Life

Ask the Dentist: Gift ideas for fresh breath kisses at Christmas

Lucy Stock, dentist at Gentle Dental Care in Belfast, suggests some oral hygiene related Christmas gift ideas

Dentist Lucy Stock of Belfast practice Gentle Dental Care
Dentist Lucy Stock of Belfast practice Gentle Dental Care Dentist Lucy Stock of Belfast practice Gentle Dental Care

I MUST confess I harboured unwholesome thoughts for years against Sir James Dyson. Why had one of his vacuums been designed with a critical part made of plastic that was doomed to immediately break?

This necessitated me using a knife to clean out the container and on top of that I had to conjure up all manner of instruments to dislodge the contents of inaccessible hose bends, uttering profanities during each ritual. Real knights would not have overlooked such design elements.

I have fortunately let go and forgiven him especially as he has brought out a wonderful new idea for the electric toothbrush. He has combined an electric toothbrush and a water jet into one.

A water jet is a like a mini-power hose for cleaning between your teeth, sort of like flossing on steroids. This Waterpik Sonic-Fusion Flossing Toothbrush blasts the debris from all the nooks and crannies.

It’s great because you have one less machine in the bathroom and it’s not bulky; it looks just like an ordinary electric toothbrush so it’s easier to pack when you are travelling. Prepare yourself to be bowled over with fresh breath kisses this Christmas if you choose it for your partner's stocking filler.

For other stocking-filler ideas you can always combine the water-flossing toothbrush with some fun toothpastes. The Curaprox range of toothpastes are vibrantly coloured with flavours to match. You can choose from flavours such as grapefruit and bergamot, peach and apricot, gin and tonic, blackberry and liquorice, watermelon or apple with aloe vera.

Some of the flavours sound unusual but you would be surprised as when we do taste tests at the practice everyone has a different favourite.

I also really like the personalised eco-friendly bamboo toothbrushes which have rainbow bristles. You can have a bit of fun naming the brush and no more mix-ups in the bathroom.

The last cool Christmas gift I would suggest is the Acala tongue scraper for fresh breath. I know – how can a tongue scraper be cool? – but this one is made of copper and looks like a piece of jewellery.