Day 332 of our Green Year: Eco-Dent Floss

Having clean and healthy teeth is very important. Clean teeth can keep bacteria from developing, and when harmful bacteria develops, it can cause problems for the body as the mouth is essentially the gateway to the entire body. One place where a lot of bacteria can develop is in between the teeth. To get those bits of food in there, you need to get some dental floss. So, who is to say you can't be green with your dental floss?

Most dental floss is not biodegradable, and while you think that throwing that little piece of dental floss away is no big deal because it is so small, think about if you floss every night, and then multiple that little bit by 365 pieces, and that by the number of years that you floss and then multiply that by the millions of people who use dental floss each night. It amounts to a lot of dental floss that does not biodegrade. Dental floss is made from teflon usually, and usually has chemical waxes on it to help it go between your teeth. The flushing of dental floss is something you shouldn't do, but which many people do, because it can cause blockages in the sewer lines over time. Many municipalities have regulations against putting dental floss in the toilet (but how can you enforce it?)

So, Layla and I will be using Eco-Dent Vegan Floss. This great floss is made from, as you guessed it, non-animal or chemical products. Instead, nylon is used and the wax comes from rice. Silk is not used because silk production sometimes uses child labor and it can be very painful for insects to have silk taken from them. The best part is that the packaging is recyclable and the product is completely biodegradable so that you can put it in your compost bin.