best eco dental floss

We have a thread on growing your own floss, here, though this thread is about buying dental floss. I'd love to hear other experiences and choices in this space.

In the growing your own thread, Nicole wrote about the dental floss that Paul and I use:

Nicole Alderman wrote:I kind of freaked out, too, when I realized most floss is coated with teflon. There are still some coated with wax (though the wax is probably mostly petrolum-based).

The floss I now buy (Dr. Tung's Smart Floss) is made with plant fibers and coated with beeswax. I don't like that it's packaged in plastic, but at least the plastic isn't touching my mouth. I think there's also a silk floss out there, somewhere, but I can't remember what it's called (I just remember it was really expensive).

Then, from our Plastic-free July challenge thread, we have this post from Thekla three years ago:

Thekla McDaniels wrote:I found a dental floss that comes in a little cardboard box.  The floss itself is still a form of polymer, a plastic.  I did find a dental floss made of silk (it came in a plastic box), and I bought them both.  When I floss, sometimes I use baking soda to polish between my teeth.  The silk floss did not standup to the bkg soda, even when doubled.  Still when I found both products (side by side in the dental care row) I was very excited.  I just wonder when the silk floss makers will ditch the plastic box!

I just did a search and it looks like there are a LOT of eco dental floss options now!

All of these are available in cardboard boxes:

100% silk floss (with plant-based cellophane wrappers inside)

Bamboo charcoal floss (vegan)

Bamboo without the charcoal floss (vegan)

corn or veg based (polylacticacid) polyester biodegradable floss (vegan)

Cute glass floss dispensers for your bathroom counter or shelf

Mini compost cans for your bathroom counter or shelf

I think the zero-waste or plastic-free consumers have been creating and driving these choices - which I think is cool!



This article has a good list (though it's FULL of ads):  Eco-friendly dental floss: safe alternatives (plastic-free & biodegradable).

I'm curious if anybody has tried one of these newer ones and had a better experience than what Thekla described three years ago.

Here's another one not listed in that article:

Flosspot with silk or corn fibre options. Still pretty pricey compared to other flosses out there. That's the common complaint about the silk floss or other biodegradable flosses.



(Sidebar:  this company impressed me with its bamboo toothbrush because they actually were very detailed about what the bristles are made of. I have gone to many bamboo toothbrush sites that don't even talk about the bristles!)

Oh, by the by, somewhere I saw a headline about cruelty-free silk floss. Which struck me as interesting.

I also read some discussion about simply using cotton thread. One fellow even said he pulls apart the type of string used for kites, using one strand of the three that make the string, for his floss. Others said their teeth are too tight for floss that is not waxed, and that plain cotton threads would shred and get stuck between their teeth. As for me, I think I would be concerned about what was put on that kite string to keep the moths out of it, or what it was sprayed with to be allowed through a customs port.

Oh, here's another silk floss, in plastic, but supposedly plant-based plastic and the price is a lot lower:  WooBamboo Silk Dental Floss.



Oh. One other interesting idea. One gal uses some hair from her horse's mane. She washes and dries it first, of course. How resourceful is that?