Thursday, September 13, 2012

Is Dental Floss Eco Friendly

Interdental cleaning on the daily is vital for a healthy, happy mouth. However, some worry that there might be implications of dental floss on the environment. If you’re looking to be more eco-friendly with your healthcare products, there are other options, and here, we’ll go over whether dental floss is truly eco-friendly. 

About Floss 

We need floss in order to prevent the biofilm from forming on the teeth. Interdental cleaning offers gum health to prevent this plaque from becoming a problem. 

Not only does dental floss do this, but floss picks, water flossers, and the like reach different areas where they normally cannot.  Thie can reach those areas you normally can’t with a brush, and lowers the risk of tooth decay, along with gingivitis. 



Dental floss is made from Teflon, or synthetic waxed nylon. The materials used in this do make recycling a challenge. It takes 80 years just for this to break down. Even plastic dental floss picks can’t be easy to recycle, as they’re made of too different materials to the point where recycling is an issue. 

You can’t reuse dental floss either, because multiple uses of this will cause the floss to fray. It also already has bacteria and food on this, so it will transfer directly to the mouth. 

Eco-Friendly Alternatives 

There are eco-friendly alternatives that you can get, all without sacrificing one’s oral health. 

Recyclable tubes of toothpaste and dental floss containers are two options. Cardboard, along with other materials that are biodegradable are becoming more commonly used as a dental floss option. 

There are plenty of other ones, and they include: 

  • Silk flossing 

  • Dental floss from beeswax and plants 

  • Bamboo floss made with charcoal polyester 

  • Reusable picks made from some recycled paper 

  • Water flossing 

The transition from waste to no waste is pretty hard to do, since there are many people that don’t know the best dental flossing options. In fact, there are so many that usually don’t realize that their actions are impactful. After all, many times when you think about floss, you’re usually thinking that it’s safe for the environment. 

While small, it does have a profound impact on the world around you, and this as well can make it a challenge for plenty of people to deal with. 



With that said, your best course of action is of course, to try and find more eco-friendly options for your needs. 

These eco-friendly flossers make a lot of big changes for people’s health and wellness. It lets you of course, with all of your items in place, build the ideal situation for yourself, and the correct course of action. 

Take some time and look at the dental floss that you have. If it’s not as eco friendly, consider maybe trying different options which are of course, nice and safe for the environment.  You can, over time, make the transition from waste to zero waste, and you’ll notice that it’s better for the planet. 



Plus, you’ll get to take care of your health and wellness. Plenty of people don’t realize the impact that their oral health has on everything. It can even cause issues with your physical health! With that said, try to be mindful of the dental floss that you use, and in turn, build the right sort of style for yourself, and the correct, most impactful,  ways for you to take care of your oral health. 

And of course, you can as well keep it for a long time, and also make it easier for you to build the ideal sort of oral health you can.