Episode 13: Get Mouthy Dental Care Box - The Hidden Truths about Toxins in Your Dental Care Products

How often do we think about the impact our smiles might have on environmental issues? Probably not that often. It's likely a semi-automatic routine action that you take in your daily life from brushing and flossing your teeth. How does this link up to environmental issues? Well, today meet our guest Linda Sherman, who is interrupting the routine of dental care as the owner and consultant of EcoSmiles Dentistry, and she's the founder of the monthly Eco-Conscious Dental subscription box, Get Mouthy. She's a writer, a speaker, and a practicing dental clinician, so I'm sure she's got a lot of juicy insider info about environmental impact simply by making small changes with your dental care routine. Time to get mouthy. Hello listeners and welcome to the Ecoish Podcast. I'm Tracy Lydiatt, founder of Sustainable Living School and your host today. The purpose of this podcast is to illuminate the good work towards sustainability that companies are doing, honestly discuss trade-offs they might wrestle with, and share their interesting stories to help listeners like you make informed choices. Eco-ish Podcast honors the imperfect journey towards creating an eco-conscious brand in an unsustainable society. Hi, Linda. It's so great to have you on Eco-ish Podcast today. How are you and where are you calling in from?

Hey Tracy, I am doing fantastic. Of course, thank you so much for having me on your podcast because we obviously have things in common, and I'm calling from today Columbus, Ohio.

All right, well, I'm coming from British Columbia, so we are really far apart and the magic of technology is connecting us today. Thanks for being on the show. And when, uh, you and I connected, it was super fun because my mom is in dentistry. She's been a certified dental assistant Oh my gosh, for probably 40 years. The woman deserves a medal, maybe even 50. Like, I think a long, long time. So I've been around dentistry my whole life, and it's— as in the— in your introduction, I, I said something like, it's something that we don't really think about, but it's an action that we take every single day. So I'm really excited to click into this with you and hear all about the environmental impacts that you're making with your work. And could you just start us off by telling us what EcoSmiles Dentistry is and what Get Mouthy does?

Awesome. So when it comes to EcoSmiles Dentistry, so this is dental consulting. So I coach dental offices in sustainability, going green. Now, I would love for them to do it out of the passion of their own heart, but we all know that businesses are driven by profitability. So we bring in the profitability and sustainability, switching things back up, removing the disposables. I mean, obviously we can go on about that, but the bottom line, EcoSmiles Dentistry is a consulting, a dental consulting business, showing dental offices how, again, profitability is in the sustainability. Now Get Mouthy is still a dental product, but it is a direct-to-consumer item and it does take your personal dental care and it makes it eco-friendly, but not only eco-friendly, but it also makes it completely natural. And also chemical-free. So I don't know if you all realize how many chemicals it takes to make up your traditional toothpaste as well as your dental floss. It's awful. Like, it's awful. I wish to live, you know, not only sustainably but also as healthy as possible. So Get Mouthy is a wonderful product, and I don't have a toothpaste, I have a tooth soap. So hopefully we'll kind of get a little deeper of where the name came from, how the tooth soap came from, because it's a fantastic product.

Oh my gosh. When you said chemicals in my dental care, my whole body just went like, I want to learn more about that. What are you talking about?

Right, right, right.

Because I think that I'm a big passionate fan about going nontoxic because our skin is our largest organ. And so we always talk about, you know, there's like about 120 different chemicals most women apply to themselves every day through shampoo and hair products.

Right.

Makeup. Like, think about the things every day you're putting in your body that now you're adding this, like, toxin load to your body. So then amplify that by putting it in your mouth. Like, oh my gosh. Okay, I can't wait to talk about this. Um, so I'm always so curious to hear what was, like, the spark or inspiration that start— like, I have never met any dental office consultants to go sustainable. So tell me a little bit about that. How did you get started?

