I recently discovered that trying to use certain older devices that were last used before discovery of a food allergy can cause symptoms. For me, this older device was an oral irrigator that I had bought years ago, used for a short time, and then put away.
Probably around 2006 or 2007, my dentist wanted me to use a “waterpik” device. I’m not sure how or where I found it, but I ended up purchasing a Panasonic EW1270. I probably bought it because it would take a minimal amount of space on my bathroom countertop. I remember using it for a short time and then putting it away. I’m not sure why I stopped using it. I just know that whatever issue the hygienist and dentist discovered at that time, they never mentioned it again. I guess I figured it wasn’t important enough to keep worrying about.
Last month, when I went to the dentist, he checked my teeth after the hygienist finished her work and mentioned that I might want to use a “waterpik” to get into some places that a toothbrush and dental floss might not be effective in reaching. I remembered my old oral irrigator and thought I could try using it instead of buying something else. I found it on a shelf in my bathroom closet. I had to look it over and refamiliarize myself with it and how to use it. After wiping it down, putting batteries in it, and turning it on, it would run, but no water would come out of the tip. I looked for manuals online but didn’t get any help from those. I decided to use one of the interdental brushes I got from the dentist to clean inside the tip and the opening on the device where the water would come out. It seemed to start working after that. However, I found after using it that I was having some reaction symptoms.
To try to get more of the device clean, I went back to the manuals to see what I could do. I could supposedly pull the water reservoir from the rest of the device and then clean the inside of it. The next evening, I decided to tackle doing a more thorough cleaning of the device. It took some doing, but I managed to pull the reservoir from the rest of the device. I tried to clean it inside and out as much as possible. I used my wet cleaning wipes to wipe down the battery-powered part of the device. The hose that went inside the water reservoir from the battery-powered part had a spring on the outside of it. I tried my best with soap and water to clean the outside of that hose, moving the spring around to make sure I could get both it and the underlying hose clean. I then decided to run water through the device multiple times to see if I could get the interior of the device clean. Unfortunately, all of that work didn’t seem to get the job done. I still noticed symptoms from using the device.
Next, I decided to do some online searching to see how else I could clean the device. It turned out that I could try running a water/vinegar mixture through the device. I could use around three tablespoons of vinegar to 16 ounces of water. I created the solution using white vinegar I had bought previously that I knew from what was printed on the bottle’s label that it was made using corn. I then poured the solution into the oral irrigator’s reservoir, set it in the bottom of a bathtub, and turned it on. I continued pouring the solution into the device and running it until the solution was completely used up. I later ran plain water through it to get the water/vinegar mixture cleaned from the device. Even after all of that work, I still had symptoms. I could tell that I felt better after taking antihistamines. I decided at that point just to buy a new device and to give the old one to someone I knew who could use it. It worked fine except for the contamination that I could not remove, so it seemed a shame to trash it.
Unfortunately, my wheat allergy was too sensitive for me to be able to use an old oral irrigator device. I guess how I handled it when I initially bought it allowed water with small traces of wheat residue to be run through the device, contaminating it to the point where it could not be cleaned enough for use now that I have a wheat allergy. Those who have food allergies or other food reactions that necessitate the avoidance of cross-contamination may need to think about old devices like this one and replace them with new ones to make sure that reactions don’t happen from using them. Also, they should make sure to handle the new ones carefully to prevent contamination from getting trapped inside of those as well.
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