Dental Floss Comparison Guide – How to Find the Best Floss for You

OraWellness Dental Floss Comparison Guide - How to Find the Best Floss for You

When we published our 2015 dental floss comparison article, we started by discussing the challenge of wading through the overwhelming number of floss options on the shelves.

You may recall that as we stared at the sea of choices in the oral hygiene aisle, some of the questions we pondered were:

  • Should I get the dental tape, the fluffy stuff, or maybe even the floss picks for kids with superheroes on them?
  • Which one is going to remove the most plaque from between my teeth?
  • Which one is going to hold up and not shred on that one spot in my mouth where floss always seems to snap?

Now 9 years later, we’ve done lots of research and launched our own floss. So, we’re providing an updated analysis of various floss options. And yes, we’re going to be biased because we think that our OraWellness Fantastic Floss fills a unique space in the already-bloated floss market. (If you’d like to read the origin story of Fantastic Floss and its distinctive features, feel free to check out our article, “Why We Created Our Own OraWellness Dental Floss.“)

With this second-edition dental floss comparison, we’re going to explore questions like:

  • Does the floss contain any helpful design components or ingredients to support oral health?
  • Are there any ingredients in/on the floss that are not supportive for oral (or whole-body) health?
  • How eco-friendly is the floss and/or its packaging?

But, before we jump into our analysis, we’d like to share some important information about two specific floss ingredients.

Lessons we learned along the way…

As you can imagine, there is a LOT of research, forethought, and due diligence that goes into the process of creating a new product.

Here are a couple of lessons that we learned during the two years of research and development that went into creating Fantastic Floss.

Vegetable Wax

Our floss production team offered to use a ‘vegetable wax’ as a vegan alternative to beeswax.

When we drilled down into the fine print, we found that one of the ingredients of ‘vegetable wax’ is hydrogenated oil. We won’t create a product solution with an ingredient that we feel has no place going into our mouths. So, we said a firm ‘no thanks’ to the vegetable wax, and our production team went back to the drawing board.

We would have launched our floss at least six months earlier if we hadn’t discovered this detail and reformulated, but the end result was worth the wait. As you’ll see, we were able to find an alternative wax that’s still vegan, that doesn’t contain any hydrogenated oils, and that has clear and simple ingredients.

Hydroxyapatite

Not all hydroxyapatites are the same, and because of that, it’s important to know what type of hydroxyapatite is in any oral hygiene product. Some people in the health and wellness sphere say nanoparticles are better, and others say microparticles are better. Ultimately, what matters is that each company shares the ‘why’ behind its stance so that you, the consumer, can choose what product best aligns with your values.

At OraWellness, we’re firmly in the ‘microparticles are better’ camp. We stand on the fact that the EU’s Scientific Committee on Consumer Safety (SCCS) originally cited concerns in 2021 about nano-hydroxyapatite’s genotoxic potential. 

Later, they amended their stance slightly to state that nano-hydroxyapatite with certain characteristics can be considered safe when used up to a specific concentration threshold. We hesitate to rely on this updated stance from the EU’s safety commission. Why? We’re wondering:

  • Who determines what that threshold for safety is?
  • How is that threshold determined?

Since one of the concerns with nano-hydroxyapatite is its potential to cause cell death, we feel that details like this matter. So, we’ve chosen to use the precautionary principle and avoid nano-hydroxyapatite in all of our products until we know for certain that it’s safe for the whole body over the long term. If you want to take a deeper dive on why the particle size of hydroxyapatite is important, feel free to check out our article, “Nano or No-No? Hydroxyapatite Particle Size Matters.”

Choosing which floss products to analyze

We’ve found that the larger, big brand companies simply aren’t on the cutting edge of developing oral-health-supporting product solutions. That’s why we’re intentionally choosing to evaluate products from smaller companies.

3 groups

We’re going to group the flosses into three main categories based on their scores in our analysis: ‘Needs Improvement’, ‘Above Par’, and ‘Excellent.’

Criteria

We’ll evaluate all of the flosses in this analysis based on the criteria below. We hope you’ll find it helpful to see some side-by-side comparisons so you can easily choose the options that feel like the best fit for you.

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: In this category, we’ll address the string design, how effectively it flosses our teeth, and the its advantages or drawbacks.

Ingredients: In this category, we’ll highlight what the floss has on/in it that might be beneficial (or problematic). We’ll also call out whether or not the floss contains additional, unconventional ingredients to support greater oral health.

