment above the reservoir that can hold four extra tips, either for your family or as a place to stash a variety of different tips. However, like most Waterpiks, it’s loud. I also found the hose that connects the handle to the base often didn’t want to coil back neatly, requiring a bit of attention to get it to sit nicely in its caddy.
MORE FROMFORBES VETTED
Other Water Flossers I Tested
Other Great Water Flossers
Waterpik Cordless Revive: This flosser (along with its sibling models, the Cordless Express and Cordless Freedom, which are almost identical) is a decent, affordable cordless option. My primary complaint was that these water flossers have only a single small port to fill their reservoirs, making them hard to fill, whereas most other water flossers let you pull off the reservoir entirely and fill it through the top. Plus, it was more awkward to move the single slider, which controlled both the on/off setting and the pressure level, compared to the buttons on other models I tested.
Waterpik Cordless Advanced: This flosser has a fascinating magnetic charger, like a MagSafe but for your bathroom. I liked that it has three power levels and extremely good ergonomics. While it still feels strong enough to clean your teeth, its maximum setting was lower than the highest on most other versions—something to keep in mind if you want the highest possible pressure. Plus the water reservoir is held in place by a sliding lock that was more fiddly and annoying to take on and off than other water flossers I tested.
Philips Sonicare Cordless Power Flosser 3000: I like that this flosser has three power levels and a clear reservoir that’s easy to fill. However, it’s loud, and I wish it had some material for extra grip, like you see on other higher-end cordless water flossers.
Smile Direct Club Space Saver Countertop Flosser: This model has a number of useful features—it can be disassembled to fit into a compact carrying format, it includes a carrying case, it’s affordable and it has suction cups on the base to help it remain in place. But it’s tricky to frequently disassemble and reassemble, and it is occasionally leak-prone. You also need to be very sure it’s dry when you’re stashing it away to prevent anything untoward from growing. And it’s a small annoyance, but it uses aging micro-USB technology for charging. Smile Direct Club water flossers also don’t have the ADA seal.
Water Flossers That Weren’t So Great
Waterpik Ion Professional: This flosser was so overwhelmingly loud that I was astonished such a small machine could create such a racket. On high settings, the handle felt like it was going to shoot out of my hand.
Waterpik Nano Plus: You can invert the reservoir and use it as a cover for the base with this flosser’s intriguing design. But when you use it normally, there’s no cover for the top of the reservoir—and there’s far too much stuff flying around bathroom air to have an open vessel of liquid that’s going to go into your mouth.
Panasonic Water Flosser EWDJ10A: This is a great idea executed terribly. This portable flosser collapses into its own reservoir for easy transportation. But it’s annoying and difficult to open and close, it has a little cavity to store the flosser’s tip in while in transit, but it’s difficult to stow the head in there as it’s an odd shape, and the controls are too stiff considering they’re damp a lot of the time.
Panasonic Water Flosser EW1511W: I was impressed that this held enough water for more than a minute of use (more than most portable models), even on high power, but the opaque reservoir means you never know quite how much water is left until you run out.
How I Tested The Best Water Flossers
Water flossers work by shooting a concentrated, high-pressure stream of water in order to clean plaque and food remnants off your teeth. Think of it like a pressure washer, but for your gums. Much like traditional floss, water flossers are a tool you use in addition to brushing, rather than as a replacement. But unlike standard floss, a water flosser gets into areas of your gums that are easy to miss while brushing.
Most water flossers are plug-in countertop appliances with a sizable water reservoir, which is connected to a small handle via a hose. From the base station, you can select a pressure setting. You aim the flosser using the handle, and water shoots out through a replaceable tip. But you’ll also find many travel and cordless versions, where a small reservoir is built into the handle of the device. These take up much less space, but they can be used only in short spurts before they run dry. They also tend to have fewer pressure settings.
I focused on features that most directly affect how you’re going to use a water flosser in the day to day. How much space do they take up? Are they comfortable to hold? How loud are they? Do they need to be refilled frequently? I also considered how many pressure settings they had—as well as how strong the highest setting was, and how gentle the lowest. Having more settings allows you to dial in the correct amount of pressure for your teeth and gums.
There were several nice-to-have features I also considered. These included swiveling tips, which are handy if you want to angle the water stream a specific way based on how you hold the flosser. I also gave bonus points to flossers that came with extra tips (for family members, or for replacement down the line), though you can always buy those after the fact.
Beyond trying out all the water flossers individually, I also timed how long cordless and portable ones took to empty their reservoirs. Most sources suggest using a flosser for a minute, so if you have to refill halfway through, that’s a major drawback. To see how effective a water flosser would be at cleaning teeth schmutz, I used the stickiest, hardest-to-clean material I could find: peanut butter powder. When this stuff dries, it’s like concrete. This test showed how well the water flossers could get into the crags and crannies of a set of artificial teeth.
Most companies sell tips in a myriad of different shapes that are specifically designed for different tasks, like the Philips Sonicare Quad Stream or the Waterpik Tongue Cleaner. Most of the tips were identical to each other, and I tested all the flossers using the standard tip.
