My Two Front Teeth

When my Panamama asked me what I wanted for Christmas a few months back, I replied that all I wanted was a Sonicare toothbrush. My dentist had recommended it, and as my pals may attest, I am quite dentally paranoid, so when my dentist says jump, I jump. Unfortunately, I did not want to spend that much money on a toothbrush myself, so I asked la lady Di to get one for me. Well, on December 25th, I unwrapped a box containing my very own Sonicare toothbrush. I was very naive back then about the trauma that this would soon cause me.

The way the soni works is that when it is turned on, it will start to vibrate and every 30 seconds it will beep. The beep is to inform the brusher that it is time to change to a different quadrant of the mouth (inner top, outter top, inner bottom, outter bottom). After two minutes, the soni shuts itself off. The beeping was the first sign that I was going to have problems with this thing. My toothbrushing habits are now ruled by these beeps. I know this is silly, and that I shouldn't feel like a slave to the beeps, but I become completely stressed out that I am not going to thoroughly finish a quadrant before it beeps again. Turning on the soni for another round if it turns off before I finish, does not seem like a viable option. It seems like brushing failure.

I think I have almost conquered the next tramautizing feature of the soni - the vibrations. For the first week I used it I would become extremely nauseas when brushing the outter top quadrant of my mouth. The sensation was so strange that I honestly felt like I was going to hurl all over my bathroom. I don't notice this sensation as much anymore, but I think that is because I have become so distracted by trying to outwit the beeps and the following (and thank goodness, final) traumatizing part of using the soni...

Around the time I stopped feeling vomitous, I realized that I felt awfully lightheaded when I was done brushing. After a bit of investigation I came to the conclusion that while brushing I inadvertantly forget to breathe. I don't know why (again is this because I am focusing on those beeps?), and am not sure how to naturally resume intake of oxygen through my nose during those two minutes, but for now I have to keep reminding myself to breathe while I brush.

So, although my mouth feels extra clean, is this worth the stress, nausea and lack of oxygen I experience every am and pm?
Why isn't flossing good enough?