Environmental Friendliness: Here, we’ll explore the relative level of sustainability of the floss product and packaging.

Cost: It can be challenging to do a floss cost comparison because each option comes with a different amount of string on the spool or a different quantity of floss picks in a pack. So, to level the playing field, we chose to evaluate the cost per use (i.e., how much the product costs for each flossing session). Here’s how:

  • We defined a ‘single use’ as either an 18-inch segment of floss or a single floss pick.
  • Then we calculated how many single uses were in each floss pack.
  • Finally, we divided each product’s price by its total number of single uses. That gave us the cost per use.

Now that we’ve outlined the evaluation criteria, let’s take a look at our first group.

‘Needs Improvement’ Group

All of the flosses in this category made their way to the ‘bottom of the pile’ for different reasons that we’ll outline below.

Primal Life Organics
Bamboo-Charcoal Dental Floss (Picks)

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: First off, we’re not fans of floss picks in general because they can be rough on the gums. Second, floss picks prevent us from using a clean section of string between each new set of teeth. That makes it easier to spread health-undermining microbes from infected areas, to healthy areas. It also makes it more difficult to track which areas are showing signs of oral health issues and which ones aren’t. Finally, because this particular pick’s floss has charcoal on it, the string is black. That eliminates our ability to gather important information about the health of our mouths while we’re flossing.

You can learn more about these points here:

Ingredients: Light Natural Mint Oil, Charcoal Bamboo (floss), Corn Starch (plant-based handle).

There’s no clarification about what ‘light natural mint oil’ means. In addition, as you’ll see below, flosses these days can be infused with lots of other supportive components. Unfortunately, this product does not contain any other ingredients to help support oral health. We also have a concern about the corn starch, which we’ll address in the ‘Environmental Friendliness’ section.

Environmental Friendliness: A good thing about this product is that it’s a bamboo floss that’s packaged in a paperboard box. Also, the pick handles are made from corn starch, so they will readily compost. However, from our research, we know that these products come out of China. So unless the product is non-GMO certified, we think it’s prudent to assume that anything made from corn is from genetically modified corn.

Cost: At $.43 per floss pick, this product has the most expensive cost per use in this list (by a large margin).

Overall Analysis: When we add up the points that this is a floss pick, it has a black floss string, it lacks any additional helpful ingredients, and it has a steep cost per use, unfortunately, this floss has the very lowest ranking on our list.

Boka Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: Nothing fancy about this floss or its design.

Ingredients: Natural Vegetable Wax, Mint [or Cinnamon] Flavor.

The string is made from plastic, but it’s not clear exactly what type of plastic it is. Aside from that, the ingredients are the questionable-at-best ‘vegetable wax’ and mint or cinnamon flavoring (with no mention of what they’re made from). Unlike other options farther down on this list, this floss contains no additional ingredients for supporting oral health.

Environmental Friendliness: Maybe not eco-friendly at all. It’s plastic floss (with no mention of it being upcycled), and it’s packaged in a plastic container.

Cost: $.10 per use.

Overall Analysis: Given that this is a plastic floss with no exciting qualities about it, it’s coated in ‘vegetable wax’, it’s in a plastic dispenser, and it costs ten cents per use, we just can’t wrap our heads around how this floss would be any better than the big name brands that we could get for half the cost.

‘Above Par’ Group

It’s not easy to dole out these grades. This category definitely has some range in the qualities of flosses that are showcased. In our opinion, each of the flosses below is heading in the right direction. They have at least some good qualities, but they also have some pretty obvious opportunities for improvement.

Wellnesse Floss Picks

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: We’ve already shared that we’re not fans of floss picks. This version is slightly improved because the floss string isn’t black, so we can at least see some conscious flossing clues on it. But, again, the pick doesn’t have enough string to allow us to use a clean section between each new set of teeth. So, it doesn’t help us figure out which areas are impacted by the conscious flossing clues that we’re finding, and it risks spreading health-undermining microbes from an infected area, to a healthy one.

Ingredients: 100% Corn Starch Handle, recyclable UHMWPE [Ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene] Floss Thread.

The corn starch handle is likely from GMO corn, and we don’t see any added ingredients to help the floss support greater oral health.

Environmental Friendliness: It’s cool that the floss string can be removed from the pick and recycled, and the handle can be processed at a compost center. However, again, the handles are made from corn starch, and we have real concerns about using corn-based products that aren’t certified non-GMO.

