How to be green when keeping your teeth clean

​I am sure lots of us try to think ‘green’ in some way or another, having our own little ways to protect the environment. Whether it’s making the switch to reusable, non-plastic shopping bags, ensuring to recycle all of our hard plastics or even becoming vegan. But, in what way can we help the environment when it comes to cleaning our teeth? Well fortunately for all of the green-thinkers out there, more eco-friendly oral health related products are becoming readily available on the market. Let’s discuss a few.
 
Bamboo toothbrushes. I am seeing more and more bamboo tooth brushes around, some of which I find have bristles that are too hard. Medium or hard bristled tooth brushes can lead to gum recession or tooth brush abrasions. Simply though, just ensure you are using one with soft bristles, ones with bristles with a tapered edge are even better and softer. Also, make sure that the head of the toothbrush isn’t too big, you want it to be relatively small to fit into those hard to reach areas of your mouth. What’s great is that once they’re ready for the bin, remove the bristles and then your biodegradable bamboo toothbrushes can go straight into the food waste recycling.
 
Bamboo interproximal brushes. Piksters offer a range of bamboo interproximal brushes and are available at most of the larger pharmacies. There are also lots of bamboo interproximal brushes available online.
 
Turn off that tap! How many of us can honestly admit that when we brush our teeth we keep the tap running! I’m sure we have all been guilty of this at some stage of our lives, but it wastes so much water! Yes, you can rinse your toothbrush before and after brushing and you can even rinse out your mouth if you feel your need to (even though I recommend the ‘spit no rinse’ technique), but there is absolutely no need to keep that tap running whilst you are brushing your teeth.
 
Recyclable toothpaste tubes. Some tooth paste tubes are recyclable, such as some pump action type toothpaste tubes. Colgate has also released a new toothpaste that comes in a recyclable tube, has a recyclable carton and is vegan. The name of this toothpaste is the Colgate ‘smile for good’ tooth paste… and, yes, it still contains fluoride to protect against tooth decay.
 
If you have any questions or concerns in regards to your mouth or oral health, feel free to give us a call on 08 9321 6928, we are always happy to help!