Cleaner Teeth with a Cleaner Environment

June 29, 2022

Have you ever given it much thought that your toothbrush can play a role in your environment?  Many of us haven’t.  Many of us use our toothbrushes, sometimes past their intended life span, and then throw them away in the trash.  In the article, we will share on how your toothbrush impacts your environment.  You will learn how to get cleaner teeth with a cleaner environment.

How do manual toothbrushes affect the environment?

  • One Billon toothbrushes are thrown away every year in the US.  If you total that up.  The waste of toothbrushes can go around the earth four times.
  • 50 Million pounds of toothbrushes are added to US landfills annually.  Newer manufactured toothbrushes are being made with larger handles to hold which will only cause the number of pounds to rise.
  • 50 Percent of the total eco costs in creating manual toothbrushes happen during the distribution and manufacture phases.
  • Manual Toothbrushes are made from polypropylene plastic and nylon, and those are non-renewable fossil fuels.
  • Nylon when manufactured creates nitrous oxide.  This is bad because it is a greenhouse gas that is 310 times more potent than carbon dioxide.

How can you make a difference?

Recycle your manual toothbrush – Place your manual toothbrush with your plastic bottles to be recycled.  You can learn more about recycling here.

Get more life out of your manual toothbrush – Manual toothbrushes are great for household chores when they reach the end of life brushing your teeth. 

Use an electric toothbrush – Electric toothbrushes only have you replace the head of the toothbrush when it has reached its end because you are not having to throw the whole toothbrush away.

Use a Bamboo Toothbrush – Bamboo toothbrushes have a smaller footprint because bamboo plants grow much quicker.  The downside to this is just like a plastic toothbrush the handle usually doesn’t biodegrade.

Consciousness brands – More and More brands are seeing this growing issue and are making strides to make a difference.  They are making more permanent handles where you are just buying the head of the brush to cut down on waste.  Colgate is one of those brands.

We all want cleaner teeth with a cleaner environment these days.  We can tackle this concern twofold if we are mindful enough.  The change will not happen overnight, but if we start chipping away at the problem of landfills now we might see a brighter future tomorrow.  We are here to answer any dental questions or concerns you might have.  Give Smiles of Round Lake a call at 847-546-1542.