Cost: $.16 per use.

Overall Analysis: If you’re inclined to use a floss pick, we feel this one is the better choice because the floss is white and it’s less than half the cost of the other comparable product in this analysis.

Cocofloss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: This floss is a better design because it’s a woven, yarn-like string, which has been proven to remove more plaque.

Ingredients: Polyester Filaments (made of 85% recycled polyester from plastic water bottles) infused with Microcrystalline Wax, Coconut Oil, Essential Oils, and Food-Grade Aromas.

This company’s big splash is that they include coconut oil on the floss, and depending on the flavor, the floss string may also be infused with essential oils (rather than just flavors). Even though they could still add more oral-health-supporting ingredients, the coconut oil and possible essential oils are good starting points. However, they don’t disclose what the ‘microcrystalline wax’ on their floss is made of. 🙁

Environmental Friendliness: Their floss string is made from 85% recycled plastic. We’re not sure why they didn’t opt for 100% recycled plastic like the other flosses below have done. Unfortunately, this floss has a plastic dispenser (but at least it can be refilled).

Cost: $.16 per use.

Overall Analysis: Cocofloss has some things going for it (coconut oil on the floss and using a woven string design). But it’s in a plastic dispenser, it could use a couple of extra oral-health-supporting ingredients, and it has the second most expensive cost per use in this analysis. So, we think it definitely has room for improvement.

Bite Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: Nothing noteworthy to report regarding the design of the floss string.

Ingredients: 100% Plant-Based PLA, Candelilla Wax.

Also nothing much here, since there are no essential oils or other helpful components. There’s no ambiguous ‘vegetable wax’, but candelilla wax does also give us pause (more on this in the ‘Overall Analysis’ section).

Environmental Friendliness: We find Bite’s floss interesting because it’s the only option in this analysis made from polylactic acid (PLA). This plastic composts really easily. Another cool feature is the dispenser, which is glass with a metal lid.

Cost: $.09 per use.

Overall Analysis: While the floss itself isn’t anything fancy to write home about, kudos to this company for really trying to make the floss much more eco-friendly. We think they could improve this offering by adding some helpful ingredients to the floss, but we wonder if perhaps they aren’t able to add anything due how easily PLA degrades. Also, a drawback that we briefly mentioned in the ‘Ingredients’ section is that it includes candelilla wax. When we researched different wax options, we found that candelilla wax is harvested from a potentially at-risk plant, and it’s common for the wild harvesting to be done in an unethical manner.

RiseWell Scrubby Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: Woven polyester floss string that’s better for removing plaque.

Ingredients: Vegan Wax, Hydroxyapatite, Spearmint Oil, Xylitol, Stevia, Polyester Filament.

This floss is really coming forward by including spearmint oil (no disclosure if it’s organic), xylitol (no disclosure if it’s non-GMO), and hydroxyapatite (no disclosure whether it’s nanoparticles or microparticles). All in all, this is a big step forward. Unfortunately, their ‘vegan wax’ ingredient ends on a bit of a flat note since we don’t know what it’s made of, and it’s most likely the dreaded ‘vegetable wax’ that we mentioned above.

Environmental Friendliness: The dispenser is plastic. Also, there’s no information about whether or not the polyester floss filament is sourced from recycled plastic.

Cost: $.12 per use.

Overall Analysis: RiseWell has done a nice job incorporating some good ingredients into the floss. In addition, their woven string design choice is more effective than non-woven floss for cleaning between teeth.

Wellnesse Silk Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: In general, silk flosses are not our favorite. While we love the idea of silk floss, we’ve found that it just doesn’t seem to remove plaque as well as the woven floss design. Another concern we have about silk floss is that it tends to be very thin, and super thin flosses can increase our risk of accidentally injuring/cutting into our gums as we use them.

Ingredients: 100% Natural Silk, Candelilla Wax, Essential Peppermint Oil.

Note that silk is not a vegan-friendly option. For the peppermint oil, the company does not state if it’s organic. There’s no mention of whether or not the candelilla wax was ethically harvested.

Environmental Friendliness: Between the silk floss and the paperboard packaging, this is very eco-friendly.

Cost: $.11 per use.

Overall Analysis: All in all, this floss is a pretty good choice if you’re looking for a silk string option. It could potentially be improved by adding some additional helpful ingredients and/or by swapping out the candelilla wax for a different option.

