How You Can Improve Your Sustainability Through Oral Care

Plastic has been a standard material for the world’s products, especially for dental products like toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes, and mouthwash bottles. Plastic and other non-disposable materials often present various harmful effects to the environment. On an industrial standard, dental manufacturers and other companies have to provide long-term solutions systemically, but what can a person who cares about the environment and their oral health do? Reducing our impact on the environment will take extensive time and cooperation, but can paying attention to our habits truly make a change? Taking sustainability and placing it in every aspect of our lives can potentially happen.

How Dental Hygiene Habits Impact the Environment

As more people become concerned about their choices, dental manufacturers have also begun to explore new materials that could reduce the waste products we create and help lessen the impact we have on the environment overall. As innovations come to pass, maintaining our oral health can also involve changing the habits we have. These changes can include minor habitual aspects of our oral care routines that can ultimately produce a better outcome, including:

• Using Less Water – Eliminating water waste is an essential part of helping the environment because it further encourages helping natural ecosystems sustain under more normal conditions and helps provide people with more access to fresh, clean water. It’s been reported that each person wastes four gallons of water alone when brushing their teeth and often doesn’t think about the amount of water wasted when performing this simple habit.

• Eco-friendly Products – Some companies have made initiatives to create more Eco-friendly products, such as using bamboo or degradable plastics. Researching into the products you use and how they’re made can substantially increase your awareness of the impact of plastic products on the environment and help reduce waste.

• Practice Better Habits – Changing habits with one reminder at a time can drastically reduce your impact. Using less water, investing in tablets and bamboo toothbrushes, and overall being more conscientious about your actions can make your care for the environment a more positive experience.

Many researchers suggest that just using small amounts of water to rinse your mouth after each meal can have a huge impact on the environment, and doing so, can add additional benefits to your hygiene practice. Using water to rinse out your mouth can help increase saliva production, which helps aid the saliva in washing away harmful bacteria and food particles, decreasing the risk of cavities overtime. 

Further Understanding the Environmental Impact

Understanding how your dental care routine impacts the environment starts with being curious – in many ways, taking the time to learn about your footprint in everyday life can be daunting. However, caring for the environment is well worth the effort because it can create long-lasting efforts that truly make the world better. For more information about your oral care, the environment, and how these aspects affect your overall health, contact your primary dentist to learn more and schedule an appointment today to get your annual checkup and keep your teeth healthy.