Whilst the popularity of home water flossers as a dental care product has soared over the past decade, both the concept of using water jets to clean between teeth and the oral irrigator as we know it today is over half a century old.

Following the rise in interest in interdental cleaning which led to the more widespread adoption of dental floss following the Second World War, people were increasingly interested in ways that they could keep their mouths as clean as possible as easily as possible.

One solution that was used in dental clinics was syringing, which used small jets of water to push out debris and clean the parts between teeth that were hard to reach even whilst flossing.

It was effective but inconsistent and difficult to do consistently, but it did inspire Dr CD Matteson to develop an alternative in the mid-1950s.

The ‘hydraulic dental syringe’ was a device that connected to a tap faucet and would create a narrow stream of water that would automate the syringing process, making it easier to use and allowing for water flossing to be used at home.

It was mildly effective but it was not a successful product, as a tap does not produce enough water pressure to effectively remove plaque by itself.

It would take another seven years for water flossing to become successful, but arguably this was as much by accident as it was by design.

Dr Gerald Moyer worked on a similar idea, only instead of using tap water, it would use an electric motor to create a more controlled stream of water.

Eventually, with the help of fellow dentist Dr Thomas Bennet and hydraulic engineer (and one of Dr Moyer’s patients) John Mattingly, the device was complete, except that it did not produce a constant stream of water; the water came out of the flosser in pulsing waves.

Regardless, Dr Moyer tested it out anyway and it was an overwhelming success with his patients, with the water pulses becoming a selling point that has endured for over half a century.