Well, it all started actually with a nonprofit organization that I decided to implement because tooth decay is the leading cause of childhood illness, yet it is completely preventable. And it is. I'm sorry, people, it is. It's, it's preventable, and, uh, you can check the facts. Um, I know you're like, oh, everything on the internet you can't believe, but it is. So, but regardless, I want to help the world know what we can do, everybody can do, to be Dental Disease Free. So we start off with a nonprofit organization. I thought with my gift of gab, I'd be able to make this nonprofit organization profitable and be able to spread the word very quickly. That's not how it happens. Unfortunately not. And also when I started, also during the beginning of the COVID phase, I mean, literally in March of 2020 was when I was granted my 501 by the government here in the States. I mean, and again, the world had just shut down like really within that same week. So here I am. Now, talking to my entrepreneur friends here in Columbus, we were brainstorming. I'm talking about residual incomes, right? We're supporting entrepreneurship. And I'm thinking, what a great idea to compete with the IPSYs or the Barkboxes, you know, or the Dollar Shave Clubs of the world, and bring dentistry into it. Because we're so used to these traditional items. And I had made some really great connections in the consulting world, or the, you know, the influencer world of dentistry. So I was going to reach out to them, and I did. Thinking I could put this luxury box together. But that's where the light bulb hit, or the light bulb hit, right, Tracy? I'm thinking, oh dear Lord, every item that I've chosen is 100% plastic. Not only is it plastic, but it's chemicals. Like, you start when you build this business, you really start to look into items that you're going to promote. And I couldn't do it. Like, I have a heart, whether that's a good businesswoman or not. Regardless, I have a heart and I cannot contribute to the toxins in the world. So I'm like, I'm I'm still gonna do the box. I still wanna do the box because I think it's a great idea. I'm gonna support the nonprofits, but I'm gonna make it just completely eco-friendly. That's just the way that it is. Yeah, that's how this box came about and the eco-friendliness. Now I came up with a name first. I thought Get Mouthy would be a fantastic name of a box, a company of mine, right? So I'm like, I'm just gonna call it Get Mouthy. I really didn't know much about it or what I was gonna make it, but it was just gonna be Get Mouthy. I think that even became before the eco-friendliness. I'm just gonna make it Get Mouthy. I thought it was awesome. So I came up with that first. Now I'm sitting around with another mom friend, right? We have daughters the same age, and we're kind of just shooting the shit over a playdate. We were talking about how we got mouthy with our moms when we were younger. I don't know about you, Tracy Lydiatt, but I literally have had my butt pulled out of the bathroom for getting sassy with my sister, and I said something I shouldn't have said, and my mother mouth— like, washed my mouth out with soap. And I know that wasn't the first time and probably not the last time.. But we're like, oh my gosh, wouldn't that be great with this company that I have called Get Mouthy, that I had a tooth soap product? And we're like, this just connects really, really well. So with some research, that is the product that they came up with. So that really is the unique item of all of it. We have bamboo toothbrushes, bamboo travel, you know, containers, bamboo, cute little bamboo holders for your sink. But the unique product really is in that tooth soap. So we can really dig deep about it being chemical-free and all-natural and naturally remineralizing as well. Of course, I don't want to forget the dental floss. So if you want to just kind of jump into it, the tooth soap is—

probably talk about it.

Yeah, let's talk about that. So it's made primarily with coconut oil, right? Okay. Now I'm a dental person, and when it comes to dentistry, we love to promote fluoride, don't we? We push fluoride, and I believe in it. And if anybody would have ever come into the office, into my chair, and had a conversation about, oh, I'm using coconut oil now, or what have you, I— we would all think you're freaking crazy. We'll be talking about you in the sterilization area. We're like, I will see you back next year with a bunch of cavities, right? Like, we are conditioned, uh, to to want to promote sodium fluoride. I'm not saying it's terrible. Absolutely not. I do not believe in the right manner. Is it toxic to a certain level that you're going to have the effects from it? I don't believe in that. Also, I just believe that there's a different alternative if you wish to be more holistic about it, right?

Mm-hmm.

Coconut oil naturally contains fluorine. Now, remember, fluorine is the natural mineral.

Mm-hmm.

It is on the periodic table. And that is the reason that we make sodium fluoride is because fluorine is known to reduce your cavity risk 'cause that is what your tooth utilizes to build itself and to remineralize itself. Not sodium fluoride. Sodium fluoride is a compound, it's a medicament, right? Yeah. And that's where some of the toxicity, you know, things can come from. And also toothpaste tastes delicious. So that's why kids are eating it is because there's so many chemicals in your toothpaste so that way it tastes like bubble gum and very berries and, you know, strawberries and cream, right? Chemicals that make it taste like that. It's not actual strawberries and cream, you know, what have you. Anyhow, what I have learned, Tracy, is that we really don't need the sodium fluoride that we are promoting so heavily, because now we're going to take it one step further. I'm going to bore— I hope I don't bore you guys, because now this is going to get to be a chemical process or chemistry. But in order for sodium fluoride to work, okay, so sodium is a negative ion, right? Now you need, because this is laws of attraction, And you need to have a positive ion somewhere in your mouth in order for sodium fluoride to work, because that's the negative, you know, right? Well, we always tell you to brush your teeth first, right? And we brush your teeth with sodium fluoride, and then you rinse afterwards, right, with a mouth rinse that has fluoride in it as well, right? But you don't have any plaque on your teeth, right, because you just brushed your teeth. Well, where is the positive ion in your mouth? It's in the dental plaque. So if you don't have dental plaque on your teeth because you've just brushed it off, how's the sodium fluoride, which is your negative ion— it's basic chemistry— how is it going to work? Well, if you do research, and this is research that's published in dentistry, dental magazines, because that's where I read it, not on just like google.com, like, you know, like it's actually published, you know, dental, you know, that the sodium fluoride is really— it's not making a difference. Tooth decay is still on the rise. It's still the leading cause of childhood illness. It's not something— I mean, there's dentists on every corner. It's a billion-dollar, you know, industry. We're seeing people all the time. I mean, there was a gentleman just the other day in the office I'm working at, he's 27 years old, and he went to dentures. Like, you know, I'm just saying, like, exactly. So here I have this wonderful product. So let's get back to my product because it's completely chemical-free because we use fluoride or we use the coconut oil with fluorine, which is your natural product that is already in our environment. And it gets into your saliva just naturally, right? By absorption. And again, it's your natural product. It's already here and you're already consuming it anyhow in the foods and things like that because it's just— it's a natural element. But when it's in your saliva like that, it's naturally remineralizing. But the great thing is too with coconut oil is that it also naturally is an antibacterial. It kills the S. mutans, which is the bacteria that causes tooth decay. I mean, there's a bigger name for the S. It's just easier to call them S. mutans, right? But that's the bacteria that causes tooth decay. Well, coconut oil kills that. It also kills fungus. It's antifungal. So we see sometimes thrush issues in infants, or we'll see it in the elderly with appliances. Well, since coconut oil is also antifungal, my product will help with that as well. There's no dyes in it, there's no chemicals. I mean, everything literally is made here on Earth. And what you'll do is you'll take your toothbrush bristles, you'll just get the bristles wet, you'll rub it over top of the soap. It's a 1x2 bar. It foams up so nice too. I love foam. I don't know what it is. Maybe that's the conventional toothpaste, you know, girl behind me, right? I want to be like a rabbit animal.

