A new study from the Silent Spring Institute and Public Health Institute found higher levels of PFHxS (perfluorohexanesulfonic acid), a PFAS, in women who flossed with Oral-B Glide compared to those who didn’t. Other brands of floss may also use these chemicals (which may or may not appear on the label).
“This is the first study to show that using dental floss containing PFAS is associated with a higher body burden of these toxic chemicals,” lead author Katie Boronow, a scientist at Silent Spring.
My interest in this study is it shows that even small exposures to toxic chemicals not only can but DO end up in bodies in measurable amounts.
Last year the State of Washington and the City of San Francisco banned use of PFAs in single use food service ware.
USA TODAY: Oral-B Glide Floss Tied to Potentially Toxic PFAS chemicals, Study Suggests
HEALTHLINE: Is Oral-B Dental Floss Really Toxic? What You Need to Know
Toxic-Free Dental Floss
First I just want to say that dental floss is not one of your greatest exposures to toxic chemicals. It’s not a product I’ve focused on in the past.
Note in the comments below one reader wrote it saying she had contacted P+G, who sent her a document that shows PFAs are NOT an ingredient in their Glide dental floss. The study did not even look at the ingredients in the product. It was rather a study that showed that select group of people who had PFAs in their body used Glide dental floss. So we can’t say that there are PFAs in Glide dental floss.
But if you are concerned about this possible exposure, let me give you my thoughts about products that are unlikely to contain PFAs or any other industrial chemicals as ingredients.
Rather than simply give you a list, I want to show you my process of how I came up with this list.
First I went to my new Zero Toxics Products + Materials Matrix. Even though I haven’t written the ratings specifically for dental floss yet, these ratings do show how I think about products and how I quickly evaluate products that are likely to be toxic-free.
Here are quick notes of what the ratings would be for dental floss:
ZERO TOXICS “A+” RATING
Dental floss made from certified organic product where all materials and the manufacturing facility and process are certified organic.
ZERO TOXICS “A” RATING
Dental floss made from certified organic or sustainable materials that come from renewable plants or animals, or abundant minerals.
ZERO TOXICS “B” RATING
Dental floss made from renewable plants or animals, or abundant minerals. Toxic chemicals may be used to some degree in production or processing. May contain residues of toxic contaminants such as pesticides or pollutants.
ZERO TOXICS “C” RATING
Dental floss made from petroleum-based ingredients. May not be suitable for people with Multiple Chemical Sensitivities or other high-risk groups.
ZERO TOXICS “D” RATING
Known to cause illness or injury with repeated exposure over time—products or materials made with one or more chemicals of concern.
ZERO TOXICS “F” RATING
Known to cause immediate harm and may even lead to death—made with one or more chemicals of concern
Here are some dental flosses I looked at, with their Zero Toxics Matrix ratings and materials given in their descriptions:
B – Eco-Dent Gentlefloss Premium Dental Floss, Mint
100% vegan waxed, no information on material used for floss itself
B – Dental Lace | Silk Dental Floss with Natural Mint Flavoring
This one is made from 100% silk and Candelilla wax.
B – Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil Floss
Coated with natural beeswax with added antiseptic tea tree oil, material of floss unknown
B – RADIUS – NATURAL SILK FLOSS
Made from 100% silk and Candelilla wax.
B – COCOFLOSS Coconut-oil infused luxury dental floss
This one is made from microfibers infused with coconut oil. Says right in the description “no PFA.”
B – Dr. Ginger’s All Natural Coconut Oil & White Charcoal Dental Floss
Made with coconut oil, xylitol and white charcoal, no information given on fiber of floss.
The above list all happened to end up with my Zero Toxics “B” rating.
It seems that many mass market brand dental flosses may contain PFAs to make them glide between teeth more easily. Any brand that does contain PFAs would fall into my Zero Toxics “D” rating—not an immediate poisoning but could build up to be dangerous over time with regular use.
This isn’t a complete review or writeup on all dental floss, just something quick to get started with if you are considering changing your brand of dental floss.
I recommend that all of you get a copy of “Exposure” by Robert Bilott who, in my opinion, is one of the great American heroes of our time. It is all about contamination by corporations of our country as a result of greed and the malicious disregard of the dangers of PFOAs to our health. They had info about these chemicals killing monkeys several decades ago.
On a separate note I use Dr Tung’s Smart Floss and noticed it states on the package that it is free of PTFE and PFAs. There are now new types of PFOAs named things like GenX so hopefully none of those are in it either.
Eco-Dent Gentlefloss Premium Dental Floss, Mint is made from nylon per the website: https://www.eco-dent.com/gentlefloss.html.
If that is a concern for you, then get another brand. Nylon is a petroleum-based product, but as a dental floss would not be particularly toxic unless you are very sensitive to petroleum. But it would likely to be free of PFA.
Here we go again! Another product we cannot fully trust to be safe. Not only are consumers led to believe that this product is worth buying, but dental professionals are handing out samples of the stuff to patients! That setting certainly gives the impression that the dental floss is professionally approved.
Never has “let the buyer beware” been more crucially important!
Agree.
I’ve been using POH unwaxed nylon for many years – https://www.amazon.com/Poh-Dental-Floss-Unwaxed-12x100yd/dp/B07CNCG3K5. Hope it is safe.