The learning curve on a water flosser can be steep, and the first couple times you use one will doubtless be dramatic—if not traumatic. They dispense water at very high pressure, and that water has to go somewhere, ideally out of your mouth and into the sink. But just as frequently, you may find that it’s dribbled all down your front, and onto the countertops and bathroom mirror—at least until you get the hang of it. Start with water that’s too cold, and you’re in for aching teeth; start with the pressure too high, and you can very easily draw blood. After testing these over a couple weeks, I recommend using lukewarm water and the lowest pressure setting you can, and go from there.
How To Pick A Water Flosser
Before investing in a water flosser, think about whether you want to use this tool over traditional floss. For this piece, I interviewed Dr. Sally Cram, a periodontist and American Dental Association (ADA) spokesperson, and Dr. Flavia Pirih, the UCLA chair of periodontics. Both Dr. Pirih and Dr. Cram agreed that for certain people there are distinct advantages to these machines, but that most people can get by with regular floss. Water flossers are generally bulky, expensive (compared to traditional dental floss), messy to use and loud, plus they need to be cleaned regularly. But if you hate to floss or have braces or grip trouble, they’re extremely useful. And if having a small appliance staring at you on your bathroom counter makes you more likely to use it than a small container of floss tucked into a drawer, then that’s reason enough in itself.
Dr. Cram pointed out that a water flosser is “effective for people that maybe have bad manual dexterity or arthritis, older people, kids that have braces or adults that have braces. But it can also be for someone that has bigger spaces between their teeth or a very small mouth, making flossing or using something else in between not as easy to do and not as effective.” However, she cautioned, you should always consult your dentist before using a device like a water flosser. She also emphasized that what really matters for oral health is cleaning between your teeth daily, whether with floss or one of these machines.
Dr. Pirih also told me that traditional flossing is ”the gold standard” for oral hygiene, and that while water flossers are better than nothing, and good for people who specifically need them, there’s little high-quality research to demonstrate their superiority over regular floss. As she points out, “The vast majority of research papers have been supported by the companies themselves, and the journals they’re published in are questionable.”
Both periodontists pointed out the importance of looking for devices that carry the American Dental Association Seal of Acceptance, which Dr. Cram (an ADA spokesperson) explained was “put in place to basically evaluate the safety and efficacy of over-the-counter dental products.” Dr. Pirih echoed that this was a good mark of knowing a device has been tested and is safe to use. However, at the time of publication, the only companies that have this seal are Waterpik and Philips Sonicare—though Quip has other products that have the seal, and told me it’s in the process of seeking the seal for its water flosser, the brand doesn’t have a timeline for getting it at time of publication.
When you’re staring at a wall of water flossers at a big-box store or browsing online, there are a couple of things that may sway you in one direction or another. Do you want a full-size version or a portable, cordless one?
Full-size water flossers take up a larger amount of space on your bathroom counter and have a long cord that attaches to a handle. They tend to have more (and more granular) pressure settings, plus a large reservoir that you’ll need to refill less often, sometimes only every several days.
A cordless or portable water flosser will be smaller, and some are as small as an electric toothbrush. These will also have a much smaller reservoir, which means that they will need to be refilled between every use. They also have fewer pressure settings, often only two or three, and you’ll need to remember to charge them. Some use AA or AAA batteries, some USB and some proprietary chargers.
My Expertise
I’m a service journalist with almost 15 years of experience writing and editing product reviews. I’ve written for Wirecutter, the Wall Street Journal and Consumer Reports, among other outlets. I’ve covered everything from cameras to fashion to beauty to pets, and I’ve even written about my love of manual toothbrushes over electric. For this piece, I interviewed Dr. Sally Cram, a periodontist and American Dental Association (ADA) spokesperson, and Dr. Flavia Pirih, the UCLA chair of periodontics, to learn what makes the best water flossers.
How Do I Clean My Water Flosser?
This varies from model to model, so consult the manual for your particular water flosser. Generally speaking, at least once a week you’ll want to clean the reservoir with soapy water, wipe down the base unit and rinse the tips. You can also run water with a small amount of white vinegar through the system in order to clean out the pump itself. If you’re storing the water flosser for any length of time, make sure it’s clean and dry, and put it somewhere away from the light and elements.
How Long Should I Water Floss For?
Unlike brushing and flossing, there’s no universally agreed-upon length to use water floss for. Dr. Cram suggests however long it takes you to trace around each tooth, inside and out—around 30 seconds to a minute. This matches with many of the manufacturers, which often suggest 30 seconds for your upper teeth and 30 seconds for your lower.
What Pressure Setting Should I Use?
Because pressure settings aren’t standardized across different models, this can be hard to judge. Waterpik lists the pressure range in PSI for various models on its website, however this didn’t always line up with what I found in my testing. In general, as with brushing your teeth, you should use the most gentle version of a tool that you can, which means starting on the lowest setting (with lukewarm water) and working up from there. Dr. Cram suggests starting on a gentle setting, then seeing what your dentist says on your next cleaning before turning it up.
How Often Should I Replace My Water Flosser Head?
Recommendations vary among manufacturers, but every 6 months seems to be the average. However, replace them sooner if they become damaged or blocked—and make sure every person using a water flosser has their own head rather than sharing them.
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