Flossaid Dental Floss Holder-Single Handle

This item works as advertised. It holds the floss in place and makes it easy to floss. Having said that depending on the type of floss used, how close your teeth are and how well you wrap the floss onto the handle it does have tendency to loosen its grip on the floss. I usually use the plastic thin and rip resistant kind of floss and I wrap each end two times around the holding pin. This works for me pretty well albeit due to the floss string stretching sometimes I do have to undo one side to apply more tension. Remember that you can also slightly bend the forks closer to each other before wrapping the floss around securely on the other side to apply more tension. But make sure not to overdo it as there's risk that plastic will break. I've given it 4 stars due to the design issues that cause this product to waste excessive amounts of floss string. You only use about 1.5 to 2 inches of the floss that's between the 2 fork points, rest of the floss is wasted. Design should be redone to incorporate 2 holding points on the tips of the forks so that it's not as wasteful. Maybe a little round "ball" that we can wrap the floss around on both fork points could do the trick. All in all it does make flossing for those of us with larger hands and people that have use of only 1 hand etc. a whole lot easier. Update 1/21/2016: Yes, I upgraded it to 5 stars, I still have the item and I still use it every day. After this long of a time wasting of floss gets overshadowed by the longevity (aka life) of the product. I did not expect it to last this long but it did! And it;s still going strong, albeit with a few scars (scratches in plain English) here and there that my teeth have imposed upon it. Update (09/10/2017): The floss holder is no more. It has finally developed a crack on one of the prongs after being used every day for the past 5+ years. Ordering next one now. Well worth the money.

I ordered three different brands of floss holders all at once, given they are all relatively inexpensive and there were some mixed reviews for each. Essentially I was just looking for something that would work as it is supposed to (keep the floss taught). Maybe it’s just me but I’ve never been able to reach toward the back of my mouth with my hands while keeping floss around my fingers, so a tool seemed like the perfect solution. Anyway, of the three types of floss holders that I tried, this one and one other are similar in that they both feature a round dial where you wrap the floss around, bring it across the tips, and then wrap around the dial again on the way back. While being simple to load, the design concept sadly just does not work. The floss comes loose every time when you start tugging or pushing to get through your teeth. There is a third type that I tried (not sure if I am allowed to name it here but I left a review for it) which is PLAINLY superior to this one. The other one that I highly recommend uses a different design, where you instead wrap the floss directly at one of the tips, feed it through a small groove, and repeat on the other side. The combination of wrapping and the small grooves keeps the floss taught every time. Go get the other one that I left a review for, it works perfectly.

I decided to pick up a FlossAid floss holder after being strong armed into regular practice of the act by my dentist. For me it was never an issue of the act itself, but of the tools surrounding the act of flossing. Most types of consumer grade floss is thick and waxed, which tends to leave slivers of floss all over your mouth and under the gum line. Also, consider the difficulty surrounding the act of shoving two adult sized fingers into your average sized mouth and you begin to understand my pain. That said, the FlossAid floss holder really does give me the dexterity of a small child regarding flossing, as it is quite capable of reaching all areas of my mouth. It is also very easy to use as all one needs is a fair length of floss to wrap around the designated grooves in the front. The floss is then wrapped around the round, brass protrusion in the middle to anchor it down and you can then go about your business. My only recommendation would be to wrap the second portion of floss around the protrusion a few more times to help keep note of which side was last attached. That will make the takedown of the floss much easier, because you can get tangled up pretty good if you start with the originating line of floss. I should also note that another reason I choose a product like this was because of my distaste with the competing models out on the market. Most of them use disposable cartridges that just seem rather wasteful to me due to the copious amount of plastic and excess materials used in them. Those refills can also become rather expensive, and you do not get wide range of choice in floss type. So if you want to conserve money or simply care about the environment then the FlossAid floss holder is a good option in those areas as well. In short, the FlossAid floss holder has made the process of flossing much more bearable for me, and my dental health is much better for it. Just be sure to make use of a good grade of floss while using it to receive the best user experience. I personally use POH NoWax Classic 490 because of crowding issues, but your results may vary. So choose what works best for you, and know that you can't go wrong with this product!