‘Excellent’ Group

There are a handful of floss solutions that stand above the rest due to their scores in the four categories that we’re using for this analysis. It’s no surprise that each of the flosses in this group are from more established companies that have been innovating in the oral health niche for more than a decade.

Eco-Dent Gentle Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: Eco-Dent floss has gotten thinner since we first started recommending it many years ago. This is not a plus for us because we find it can be a little harsh on our gums (and fingers).

Ingredients: 

Mint & Cinnamon flavors: Jojoba Seed Oil, Candelilla Wax, Rice Bran Oil, Rice Bran Wax, For Mint Floss Option Only: Menthol, Peppermint Oil / For Cinnamon Floss Option Only: Cinnamon Leaf Oil, Anethole, Orange Oil, Lemon Peel Oil, Fennel Oil, Anise Oil, Geranium Flower Oil, Bergamot Fruit Oil, Lavender Oil, Rosemary Leaf Oil, Basil Oil, Rose Flower Oil.

Cranberry-Aloe flavor: Cranberry Fruit Juice Concentrate, Rice Bran Wax, Candelilla Wax, Rice Bran Oil, Jojoba Seed Oil, Aloe Vera Leaf Juice (Decolorized), Fennel Oil, Geranium Flower Oil, Anethole.

The Mint and Cinnamon flavors contain plenty of essential oils for helping to support oral health, and the Cranberry-Aloe flavor contains some essential oils, too. All of these floss options appear to have rice and candelilla wax coatings.

Environmental Friendliness: The string is made of plastic, but the packaging is made of paperboard. (We’re not sure, but they might have been the first company to use paperboard packaging for floss!).

Cost: $.03 per use.

Overall Analysis: Like some of the other options we discussed above, it includes candelilla wax, but we don’t know if it’s ethically harvested. It doesn’t have a woven string design, and it’s a little too thin for our personal preference. However, we included Eco-Dent in this ‘Excellent’ floss group because it contains essential oils, and you can’t beat the price. At $.03 per use, it’s less than half the cost per use of the others in this top-shelf group. Overall, it’s a very economical option if you like thin floss.

Dr. Tung’s Smart Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: The string is the yarn-like, woven polyester filament design. The company states that the material is free of PFAS (aka ‘forever chemicals’).

Ingredients: Cardamom Essential Oil, Vegetable/Beeswax Blend (Beeswax plus Candelilla, Carnauba, Castor Oil, and/or Rice Bran Wax).

We like that this company discloses what their wax is made from.

Environmental Friendliness: Dr. Tung’s has recently improved their (previously plastic) dispenser, taking this functional floss up a notch as far as its eco-friendliness. The packaging is now made from plastic-free recycled paperboard.

Cost: $.08 per use.

Overall Analysis: We really appreciate Dr. Tung’s Smart Floss. In fact, this had been our ‘go-to’ thicker floss for years (until we launched our own). It’s a good functional floss, with good packaging, with a good cost per use. But, it does include candelilla wax, and once again, we don’t know if it’s ethically harvested.

Radius Silk Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: Again, silk flosses tend to be so thin that they’re at a higher risk of damaging our gums, and they may also snag and/or break more easily than their thicker counterparts. In addition, they tend not to work as well for ‘grabbing’ plaque.

Ingredients: Natural Silk Thread, Organic Carnauba Wax.

No essential oils or other beneficial components.

Environmental Friendliness: Because it’s a natural product, silk floss is very eco-friendly. This is packaged in a nice paperboard dispenser.

Cost: $.07 per use.

Overall Analysis: This is a great option for anyone who is looking for silk floss. It’s our top pick for a silk floss because it uses a more sustainable wax, and the cost per use is substantially cheaper than other silk flosses on the market.

OraWellness Fantastic Floss

Design Efficacy & Benefits/Risks: It has a woven, yarn-like floss string design that’s been proven to remove up to 44% more plaque than other floss designs. Also, since it’s a thicker floss, it’s much more gentle on your gums (and fingers!).

Ingredients: Recycled Polyester String (from post-consumption plastic bottles); Sunflower Seed Wax; Olive Oil; Lacquer Tree Wax; Sal Tree Resin; Vegan & Non-Nano Hydroxyapatite; Non-GMO Xylitol; Organic Essential Oils of: Peppermint, Cinnamon, & Clove; Organic Spearmint Aroma.

