So last month I wrote a piece on toxic ‘big brand’ dental floss. You can read it here.
I’ve since been road testing, much to my dentist’s delight, natural dental floss brands using silk and beeswax and natural flavouring oils. They were all purchased from health food stores near Sydney CBD, and all around $5-7 dollars. All 3 brands come from the USA, so for you guys up north in the world, no problems finding them I’m sure.
Here they are from left to right…
Radius – An organic silk floss with a very light Beeswax coating and no flavouring at all, this one’s fab if your teeth are quite close together, as it’s very fine. The downside to that of course, is that the big burly blokes out there might snap it occasionally, but I found once I got in tune with the fact that it was a little more fragile, it was fine – great, even!
Dr Tung’s A little thicker than the radius brand with a mild and lovely Cardamom taste and beeswax coating, this one is really cushiony and soft and doesn’t break (or hasn’t once since I’ve tried it). A great floss. It’s pack is even biodegradable. Bonus points! This is now available online locally through Nourished Life or in Sydney at Wholefoods House.
Eco Dent This eco dent one is perfect for Vegans, as it’s ‘vegan wax’ coated. It is nice and fine and gets in between the teeth easily, cinnamon flavoured which I love, but its downside is the fact that it frays easily, and while I’m trying to get bits out of my teeth, I don’t want bits of floss then to be stuck in there… A big plus though for this one is that it’s 100yds – triple the length of the Dr Tung’s and nearly double that of radius, for just $1 more! Another downside is that once investigated to the point of having to call, because I could never find out exactly what the actual floss was made of, it’s nylon. So while it might be non toxic in terms of the coating being natural, the wax itself isn’t sustainable – Still miles better than teflon coated wax however, it has to be said!
Whatever you choose, when you switch to a natural floss, you’re not only protecting yourself from petroleum & teflon getting into your blood stream via your gums, but you’re also supporting a product that is biodegradable in the case of the first 2 – win win!
Low Tox. Happy Bodies. Happy Planet.
