Oh, we've all seen the commercials. I'm talking about FLOSS PICKS here. You know, those little plastic prong-fork-handle thingies with a tiny bit of floss threaded on them? SO handy! SO helpful! SO EASY TO USE!!! Screw regular floss! That's far too hard to use! We can't be bothered by that! We've become too stupid to possibly handle using regular floss!!
Come on, they didn't really say that. Did they? Yes, they pretty much did. We have to simplify floss because we are now at risk of getting tangled up in it if we try to use it. We're just that dumb... and in they came. I have friends who swear by those things. I see people using them ALL the time. Well it's just so darned convenient! We might not think of flossing in public, but gosh dang it these are really just fancy toothpicks and those are publically accepted, right? Um, eww! And then I see them discarded on streets and sidewalks... little plastic grossities with tooth-junk on them. I feel the same as if I saw a discarded condom.
This is yet another example of how we simply adopt a so-called convenience without really thinking of the environmental consequences. Do we NEED these floss picks? No. We DO NOT. We can go into the bathroom after lunch and do a proper flossing with regular floss that, sure, comes in a plastic container, but is really much much less plastic over the life of the product. There are natural flosses out there... my good friends at Radius Toothbrush have a delightful floss, and their company is very green. There is nothing good or redeeming or necessary about plastic floss picks. They need to go away.
There is ONE company I saw while researching... among the Oral-B and Crest products, there is a pick made by Den-Tek that is a compostable material made from starch, NOT plastic. That's better. Not the best, but much better. There are still problems to be addressed with the starch products, in that they can be mistaken for plastic and ruin a batch of recycling. But it's a step anyway. Maybe if you cannot figure out how to use real floss, you can try those instead of the plastic ones. Just please dispose of them properly. It's really gross when they are just laying there on the ground.
In my humble opinion I believe that the companies may or may not think we are too dumb or too lazy to use regular floss. The bigger concern is that we prove them right by buying these convenience products over and over. So it starts with us being responsible for our actions. And getting the connection that ALL our actions have an impact.
ReplyDeleteAnd I hated my teeth too until I spent $$$ for invisalign braces, now I floss.
Most floss is not made of biodegradable material. Flosses from oral care brands like Crest and Oral-B use either nylon or the same material used in Teflon, a substance called polytetrafluorethylene (PTFE). The production of both of these materials produce toxic chemicals that are harmful to the environment. For instance, a main ingredient of nylon is adipic acid, the production of which produces large volumes of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide. Greener methods of producing adipic acid have been developed, but whether manufacturers are implimenting them or not is hard to determine.
ReplyDeleteNeither nylon nor PTFE are biodegradable. This doesn't mean they won't ever break down, but it takes decades
Alternatives to nylon and PTFE flosses are available, but have their own drawbacks. For example, natural silk floss is biodegradable, but the processing it goes through is not generally eco-friendly and often involves unfair labor practices, though not always.
The best bet for Earth-friendly flossing is to use as little floss as possible to clean your teeth. Floss picks are a good alternative because they use less than an inch of floss per pick as opposed to the recommended 18 inches of rolled floss.
DenTek makes a floss pick with a biodegradable handle made from a starch-based resin, which would replace the plastic handle on other floss picks. The actual floss is recyclable polyethylene. Those are probably your best bet.
Found this on the interwebs, what is your retort?
I understand your concern for the environmental aspect of discarding plastic, but have you ever tried to floss a 2 year olds teeth?? I personally would rather teach my baby how to care for his teeth properly than stress out about the plastic I am discarding. We try to do our share to be environmentally responsible, but it's certainly not going to take over our lives!
ReplyDeleteWe HAVE to think about the plastic we are discarding, or our children will not have a healthy future. I'm not a child-care expert, but I am curious as to the necessity of flossing at 2.... can someone explain?
ReplyDeleteI actually had to borrow one of those from a co-worker once because I had something stuck in my teeth and was desperate. For some reason, I had taken the dental floss out of my purse and didn't have any.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, that thing is still in my desk drawer. I have used it more times than I can count. I just keep rinsing it off and reusing it. I'll add it to my plastic tally once the floss finally breaks. But so far, so good. :-)
And also Natanis, I appreciate the difficulty of flossing a child's teeth, but we also have to ask ourselves what people did before all these "conveniences." My mom flossed our teeth with regular floss. If you really want to use the floss pick for your child, can you reuse it like I do and wash it off each time?
ReplyDeleteAwesome blog here especially on the floss.
ReplyDeleteI hang out over here at Radius Toothbrush and just to give you a heads up on something I am extremely excited about...we are very soon to announce our new USDA Certified Organic Silk floss so stay tuned.