We chose to coat our floss with several supportive components, including:

  • A blend of organic essential oils (plus organic spearmint aroma) that creates a warming/cooling balance similar to our HealThy Mouth Blend. Here’s an important distinction: this floss is the only one with organic essential oils.
  • Hydroxyapatite to support remineralization. We use micro-sized hydroxyapatite in order to avoid the potential risks associated with using nano-hydroxyapatite. And, the micro-hydroxyapatite that we chose for our floss is a mined product, so it’s vegan friendly.
  • Non-GMO xylitol to work synergistically with the hydroxyapatite and boost remineralization. Fantastic Floss is the only floss option we’ve seen so far that mentions that the xylitol is non-GMO.

Also, instead of the common (and vague) ‘vegetable wax’ ingredient that contains hydrogenated oils, we chose a safer, still-vegan-friendly combination of olive oil, sunflower seed wax, sal tree resin, and lacquer tree wax.

Environmental Friendliness: The woven floss is plastic (made of 100% recycled polyester from plastic water bottles) that’s free of PTFE and PFAS. The dispenser is paperboard. Even the little ‘plastic’ floss spool bag inside the paperboard dispenser is made from plant cellulose, which is compostable.

Cost: $.08 per use for a single spool. However, we offer a ‘buy 3, get 1 free’ bundle, and choosing that option brings the cost down to only $.06 per use.

Overall Analysis: When you combine the better design for removing plaque, the number and quality of beneficial components that we added to the floss, and the cost per use, you might see why we’re so thrilled with our Fantastic Floss. We are very proud to be able to offer a higher quality floss at a lower price than many of the options offered by other small companies like us.

What do folks think about Fantastic Floss?

Don’t take our word for it. Here are just a few of the many 5-star reviews we’ve already received from our happy customers.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Best Floss in the World!
“This is the best floss in the world! It is rightly named “awesome”. I couldn’t be happier with this product or its performance. My teeth feel hygienist-cleaned each night after using it.”
– Kathleen Y. from Montana

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
Awesome . . .
“Definitely feel [Fantastic] Floss is superior to any store brand floss we have tried. It was extremely thorough at removing gunk from between the teeth. Soft yet strong with a good mouth feel and flavor.”
– Holly R. from New Hampshire

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Perfect Floss!!
“I’ve searched for the floss of my dreams for a number of years—and now I’ve found it! Had to kiss a number of frog flosses along the way, each one getting a bit closer—[Fantastic] Floss is DA BOMB! What’s not to like about a floss that expands, is fluffy, is infused with 2 teeth-remineralizing ingredients and 2 microbiome-balancing essential oils, is eco-friendly made from recycled ingredients, and contains 40 meters! Plus its convenience factor and small size is much more travel-friendly than a much-larger water flosser that requires electricity and water (think office, camping / other outdoor recreational activities, rehab facility after hip replacement, anytime you need to floss away from home). It’s up to you to master the correct flossing technique but as an oral hygiene tool, [Fantastic] Floss beats all the others. Thanks OraWellness!”
– Barbara K. from Indiana

Finding the right floss for you…

At the end of the day, what matters is that you find a floss that you’ll use. To help with finding the right floss, reflect on your priorities.

If environmental friendliness is more important than ingredients, then a silk floss may be your best option.

If function is more important to you, go with one of the woven, yarn-like floss solutions.

And if you feel that having helpful ingredients like hydroxyapatite, xylitol, and essential oils is key, then you may prefer one of the solutions that has gone the extra mile to include these in their floss.

Of course, getting a good value for our money is important to each of us. OraWellness products aren’t the cheapest oral hygiene products on the market, but since you’re following us, we already know that you prioritize quality over cost.

All along our floss creation process, we had the intention to create a floss solution with a better design, with low environmental impact, with plenty of quality ingredients, and at a price that would compete with major brands. We’re proud of our creation, and we’re grateful that so many customers have already told us that OraWellness Fantastic Floss is the best floss they’ve ever used (by far).

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Comments

  1. Luc says

    Thank you for this analysis. I tried yours but it was too thick for my crooked overcrowded teeth.
    May be I will try the second best. I have been using Listerine wax floss (I don’t know what it is made of). It is the only one I succeed in passing between teeth.

    Reply

    • Wren At OraWellness says

      Aloha Luc,

      Thank you for giving our floss a try!

      In case it helps, feel free to check out our article: How to Straighten Teeth without Braces

      I hope that helps!

      Aloha! 🙂

      Reply