I just—

I love the foam, and it foams up really nice and it cleans up well. I have used it exclusively, you know, since I launched it a year ago. And it's a really wonderful product. And again, it hits that, that niche if you want to naturally remineralize your teeth, keep them healthy, but also be aware of the sustainability issues and the chemicals that we're putting into our body, because you are going to absorb them one way or the other, right?

Yeah. Holy smokes, I just learned so much from you.

Thank you.

Um, so I lived in California as a kid And I've just learned so much from you. And I had my mom, I think, was a little freaked out about the water quality in California when I lived there. This is back in the '80s. So she gave us fluoride pills and I ended up getting fluoride. Oh my God, I'm going to— fluorosis, fluorosis, which is like deposits of extra fluoride on your teeth and it just makes it like extra white in places. And yeah, and I don't know if that affected me as a kid, but the Second last time I went to the dentist, you know, they give you the fluoride wash and you sit there and you like wash it around in your mouth after they've done the cleaning and then spit it out. And I went inside of my car and it was like a really early dentist appointment. And so I hadn't eaten before that and I was like, okay, I'm feeling kind of weird, like maybe I'm like super hungry. And then it's like, as it went on, I got worse and worse. And I was like looking around for places to go like vomit in. I didn't, but it was just, it was the weirdest experience that I've never had in my life before. And then the next time I went to the dentist's office and had the fluoride again, the same thing happened. And I was like, oh my gosh. Like, so I'm actually one of those people that's quite sensitive to fluoride rinses. So I like have actually done my best to avoid it. And so this is really— but I'm always concerned about dental health. So this is like amazing to learn this. And I think coconut trees are just like the best thing ever. If I ever had the chance to like have a coconut plantation, they're so flippin' useful and including Interesting. I have never heard this, that you can— so that makes so much sense that your body will take the fluorine in the coconut oil and remineralize your teeth. And I've also— I knew previously though that it was an antibacterial and antifungal. So that's really cool that you have like triple the value on this one little tiny product that you're putting in your, your bars. That's awesome. And I love that it also— what you shared about it, that it's foaming. I am— I think everybody listening probably has that sort of, uh, that like, is it working? Because we're so accustomed to like dish soap when it's like the traditional or conventional kind, and it's like foaming like crazy. And then when you do the eco-friendly swap and you're like, you look and it's like, where are all the bubbles? I can imagine it's the same with, uh, toothpaste. I've tried, um, all kinds of natural toothpaste. I've tried the tablets too. Which are a little awkward because you gotta like crunch them and then— yeah, it's like eating a candy and I have to like physically tell myself, don't swallow your toothpaste. So that would probably be so hard to use with kids, um, as just like a kind of a downfall of that style. So I'm really curious, um, can your products get shipped to Canada? Like, are, are you able to— can I get my hands on one of your bars is what I'm asking you. I'd love to try it.

I don't see why I could not send it to you, to be honest with you. I mean, I'm going to absolutely say yes. I don't know what the barriers are for us to send it, but I mean, I don't know. I got a website, you get on it and—

Okay.

Purchase a shipping label and send it to you. And hopefully that's how easy it works.

Well, I live pretty close to the border, so I can always pop over into my closest— I live above Washington, so I can always pop over into Washington. But for other people listening in Canada, I'm sure they'd be super curious to learn and I love that you're— I don't love it. That's funny that your mom washed your mouth out for being sassy. That's so old school. So now you can be like, just use this, Mom, when you're brushing my teeth at the same time. Yeah. So what— speaking of flavor, I was curious, do you add any like natural flavors to the bar or like what does it actually taste like?

Well, there's two flavors right now. So we have a clove flavor. Clove is a wonderful natural you know, mandarim as well. We love it in dentistry. And the other one's mint. So it's very simple. It's essential oils. I mean, again, it's, it's a natural product with coconut oil and some sustainable palm oil, xylitol, and the clove. And that's it. That's it.

So it's okay. So anybody listening that has kids, they might be like, okay, I could probably get my kid to try one of those flavors. And xylitol is a natural sweetener. So absolutely.

And it's also antibacterial within itself. So in dentistry, we Yes, that would be our preference of an artificial— well, I mean, it's a natural sweetener, right? I mean, it is, but it's also antibacterial, so you'll find dental products with xylitol in it for that reason.

Oh, interesting. I didn't know that.