I don’t have a problem with this. I would rate it “C” on the Zero Toxics Products + Materials Matrix because it’s made from petroleum, but it’s not particularly toxic.
I always buy unwaxed dental floss. You can take out about 12 inches and tie the ends together to make a 8″ circle. This does not work so well with waxed as it’s too slippery. It’s very easy to control the floss tied in a circle to avoid snapping gums and damaging them. It’s easier than the finger wrapping method.
I tried a bunch of the natural ones including radiance silk and tom’s and they just didn’t work well.
One I liked was Nimbus but no idea if it’s free of that chemical or not, it probably is. It works most similarly to glide
Be nice if they mentioned which floss is safe
I use only silk floss. You can buy it at any healthfood store, another I have heard is good is fishing line. If this isn’t please let us know! Thanks, Edy
I read the articles and did not see a list of safe dental flosses. My husband looked at his dental floss and threw it away, it is Oral B Glide. I think that a disservice was done by not listing all the varieties of dental floss tested and showing the results for all of them. Any more information about this would be useful.
I agree it was a disservice not to list the PFA-free brands, but the point of the study was to find P+G guilty of toxic dental floss, not to provide safe brands. And I can’t do that either unless a product gives full disclosure of all their ingredients. All I can do is give general guidelines,
I’m hypersensitive to anything with fluoride so I’ve know about the toxicity of floss for many years. I’m surprised this wasn’t known and published before. Teflon fibers have been used for years. I’ve always had to bring my own floss to the dentist and he has special filling material and uses only plain pumice to polish. Dental products are especially toxic for me.
What type of dental floss do you use?
Can anyone recomend a safe floss?
Glad you addressed this and yet, what brand is a zero toxic dental floss?
I’m glad you asked about a “zero toxics” dental floss. The only way I could know the answer would be for a dental floss company to post a full disclosure of ingredients of their dental floss at Zero Toxics Product Registry
See my reply above about PFA-free brands.
I use Dr. Tung’s floss with cardamon. Does this have PFHxS or other PFAS’s? Do you have an alternative?
Based on the information I could find, the chemicals you asked about are not in the product. The website states “Smart Floss® is flavored with a natural cardamom flavor and lightly coated with a vegetable/beeswax blend. It contains beeswax plus one or more of candelila, carnauba and rice bran wax. Our wax does not contain genetically modified ingredients, known allergens or phthalates and is gluten-free. – See more at:
http://drtungs.com/faqs.php?currCatId=23”
Oral B is an “industrial brand” that uses industrial ingredients. Dr Tung’s is a natural brand that makes a point to use natural ingredients. Therefore it is unlikely Dr. Tungs would contain PFAs.
My holistic dentist office gave me floss with I believe it was cardamom in it – I had to throw it out, it had a smell and I cannot tolerate smells. I don’t take the sample floss from them anymore after a cleaning. I do use wax free floss but would love to find a floss that is really non toxic with no odors or flavors.
I try to avoid toxic chemicals, so when I learned about this on my news feed, it was quite a shocker. I contacted P&G via email to inquire about it, b/c I use the Oral B Glide Deep Clean Mint Floss and was concerned about this study.
It took several emails from P&G (4) to finally get my questions answered which was a bit frustrating (and made it seem like they were being evasive). But in the end, they sent me an 11 page file titled “Glide Ingredient Compilation.rtf” which showed the ingredients of all their Glide products and none of them showed PFAS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acids) in their ingredients.
I asked them if the product could’ve ever had PFAS in the past, and if it had undergone a formulation change perhaps, and their reply was “I have no documentation that our products ever contained these components.”
I also told them “Your company hasn’t come out with a public statement explaining how this could’ve happened, or the possible reasons this could’ve happened. I just searched online but didn’t find any information on this. Do you plan to do this in the near future? I’m sure you can understand why this would be important.”
And their response was “This study interviewed people about their self-reported use of a wide array of consumer products and foods, it was not focused on dental floss alone. In the article, they did not demonstrate a correlation with use of dental floss to an increased presence of any of the reported substances. All of our dental floss undergoes thorough safety testing, and we stand behind the safety of our products.”
I tried to look up the actual study myself, but couldn’t find it online. If anyone comes across it and can figure out what the real story is, please post it here.
Debra – Will I get an automatic email notification if someone replies to my comment here?
Thank you.
There is no automated email notification on this blog. I did install it on Zero Toxics.
Thanks for posting all this and digging deeper.
I did give a link to the study in the post, so please go back and look again. It’s the link to JOURNAL OF EXPOSURE SCIENCE & ENVIRONMENTAL EPIDEMIOLOGY.
P+G is correct. This isn’t a study of the materials used to make a product. it’s a study of behaviors of people who were found to have PDAs in their blood. Oral-B Glade dental floss was one of the products they were exposed to. The subjects probably also ate fast food with PFA on the paper wrap.
Could you post the file for Glide Ingredient Compilation.rtf?
This is why companies need to disclose the materials used to make their products, as I am encouraged at Zero Toxics Product Registry.
Sad, but not surprising…are there safe, non toxic alternatives to floss?