How to Use a Neti Pot as Demonstrated by Warren Dentist

Hi, I’m doctor Greg Apsey, here in Warren. Phone number, 586-573-7700. I’m here to talk about one of my favorite things, my Neti pot. You’ve heard about it before, it’s a way to cleanse out your nasal cavity. I know this is going to seem gross to everybody but, I’m going to do it for you to demonstrate and show you that it’s not that hard. The reason I care about it, is that a few years back, it was October, and I had my first sinus infection, had to take antibiotics. Well this went on, this happened 5 times that winter where I needed antibiotics, and I wanted more control over that situation. It’s not healthy to be taking antibiotics all the time. What happens is you build up bacteria in your system that are resistant to those antibiotics, and then later the antibiotics don’t work. So I heard about the Neti Pot. It is a way to cleanse the sinus out. Now it needs to be done properly, and I’m going to demonstrate how to do that. So, over here is all that you need. I have water that’s been pre-boiled, so there’s no bacteria here. I’m going to pour the water into the neti pot. And, there we go. And then I have sea salt. This sea salt has no additives. It is just pure sea salt. I put about a teaspoon in, and I’m going to do that now. I then put the cover on. I’m going to fill that up just a little bit more.

Okay, I put the cover on the Neti Pot. And then I shake it up because I want to dissolve all that salt. You don’t want any granules of salt, you want solution. Generally, I warm it, this is kind of cold, that’s why my salt is not dissolving very well, we’re just going to keep shaking. The idea here is to, maintain, a clean nasal cavity, the reason you want to do that, is, that the nasal cavity is where all of your sinuses drained. And what you want is for the openings from those tubes that come from your sinuses, you want those openings to be free and clear so that if there’s any buildup of mucus in the sinus, that it can flow through the nose and be dealt with that way. What happens in the winter time is that we start breathing the dry hot air and the, the mucus’s buildup in the nasal cavity and they just become dry and caked and, and so there’s not this proper flow. So the Neti pot, what it does is that it moistens, it cleanses and, it helps everything stay healthy. It also removes the allergens. We’re, we’re exposed to molds, and this time of year no pollen. But, if you happen to have trouble with pollens during the summer time you can use the Neti Pot then on a daily basis. It’s safe to do every day. What it is doing, it is just cleansing out all that access junk that’s up in your nose.

So, here it goes. I’m going to lean over the sink. I’m going to tilt my head just a little bit. Get it up into my nostril and my mouth is open, I’m breathing. And I’m just flushing my nose out. And it doesn’t hurt. It feels pretty good. It just cleans it out. Just like giving your nose a shower. Alright? When I’m done with half of it, I take some Kleenex, gently blow my nose out. Just gently. You don’t want to blow hard because if you blow real hard, you can push that fluid up, back up into your ears. You don’t want that to happen. Now I do the other side. And again, I can breathe and I can talk. And I’m getting nothing in my throat. I have a little bit of fluid in my nose still but it might drain a little bit. This is something you do a little bit before you’re going out or you know you don’t. You might not do it exactly right before bed. But you could do it at, you know, a half hour before going to bed. And, you’ll have time to clear out any of the fluids that are coming out of your nose. Okay? But, that’s my prescription for healthy sinuses through the entire winter. Once a day with the Neti Pot.