Yes, like chewing gum, you know, like you'll find the sugar-free or what have you. I know that we have like Zolipop. I'm gonna— I guess if that's okay, I'm gonna give them a plug. I mean, for whatever reason, um, they are— I guess they're sugar-free candies. And it's a wonderful story because it was a young lady, like a teenager, and she was in braces and she wanted to have like a, like a sugar-free candy. She's like from Michigan, so she came up with Zolipop and they have xylitol in it. So I just give it away like at Halloween and things like that. That's the candy I like for people to get because it's sugar-free, better for your teeth.

Let's talk about floss, because when you're flossing your teeth, especially if you haven't done it for a while, no, no judgment. Sometimes you can see like if you spit out your saliva after you're done, maybe there's like a little bit of blood in there. So instead of, you know, putting on a lotion on your skin that doesn't have any open cuts or anything like that, and the chemicals are being absorbed through your skin. Is there an impact when you use those products in your mouth that because you're close to your gums, you know, there's a lot of blood flow in your mouth? Like, let's talk a little bit about the benefits of using a floss that doesn't have chemicals and what the problem is.

You are so smart. I love that you're leading that kind of conversation because that's exactly where most of the absorption is coming from. I mean, most people have gingivitis, and we have gingivitis, it's an open wound. So whether you're brushing or whether you're flossing, one way or the other, there, as soon as you do that, you know, there's bleeding, right? There's an open wound. That's direct access into your bloodstream. So whatever products that are in your mouth is directly into your bloodstream. The chemicals from the toothpaste, the chemicals from the dental floss are directly into your bloodstream, as well as all the bacteria from your mouth if you to have poor hygiene overall. And we can go on. I mean, that's not my forte, but it does lead to cardiovascular disease and aggravates diabetes and high blood pressure. I mean, just freaking brush your teeth, people. I mean, seriously, and floss them. Absolutely. You know, I have, I have a great analogy. Okay, let's— but it is like we did touch point because I have a really great analogy I want to share. But you're right. I mean, the gingivitis being an open wound, everything goes directly into your bloodstream. So you do have to think about, right, the chemicals and all those products. But I have a fun analogy. I love that you had analogy too. Of course, it's because you're your mom. So when you have— you eat food, right?

Yeah.

So what's on your teeth? What is on your teeth we call plaque, or we call it biofilm. Essentially, all that it is is the rotting food in your mouth. It's nothing else. It is that rotting hamburger or french fries or chicken nuggets or Caesar salad with cheese pizza, whatever that you ate. That's what it is, right? It's just chewed up now, and it looks like a whitish-yellowish film. It has just transitioned into this film, a biofilm, but it, it's your rotting food, right? So now you have rotting food in your mouth, and what bacteria loves is rotting food. And bacteria are live organisms. They are live little creatures. If you pick it off and put it underneath the microscope, you are going to see all those little creatures moving around, right? So they are live organisms. Some people think that bacteria is just like glitter, right? Like it's just sparkles or something, you know, like an inert object. No, it's not. They are live organisms. So all these bacteria, right? And there's all this food in there. It's a party, right? They're telling all their friends like, hey, come here, right? There's cheeseburgers, there's french fries. So all these bugs are now in your mouth eating that biofilm. Now, when things eat, eventually things have to poop. What is causing tooth decay? Is the acidity from bug poop. That is what causes tooth decay. That's what you got to get off. I use the analogy too sometimes, like when you had a barbecue, right? And somebody brought, you know, the macaroni salad and somebody just made hot dogs, right? And it's noon and everybody ate at noon, right? Now you went fishing at the lake or, you know, you're playing Frisbee, it's 3, 4 hours later and you're hungry again. You're like, oh, I'm gonna go snack, I'm gonna make me a little plate. But then your friend's like, oh, but that macaroni salad's been sitting out for a couple hours and it's warm and it's got mayonnaise and you know how it goes bad, right? So you're like, oh, I'm not gonna eat it. However, your boyfriend ate it, you ate it, and now it's 8 o'clock at night. You guys are coming home. Maybe you brushed, he didn't brush. So what is in his mouth, right? His mouth is that rotting macaroni salad that he had earlier and that hot dog that they had earlier at the barbecue that you refused to eat any of it a couple hours later because the sun is gonna ruin the mayonnaise. But yet your boyfriend or your partner eat all that stuff, didn't brush their teeth, so that all that nastiness is still in their mouth along with bug poop. I'm just saying, brush your teeth, everybody. Brush your teeth. That's awesome, because it's in between your teeth, right? There's like that, that cliché or something that you'll see, like, you know, um, about like wiping your butt crack with toilet paper, which is the truth, right? If you go poo, you got to wipe your butt with paper. I mean, it's a known fact. We all do it. So flossing is the same concept, because you do— you get You get stuff, you get stuff in between. Yeah, stuff in between, and it needs mechanical removal in order to get it out.

Oh my gosh, this podcast is— I know, wondering if we're gonna have to put the E for explicit on it. Oh my gosh, this is so good. And I completely— thank you for the reminder— I completely forgot the extra part of my sugar bug story, which is that they poop on your teeth.

Yes.