Overall, this is a good alternative to disposable picks but it is not a good alternative to regular flossing. I am going to use it so I floss in the mornings as well, but it does not work well enough for me to use for regular flossing at night. You should know that picks are not capable of proper flossing and a pick should only be used if you’re unable to floss regularly. (Look up a flossing tutorial.) PROS: Reduces plastic waste by getting rid of disposable picks. Can use any type of floss you want (not sure if any disposable picks have expanding floss). Easy to hold. Has a bit of “give” in the floss so you can wrap the floss around the tooth somewhat. Longer than a usual pick. CONS: Floss can slip out of the pick. Takes a bit to reload if you’re wanting to replace the floss as you’re flossing your entire mouth (which you should do). Because it takes a bit to reload, I only use it for supplemental flossing in the morning in addition to my nighttime flossing. I reload it less than I would if I was flossing at night and was trying to get a proper clean. I wish the pick had a mechanism that would change the floss as you turn the knob. If it did, it would be a 5 star product for me. Still a worthwhile purchase for me at $5-6.

For many years now, we've used Butler brand flossers which were originally provided by our dentist. The original Butlers were of fairly stiff, opaque, plastic such that the forks don't flex too much and hold the floss nice and taut. It was thus easy to manipulate the floss between every tooth in your mouth (even for those with a small mouth, like me). Problem 1: Once every few years, flossers break. Problem 2: Last time we replaced the Butlers (several years ago, bought in a drugstore), they changed the plastic - to a more flexible and translucent type. Though the shape of the flosser didn't change, it didn't work nearly as well as the original, more rigid type of plastic, as the more flexible forks meant that the floss would either be looser, or you'd have to pull the forks too close together to get it taut. Not nearly as good, but still, we got by. Problem 3: We noticed that you can't even find "permanent" flossers like these brnads in the stores any more - just the disposables. So when another Butler finally broke, I turned to the web. Lo and behold, Amazon listed both Butler, and these Flossaid ones. Knowing that the Butler would likely be the newer, more flexible plastic (not good), I figured I'd try Flossaid. At this price, you can't go wrong to try them - even with shipping. So bottom line, if you want to floss your teeth easily and regularly - develop a daily flossing habit - you need these babies. Get a set of three Flossaid and you won't regret it. They're just a little bigger than the original Butlers, and the plastic is similarly stiff. With a pack of 3, you have one for you, your mate, travel kit... As for re-using the same inch of floss on all your teeth as someone mentioned - get over it. It's better than the alternative - not flossing. I just advance the floss one turn each time I clean, so a single 2-foot length of floss lasts a week or more. Happy teeth! For less than $20 you get 3 flossers, delivered - the Long Tail in action!

Edit: I bumped my review down from five to three stars because it broke last month! It got a crack across the middle and it basically shattered apart. It didn’t even last a year! I like the design and how it helped me figure out what I need to floss more often, but it sucks that it was so short lived. Just another chunk of plastic in the garbage, boo. Begin old review: I’ve been trying to figure out why I could never get in the habit of flossing and have been breaking it down bit by bit. I figured out that a big part of it was I hate the feeling of wrapping floss tightly around my fingers, and the other big part was I hate putting my fingers in my mouth. Don’t know why, it just feels gross. At first I tried those little individual floss picks but they are so wasteful! The single use plastic was upsetting me, and the handles are too short so my fingers would have to get in when I went for the back teeth anyway. I tried some interdental brushes but they are also single use and really short, and my teeth spacing is mostly too tight. After discussing this with my dental hygienist she told me that floss holders existed and after a quick search I landed here. I decided why not give it a try? I really like this doohickey! It is strong washable plastic with very simple construction (so very few points of failure). Using it is intuitive. The handle is long enough that I can hold it near the end and reach my back teeth with the floss without my fingers getting near my mouth. The one I got is a nice dark blue color. I can use any floss in this so once I go through the various unused floss I’ve got laying around I can make more low-plastic choices. It stores neatly next to my toothbrush so I see it every time I brush. There are only a few cons. I wish the handle and angle of the floss holding branches were more ergonomic, since some angles are difficult to access. I can see someone with limited mobility having problems. I have to remove and rewrap the floss if I want a fresh part, though I’ve learned that you can pretty much floss your whole mouth just with the one segment, unless there’s something really chunky stuck in there. Sometimes the tension of the floss loosens and I can’t tell if this is because of the floss or the design of the holder, but this is easily fixed. These days I’ve actually found myself flossing idly, not thinking of it as a thing I must force myself to do. One sensory processing challenge down.

