Doing Our Part

Happy new year to you all! I know we’re ready to put 2020 in the rearview mirror and start a new year with hopes of getting vaccinated soon and being able to see and hug loved ones again. I am continually grateful for the well-being of my family and our amazing team at Austin City Dental. Last year certainly brought on many challenges that we’ve never faced before but I think it also helped us realize what is truly important in our lives. I hope we never take for granted the many aspects of socializing with each other and how important it is to have a community around us.

Growing up in California, I have always been a big recycler. The amount of plastics that are filling up our oceans and landfills is out of control and frankly quite sad when you see how it’s impacting our natural areas. Thus, in the spirit if doing everything we can to help reduce the amount of plastics or non-recyclables being disposed of into our environment we have decided to phase out handing out toothbrushes and floss and toothpaste at our office. It is estimated that over 1 billion toothbrushes are thrown away in the U.S. (imagine how many worldwide!) and this is a big part of the plastics that make it into our dumps, waterways and daily lives.

I have been researching alternative options to traditional toothpaste and toothbrushes and my favorite brand that I’ve found and started using is Bite toothpaste bits. There are a lot of companies out there that are creating products that are less wasteful that traditional toothbrushes and floss but I believe that Bite has the least amount of post-consumer waste. All of their products are recyclable or reusable. Even their shipping packaging is fully recyclable. Also, they will ship the products directly to your house which has been shown to reduce the products carbon footprint. Check out their website at bitetoothpastebits.com and order your desired products. They will send you new products every four months in compostable pouches that you can put into the original glass containers they initially sent.

I will admit that, at first, I didn’t like the feel of the chewable bits compared to toothpaste but I’ve gotten used to it and the fact that I’m not throwing away plastic toothbrushes and tubes makes up for a difference in texture while brushing. I encourage you to give them a try. Together we can help build a more sustainable future for future generations.