So yeah, it's So great. I, um, and ew, like, it just— ew. Um, it's hilarious. Uh, a friend of mine asked me, okay, what's on your dating list for like your ideal man? I'm heterosexual, so I'm attracted to men. And so I— he's like, what's on your ideal list for your man? And I was like, flosses their teeth regularly, like good dental hygiene. And he made fun of me. And then a whole bunch of years later, he wrote me back and we had this hilarious conversation and he's like, okay, I get it. I totally get it. And I won't share his story. Not mine to share. But yeah, it's so— I think it's weird. I think about that too. Like, I want— of course you want to be intimate with people and have that closeness and connection. And if you care about your health, that's a real factor that that other person is also taking care of their own health and you guys are having a reciprocal exchange of health efforts. So thank you for bringing that forward. And it's quite funny, too, because I think my mom, when she's got like a teenager in the chair, she'll give them a bit of heck, too, and be like, oh, you want girls to kiss you, right? Or you want boys to kiss you. So like, make sure you're brushing and flossing your teeth. And so I love this conversation for anybody that didn't know all of that. And I feel like we've probably burnt some images in their mind now.

As we should. If you haven't been brushing daily, regularly, I mean twice a day, I mean twice a day sufficient. 3 times is great, but twice a day, I mean, that is sufficient. But you should be, should be brushing twice a day.

I mean, and flossing and flossing.

And do, I mean, just don't go to bed without brushing your teeth. I don't care, I mean, I don't care if you went partying all night. I don't care if it's 1, 2 o'clock in the morning, you don't know how you got home, like You know, or if you're over at somebody's house, or you slept like you fell asleep on the couch, whatever the reason, brush your teeth before you go to bed. I mean, that's— I add that in the pro column for my husband, right? We've been married for like 23 years, and there's pros and cons to everything, but that is in the pro column.

Check.

He's got nice teeth, no cavities. He brushes his teeth twice a day. Like, he's got— and you know what, I will admit, I'm sorry, I should not admit it for people who are listening, but my husband only flosses twice a year. And that's when he goes and gets his teeth cleaned and the hygienist does it for him.

So fair enough.

Yes. But his diet, he does not consume sodas, which is a huge impact, which is not something we're going to talk about because that does not promote me because we have talked a lot about, you know, Get Smiles. And, you know, we haven't so much about Ego Smiles Dentistry. But let's stay on the floss though, real quick.

Yeah, let's do it.

Now, as I've talked to my colleagues, my dental friends, you always think floss is floss, right? Like it's one, one item, item, right thing.

Yeah, just like a floss.

You don't tell about what it is, it's just floss, right? Well, floss is not— floss has an expiration date. Your traditional floss, not my floss, traditional floss has an expiration date on it, and there's a reason for it, because it's made from chemicals. There's generally 5 to 6 chemicals that your floss, your traditional floss that you're probably going to get free from your dentist, which I think that's ridiculous. They still give out those goodie bags. They shouldn't bribe you with plastic shit from— sorry, plastic stuff from like Oral-B and whatever. Like, that's just ridiculous. Like, just stop that in general. But the floss is primarily Teflon, which is a toxic chemical. That's generally what most floss are made out of. And if you read the ingredients list, there's waxes and chemicals, and it's way too smooth to remove plaque anyhow. I have the floss. It's all natural. It's a bamboo fiber with some charcoal in it.

Yeah.

And so it's an all-natural product. And I love the fact it has a little bit of a grit to it so that way it has the ability to remove plaque efficiently, removing that rotting food with bug poop on it.

Oh my gosh.

Well, yeah.

And when you go to the dentist anyways, they do the polish with the grit and then they floss your teeth.

Yeah.

So they get that grit down there. So that totally makes sense. And Teflon. Oh my God. I am like having inner horror moments because Teflon is one of the forever chemicals made from DuPont. Want that they now have this, like, enduring legacy that they have to deal with of these horrible chemicals that bioaccumulate. It's bioaccumulative chemical. So when you're putting it in your body, it doesn't really leave. No, no. It also doesn't leave the environment.

So it doesn't leave the environment, and it just clogs it up. I, I've estimated that there is roughly $1.5 trillion toothbrushes here on Earth. Now, I'm not a mathematician. That is my own statistic. So what I have done is I, I think the evolution of the toothbrush started like in 1920-ish, and I don't have facts in front of me, but Google will tell you that. Yeah, something like around 1920-ish is when the plastic toothbrush was developed. Then I accounted for the proper inflation every year, or population accumulation over the years, Therefore, I did my own math and I came up with that $1.5 trillion. And I do firmly believe that is a fair number because there's like a billion people on Earth. And how often are you changing out your toothbrush? Some people more often than others. So, you know, you kind of balance that out. And they just continue to buy more plastic toothbrushes that when you throw them away, they have nowhere else to go but in the landfill. And landfills, as a reminder, You're paying rent for them. It is not free space. There's no Tooth Fairy that comes and gets those items and makes them disappear into the world, right? You are literally, with your taxes, renting space for them to dig a hole, throw your trash in it, which includes your toothbrushes, the stupid box it comes in— I don't know why they do that— and then the dental floss and the containers and everything else. They just throw it into that hole, and then eventually they fill the hole over and build a condo complex, you know, our kids' playground. I don't know, but it just continues to sit here in earth and eventually into our waterways, which eventually gets into our ocean. No, there is that stat that says by the year 2050 there will be more plastic in the ocean than fish by pound. Now I remember celebrating the song 1999, right? I was in the '80s and we are singing 1999 by Prince, right?

Yeah.