The usage is basically: get a long piece of floss out, wrap it around the round thing in the middle of the holder once or twice, place it inside the groove in one of the arms, string it across, work it up the groove on the other one, then wrap the other end around the round thing in the middle again. After a few times, you get a feel for how much floss you need. It seems to be a lot more than you'd use. But on the other hand, probably better to waste floss than through out a whole piece of plastic every time (ie disposable ones). If I had to use only my hands, I would probably still use as much. I've figured out that I need to use at least 2 if not 4 sections of floss. So I usually take out enough and after the 2nd wrap around, I usually have some slack. Once I get to the point where I want to use "fresh" floss, I unwrap the 2nd wrap, undo the stringing, add another wrap to the 1st wrap, re-string, re-wrap and continue. As it turns, out, one time around is about the same as the amount of floss between the arms. So you can imagine that's a little more time consuming. But even that part doesn't bother me too much. The thing that bothers me the most is that no matter what I do I can't seem to get the tension right. The floss between the arms start to slack pretty much after the first use. I just kind of live with it. This is a large part of the reason why I need to use 2 or 3 sections. I even try putting the floss on while bending the arms toward each other (so when they "snap" back, they create extra tension). Anyway, I will probably use this until I run out of floss. But I'm seriously considering switching back to the disposable ones. The big advantage of this holder, though, is that it's a lot longer and it is much easier to reach the back of the mouth. UPDATE: After a few months of use it finally broke. Will not be replacing. Downgrading rating.

This is my second flossaid, the first one I purchased in 2009 and it lasted me for 4 years before one of the plastic arms snapped. I used it daily and continue to use my new flosser daily as well. I love love lovvvvvvvve being able to use my own floss and not be contributing to a garbage dump somewhere by using disposable, one time use flossers. People..come on...there's no need for those and LOOK at the price of this little dealie. Stick one in your car, your cubicle, your bathroom and your bag. You don't need disposable anything..but floss I suppose. I also find this style of flosser the most comfortable to use with my teeth. Those sideways, saw motion disposable types I was just complaining about are useless for me. This feels a lot more natural and easy to use. Easy to use is important when it comes to flossing or else I'll *forget* to do it...(meaning avoid) But I can proudly say since stumbling across the flossaid since 2009 I am an every day tooth flosser now! And it's usually my own teeth too! Were's my gold star?????? I bought one for a family member as well as replaced my broken one when I last purchased because that's how awesome it is. Makes a great little gift/stocking stuffer type thing. This is pretty much my dream flosser!

Es demasiado grande, una vez dentro de la boca no se puede maniobrar.

Works well. No fingers in mouth. Floss can be secured. Did what I expected.

works well

I tend to get a bunch of rolls of floss from the dentist's office and I have a hard time using just the floss. So, I switched to the single-use flossers with the little handle on them. Those worked well but I felt bad about all that waste. This may also be plastic but it feels a lot sturdier. There's a slight learning curve to it, but I find that wrapping each end of the floss around the peg in the center of the fork makes it easier to maintain tension for the floss so it isn't becoming loose every time I floss between teeth. The only down-side there is to this is that it's a bit big but ultimately makes things easier for flossing!!!! Highly recommend!!!!!

I have been using disposable floss picks but I didn’t like creating more plastic waste so I decided to look for something reusable. The pros - this is reusable. I followed the instructions and had no problems at all with the floss staying tight. The cons - I found the shape very awkward and as my teeth are very tight together I like being able to bite down on the disposable picks to force the floss between my teeth which you can’t do with this. I found it difficult to position it at the right angle and it felt like it was slicing my gums, they bled a lot when they never do normally. I also found that due to the awkward angle the floss seemed to wear through quickly so I had to replace it three times. Normally I use one disposable pick for my whole mouth and the floss never tears or frays.