flossing tools?

[mellowtigger]

The one area where I am unable to reduce my plastic exposure is healthcare. Dental stuff, especially. Because of braces when I was young (and I had headgear that I wore at night), my teeth are crowded together, packed tightly. I have trouble using regular floss with my hands. I rely on those plastic picks, so I can "crunch down" on the plastic arm with my jaw to force the floss between my teeth.

I just crowdfunded a reusable plastic floss device. It wouldn't reduce my plastic exposure, but at least it would reduce my overall plastic usage. It would reduce my impact on the environment, even if not on my own health.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/619706607/flosser-y-fast-swap-firm-grip-flossing-perfected

Does anyone have other items they recommend? I'd likely buy more things to try out, until I find something that I know works well for me.

Comments

[darkoshi]

Some of my teeth are tight too which is why I have to use thin floss. Even with the flossgrip, I usually have to re-tighten the floss at least once per session. And I have to wrap the floss around the holders more times than it says in the instructions. It occurs to me now that the floss loosens up the most when pushing it through the tight spots, so maybe all typical flossers will have that problem; maybe flossing tools aren't ideal for tight teeth. But using hands isn't ideal either; one reason I stopped that is that the floss wrapped/pulled so tightly around my fingers that it hurt.

The Kickstarter one you linked to has a special design to keep the floss tight, which looks encouraging. I'd be interested to hear how well it works for you once you get one and have tried it out for a while.

I remember looking up floss picks and being intrigued by ones made from "corn starch" and claiming to be biodegradable. But more research indicates they are bioplastic, which require industrial composting with high temperatures to break down, and which rarely happens.
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I also see ones claiming to be made from bamboo charcoal. But from what I've read, that must only refer to the floss itself, and the floss isn't solely made from the charcoal; it is added onto other fibers. Those fibers could be synthetic or cotton. I suspect that most of the flossers which say their floss is biodegradable are using the PLA plastic + bamboo charcoal.