Yeah, because it really seemed like it was so far away. Well, now it really is so far away, right? No, it's 2023. So 2050, it's not that far away. That's my point. I have a daughter, she's 10, she'll be 37 years old. So in 27 years from now, that's 2050, there's more plastic in the ocean than there will be fish by pound. And it's our, like, it's our fault. And it is our fault. I mean, I contribute to it. I do recycle as much as I can, but by eliminating as much as I can by staying in my niche. I mean, I've worked in dentistry clinically for 30 years. May I practice dentistry? That's where my passion is, obviously, with, you know, everything else. I'm going to stay in that niche and say, hey, hey people, if you are using any plastic whatsoever in your dental care, not only are you contributing to the decay on the earth, which you are, but then also there's your body too. You're decaying out some of the parts of your body because there's chemicals involved in those traditional products. Yeah, you know, get on getmouthybox.com and I've got something that's completely all natural for you and it protects the earth.

It's amazing. Well, let's talk about that with the plastic and, um, I— and the, the toothbrush alternative. Sorry, I was stumbling over my words because I just had this picture flash in my head. I was in Guatemala a couple winters ago and I went into the big department store that they had in this town that I lived in and there was just like this wall of toothbrushes, you know, like Crest and Colgate, I think are probably two of the main brands that you can buy in a, in a retail store. And there is this one lonely little package that was hanging there that was brown in this wall of like white and like windowed boxes. Exactly what you're talking about. Just all plastic and like the colors that you're familiar with. And I was like, oh, I'm like, what is that brown one? And I walked over and it was from Colgate. So bless them. I'm not a big fan, but bless them for putting an alternative out into the market. I don't know if it was also covered in chemicals and had plastic bits, but I was like, I need a new toothbrush. I'm going to buy the brown one. And it turned out to be, you know, biodegradable packaging, no plastic on the packaging, like plastic window. And the toothbrush was it was marketed as bamboo handle and natural fiber, like natural fiber bristles that would break down. So it just, it reminds me that sometimes we don't have the choice. We don't have the luxury of choice. So some folks that are listening might have the, not have the huge luxury of choice. So the, the, the adage I always go to is do the best you can in your own context. And then if you do have choice, you can choose now from plastic to find alternatives like wood or bamboo that will eventually break down. So I wanted to talk about bamboo a little bit. So what does somebody do if they do get your Get Mouthy subscription box and like they come to the end of their toothbrush? I think you should only use them, I think it's for every 3 months and then replace them is what I remember. Um, you can correct me on that if I'm wrong. Um, what does somebody do with your toothbrush that's made from bamboo at the end of its life?

So yes, it's— I mean, it's bamboo. And what would you do? You know what, this is really great because I use a hair care product and I can send my packaging back to them. So ultimately, at the end of the day, I need to implement that program. But right now you're responsible for your own bamboo products. They are naturally biodegradable. I mean, the earth will take care of itself. You have a compost pile. I mean, it's just one of those things you have to be responsible enough for that. Now, if you want to throw it into the trash, dear Lord, but if that's what you want to do, don't put it into a trash bag, right? Just let natural products be open to the air so that way they can decompose on their own when they get thrown into a landfill. You know, you can be creative with it. Get on freaking Pinterest, you know, and they have cute little things that you can make them. Now, bristles, ultimately, at the end of the day, you know what, they, they don't break down. They, they're not recyclable. They're not compostable. You will need to remove the head of your toothbrush. If you wish for it to compost in your composting bin, something like that, right? Because, and it even like the product that you said, like, if it's all natural, it'll break down on its own. I'm not sure about that. I mean, I've done my own, I've done research, but things break down too quickly if you make them all natural, right? Like, there's options of having like vegetable-ish type of bristles, but as soon as you get them wet, like, they break down, right? And then you can use like boar hair, but I'm not that natural. I'm just saying, like, I really like want to be natural. I'm not that natural. I use a brush to brush my teeth. Okay. Hmm. When there are other options, I'll find something else. I don't know. But yeah, so your toothbrush. With mine, it's funny. I just keep them. I just move them around the house a little bit. They become other tools. I recycle mine. I will even throw them into the dishwasher, you know, so that way I can continue to clean around the house. So I use them multipurpose. But ultimately, at the end of the day, you know, take the head off of it if you want to do something with a little stick. If not, throw in the garbage.

And yeah, there's— that's a great idea. Pinterest is such a rabbit hole and there's so many good ways of repurposing. Like, I just actually taught a class yesterday or workshop, not a class, a workshop yesterday to a bunch of textile folks that are in municipalities and they're trying to figure out the circular economy for textiles. And we went through the waste prevention hierarchy And reuse is one of the top parts of the hierarchy. So for example, instead of like what you said, instead of throwing your toothbrush away, think about all the things you can do with it. Like I use mine for cleaning hard to reach places in my water bottle and you could chop the head off.

Jewelry.

Jewelry. You can make stuff out of it. Any crevice.

I mean, yeah.

And also any crevice. I was also thinking Oh my gosh, you're too fun. I think we would have way too much fun together if we went out on the town. What's it called? A plant stick. So you could write like, if you've got herb seeds going or things like that. Yeah, there's a million things you can do with a used toothbrush. And the best part about it, I think we forget about this a little bit, is that if it is made from natural products, it will eventually go back to nature. And I think a lot— I see people, a lot of people in the sustainability world kind of get stuck in really minute details. Like, I just ate an orange. What do I got to do with the orange peel? Like, I need to make something out of it. And bless them, bless them. If you've got the time to do that, please do it. It's amazing. I love seeing the ideas on Pinterest. But for the rest of us that don't have time, like, holy smokes, give yourself a break. You do not need to feel guilty. It's biodegradable. Nature knows what to do with it.

Yes.

And that's the biggest problem. Exactly like what we've been talking about with the chemicals in the floss and the plastic in our dental care and our toothbrushes, the chemicals in our toothpaste. We are so smart that we make all these things that help our lives, but they don't we don't think about where they're going to go at the end of their life. We're starting to now, thank the Lord that we are doing this. Thankfully.

Right.

It's so exciting. But we have to think about what are we creating that nature already knows what to do with at the end of its life. It can biodegrade, it can decompose, even chemicals. There's so many chemicals that we think, you know, we call them all chemicals, but there's so many chemicals that we use in our lives that can also biodegrade and that are safe at the end of their life. And the problem is, like, exactly like Teflon, we get smart and, like, cobble all these minerals, all these compounds and elements together and make stuff that nature has no idea what to do with.

No. And you know what? You're making— and you're making stuff too. You know, I like to make that point is you're making stuff. So we need to get them— we need to think about what stuff is being made. And some stuff should not be made because when stuff is made, that's your greenhouse gases, right? That is your carbon dioxide that's being emitted into the air. That's your greenhouse gas. And people really realize that, but products just need to stop being made.

Yes.

When it comes to fast fashion, yeah, like it takes a lot to make plastic. I mean, I know that we're talking about a toothbrush, but at the end of the day, it takes a lot of emissions. To make that plastic, right? So you sometimes need to think about what the product is and the emissions involved to make that product. And of course, these products are leaching into the other, you know, our other systems. But there's greenhouse gases is just as bad as the pollution in the water.

Yeah, it's so true. And you brought up a really good point. I loved how you framed the landfill and that you're renting space and that your taxes pay for that and I've been working in textiles for the last 18 months, and I can't tell you how many folks I've talked to that work on the municipal level, and that I've gotten my mind really open and aware now of how much energy and money it costs to manage landfills. And it's so right. And one of the biggest— when you, you know, just chuck everything— I love what you said about don't put it in a bag. Put it in your compost for your toothbrush from Get Mouthy or somewhere else, for example, because when you layer multiple things in a landfill, it's— it doesn't decompose evenly. It doesn't even decompose in many cases. And also those landfills create methane, which, you know, some landfills will capture the methane and use it for energy, but a lot of them don't. And methane is 28 times more powerful than one molecule of carbon dioxide. For creating the greenhouse gas effect, which creates climate change effects. So, you know, keeping as much out of the landfill as possible is— should be everybody's goal in their household waste streams.

Absolutely. And also business. Yeah, because that's where, of course, now where we have the EcoSmiles Dentistry, right? For the same concept. I mean, whether you're at a dental office, a business, or your home, you have to be very conscientious about the plastic that you bring into it or the items that are being made because there are so many alternatives to the plastics or just eliminate them altogether.

Yeah, it's so true. And I, I always think about the chemical engineer who was married to one of my university profs, and she and I had a chat once and she said, you know, we would be screwed without plastic because it elevates our quality of life, but we should be saving it for things that we really need, like medical interventions. You know, like think about the IV tubes that you need or IV bags or things like you need in surgery. Um, and then really we should be finding alternatives for everything else as much as possible. So I love that you're doing this and I love that you've come up with all of these amazing alternatives and that people can get them so easily with your subscription box and the floss. I'm so excited to try too. And, uh, I just was going to give a plug. Do not ever flush your floss, by the way, because It is like the boon of the existence of anybody that's in water treatment because the conventional floss, I'm sure yours is much more biodegradable. It is so tough that it will never ever break down and it gets wrapped around in the equipment and then they have to stop everything and go like, yeah, you could just go.

I didn't realize people flush their floss, but I mean, yeah, it's a thing. They don't. But good tip because It is. That's a hot mess when it gets— yeah, just like your vacuum cleaner, right? Like, I have long hair and I'm always chopping hair out of my vacuum cleaner, you know, between me and my daughter.

Same concept, same concept completely. So one of the things I like to ask about is trade-offs, um, before we wrap up. So a trade-off would be, for example, I make like a super healthy granola bar, but I have to wrap it in plastic. Have you had any challenges with your company, either with your consulting business, talking to dentist offices, or getting your subscription box going? Have you had to manage any trade-offs that were challenging for you?

With the subscription box, not so in regards of having a trade-off. I mean, it fits, you know, my avatar great. I have done everything I can to make sure I've reduced the emissions, the plastics. I don't want anything to come to me wrapped in plastic. Of any sort. So it's been a really great communication with the manufacturer, the suppliers, the tooth soap comes to me in bulk. Again, it's, you know, so again, at that end, we have any, any, any way that I can think of making it as eco-friendly as possible. When it comes to dentistry, sometimes it is different because the number one thing that I promote is reducing or actually eliminating all of the plastic barriers that are being utilized in non-critical areas. Yeah, it's something patients do not recognize. I don't— I mean, they just don't. I— we don't use them, and not one patient has said something. Nor when you go to the OB-GYN, are they plasticking up the room. They just don't, right? And you are getting a mammogram, they're not plasticking up the machine. Like, they're not plastic up in dentistry. We, we're very excessive with that. And some people's mindsets, of course, is, um, utilizing— like, they all want to— all want to combat with OSHA, which they don't understand that because that's, that's an occupational and safety thing. Or, or they'll talk about infection control. My barrier really is non-educated. Maybe that's not very, very, very polite. Not educated as much as they should be. I don't know how to make it polite. The darn well is they, they're followers. They know what they know. They haven't been told otherwise, which is fine. I've had to educate myself as well, but we just don't need those barriers. So it is, it's a mindset of understanding how to transition out of that, to be comfortable with it. Understand that you're still utilizing, you know, appropriate infection control in the office. I think one of the biggest barriers, Tracy Lydiatt, at the end of the day for anybody is just knowing what to do with your items that are recyclable. In a business thing, I mean, in our lives, we're lazy and we're convenient, right? That's why we are utilizing over-excessively any plastic, because you go buy it, you use it, and you throw it away. You are really not responsible for it. I mean, you're paying your taxes to store it for a lifetime, but other than that, there it goes. Otherwise, you're gonna have to find an alternative that you're gonna have to put effort into, and it takes It takes effort to take your cardboard boxes, break them down, and walk them out to the garbage can. It takes effort. It's so much easier just to keep the freaking boxes together, stack the boxes together, throw more trash in them, and then everybody fights of who's going to take it out. And then finally somebody does. Like, that's so much easier. Those are the barriers.

It's just—

it's also a mindset, right? It does not really take much more effort to separate certain items or just to rinse out your item. Your shampoo bottle, your soap bottle, your detergent bottle is not recyclable if you don't rinse it out. Rinse it out, recycle it. So I mean, just effort sometimes. Mindset and effort, that really is what it is. Mindset and effort in any field, right?

Just— yeah, right. No, it's, it's so, so true. And, um, I had a fella on, uh, actually his podcast just came out, um, Shareware, is Cody Irwin, who's the CEO, and he does, um, a lot of recyclable food packaging, and he has a super cool QR code tracking system that he's created, and He and I got in this good conversation about mattresses because he was talking about exactly what you're talking about, the convenience, the effort. You know, the example was you're moving out of your house and you're like, you're literally so exhausted. The moving truck's coming. And then you're like, gosh darn it, what the heck am I going to do with my mattress? Like maybe you forgot it, or it's just one of those things that just commonly seems to get chucked out in the back alleys. And so we were talking about that exact thing. Like sometimes in life, yeah, you get to that, you have your own personal trade-offs where you're like, I'm literally gonna lose my mind if I don't like get on this moving truck and go. And you have to leave something behind, um, which is a trade-off. And I love what you're saying too, is that it comes down a lot to education and awareness. And so what I hear you saying is that you work with dentistry, um, practices to better understand, like, what are the alternatives from a hygiene and a health and safety perspective that don't include plastic? And that also, like, you're helping people understand those little things. Like, we don't think about, like, oh right, if I don't rinse out this, you know, container, whatever was in it, it's now contaminated, it can't be recycled. And quite likely, if you don't screw the lid on tight enough and chuck it in the recycling, it's now contaminated everything else. So that kind of goes into the wish cycling bucket where we think like, oh, I'll just— someone else will take care of it and I'll stick it in the recycling and hope, hope that it goes somewhere it needs to go, right? Yeah. And it's, it's, it's a tough landscape to navigate because it's also always changing. And so I'm really grateful that someone like you is out there helping dentistry practices become more eco-conscious. This and make better choices. And I'm just so pumped that you're making this, uh, subscription box. And so I'm really curious, let's do a plug for you. How do people get their hands on that box? How do people connect with you if they have a dentist office that they're listening and they're like, my dentist needs to talk to Linda? Um, how do people get in touch with you?

Well, first off, my name is Linda Sherman. It is Linda with a Y. So the world is very simple with LindaSherman.com, L-Y-N-D-A Sherman, S-H-E-R-M-A-N.com. And on there I do list my, not only my nonprofits, in which you can click on that website and donate if you wish, but also Get Mouthy is the link for that is on there and EcoSmiles Dentistry. So it's kind of one of the very first easiest ways just as a person, LindaSherman.com. Outside of that, Get Mouthy, we have talked about that the entire episode. Getmouthybox.com. Get on getmouthybox.com. That is the website to the subscription box where you can purchase your initial kit from there.

Amazing. I'm going to go see if I can get one sent to me in Canada because I happen to know the owner. And now you all do too. What's that?

I said I'm sure you got good connections.

Oh yeah, it's so great. I'm really appreciative. I've learned an incredible amount from you and I'm sure the listeners who are tuning into this have learned so much as well. And I know I always consider myself a fairly healthy person, but I know how to elevate my dental game even more now. So thank you so much for everything that you shared, and it's been such a pleasure talking to you.

Well, it's my pleasure, you know, as well, because what you put in your mouth matters. So I'm glad you cared enough to have me on as a guest.

Yeah, absolutely. Good dental care.

Brush everybody, brush that stuff off.

Brush and floss your teeth. All right, well, take care, Linda, and I look forward to connecting with you again soon.

Fabulous.

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