A bamboo electric toothbrush with replaceable bamboo heads is the most sustainable long-term toothbrush for the planet and for your health.
- What is the most sustainable toothbrush?
- Are the replacement heads compostable?
- Are bio-based bristles effective?
- How long does the battery last?
- How much do electric bamboo toothbrushes cost?
What is the most sustainable toothbrush?
Research suggests an electric bamboo toothbrush is one of the most impactful toothbrushes. However, this doesn’t include external impacts, such as impacts of plastic waste and that electric toothbrushes typically keep your mouth cleaner, avoiding additional dental needs. Accounting for these impacts, a bamboo electric toothbrush is the least impactful option.
As a sustainable professional, I’ve reviewed hundreds of research studies on sustainable products. They almost all use something known as a Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). This involves taking a detailed look at all the impacts associated with creating a product, including resource extraction, shipping, manufacturing, packaging, waste and so on.
These studies do a pretty good job detailing the impact to create and use a product. However, they almost never include external impacts outside of the product itself.
With this in mind, I’ve ranked different types of toothbrushes below in terms of their overall impact, with the lowest impact first.
The Most Sustainable Toothbrush
Here is a list of toothbrushes ranked by a sustainability professional in order of lowest to greatest overall impact:
Bamboo Electric Toothbrushes
The Sustainable Tomorrow bamboo electric toothbrush avoids plastic waste, can provide better oral hygiene, features zero-waste packaging, and carbon neutral shipping, making it the best choice for an eco-friendly option. The toothbrush uses castor oil bristles to further avoid plastic waste. Bamboo is a fast-growing renewable resource.
Data is very limited on the total impact of toothbrushes and almost non-existent on a bamboo electric toothbrush. Based on the above research study and my own analysis, I estimate the impact in carbon emissions to be about 43.6 kg CO2e over 5 years.
The lowest option, a bamboo replaceable head toothbrush, has a carbon footprint of about 0.9 kg CO2e. However, research has shown that manual toothbrushes aren’t as effective as electric toothbrushes.
Based on one study, the impact of a single dental filling is about 15 kg CO2e. This means, if an electric toothbrush helps to avoid the need of about 3 fillings over 5 years, it will more than make up for its impact. Other dental procedures have an even higher impact.
In short, if an electric toothbrush avoids the need for dental work beyond your normal dental visits, it’s overall impact will be lower than a regular toothbrush.
One reason why the impact of a bamboo toothbrush is thought to be high is because research typically looks at bamboo made in China. Still, its total impact is the lowest option.
Further, even the packaging of a Sustainable Tomorrow bamboo electric toothbrush consist mainly of kraft paper boxes and biodegradable packaging.
As a disclaimer, the electric toothbrush handle does have a hidden plastic core, as it’s required for waterproofing. However, the remainder of the brush is made of bamboo.
One last aspect that makes the Sustainable Tomorrow bamboo electric toothbrush the most sustainable option it comes with carbon neutral shipping. Shipping is one of the higher impact areas of bamboo products, so it’s impact is lower still.
Plastic Electric Toothbrushes
A plastic electric toothbrush with a replaceable head is actually the most impactful option. Here again though its total impact is offset by the fact it will keep your mouth cleaner and avoid extra dental work.
Regular Bamboo Toothbrushes
Bamboo is one of the fastest-growing plant materials we have access to, which is part of the reason why this brush actually has the lowest impact of any brush. Regular bamboo toothbrushes are less impactful on the planet than plastic ones in almost all measurable ways. Sustainable Tomorrow sells these as well.
Still, even though a regular bamboo toothbrush is made without all of the electric components, thereby reducing its overall impact, these brushes usually don’t have replaceable heads. This means an entire new brush is needed each time.
In addition, manual toothbrushes may not provide as good of a clean as electric toothbrushes.
Regular Plastic Toothbrushes
A regular plastic toothbrush may have a low impact itself, however the full extent of the impact of plastic on the environment is not yet known. Researchers never include the long-term impact of plastic in the environment. In addition, plastic will remain in the environment for thousands of years, meaning all of the plastic ever created is still in existence.
Bio-Based Bamboo Replacement Heads
When it comes to replacement heads, you can either purchase the biodegradable bamboo brush heads for the Sustainable Tomorrow electric bamboo toothbrush or for the Philips Sonicare, so no need to purchase a new brush base if you already have a compatible toothbrush.
Biodegradable Bamboo Heads
The Sustainable Tomorrow bamboo electric toothbrush heads are made from castor bean oil and bamboo. The bamboo toothbrush heads have soft bristles and provide that deep clean feeling. The heads can be thrown directly into your compost pile along side your other household compostables.
The heads may take several months to break down and so cannot “officially” be called compostable. However, trees and other woody materials also take several months to break down, but are still considered compostable.
Be sure to clean the heads properly before using in a compost pile intended for growing food or that may harm waterways.
The entire bamboo head and plant-based bristles can be composted.
Phillips Sonicare 9-Series Models
Since this heads works with some specialty models, you’ll be able to keep your Phillips Sonicare 9-series models and not need to purchase a new brush.
Series 9 bamboo heads fit the following models: HX9003, HX9013, HX9112, HX9141, HX9172, HX9182, HX9332, HX9350, HX9352, HX9362, HX9363, HX682P, HX642A, HX3211/17, HX751V.
Series 6 bamboo heads are compatible with all others Philips Sonicare models except all Sonicare Essence models, Sonicare ProtectiveClean models, Sonicare One models, and Sonicare E-Series models.
You can purchase just the bamboo heads here. Be sure to use the coupon code below.
Brushing Modes
The Sustainable Tomorrow electric bamboo toothbrush has 5 cleaning modes: Clean, White, Polish, Sensitive, and Gum care
Here are the 5 brush modes for the sustainable tomorrow electric bamboo toothbrush:
Clean
Your go-to for daily teeth cleaning. This is pretty much the only setting I use. The brush has a 2-minute timer and will pause quickly after each 30 seconds. This timer helps to figure out how long to spend brushing each part of your mouth.
Since the brush is electric, you don’t have to do much brushing. You simply move the brush around your mouth as needed.
White
Ideal to get an healthy smile & really do away with any surface staining.
Polish
Ideal to get an healthy smile & really do away with any surface staining.
Gum Care
Ideally suited to those who have mild sensitivity in their gums
Sensitive
Gentle on the teeth and gums.
Charging Time and Number of Brushes
Charge Time
The electric toothbrush battery takes about 60 minutes to charge in my experience. However, you can get a full 2-minute brush in with about 30 seconds of charging after the battery is completely dead. This means there is no need to worry if you forget to charge the toothbrush over night!
Battery Life and Number of Brushes
I’ve been using this toothbrush for over a year now and on average I get about 50 uses before the battery needs to be completely recharged again. I recommend keeping it more on the charged size so that you get a stronger brushing. I can’t say for sure, but it seems like the bristle speed may slow down a bit as the battery dies.
Luckily, the toothbrush has a battery indicator that flashes after each brush session so you know how much battery life you have left.
Cost
Bamboo Electric Toothbrushes
The current cost to purchase the bamboo electric toothbrush is $99.95. Use the coupon code below. However, you can save about $10 to bring the initial cost down to about $89.95 with the coupon code: GoGreenPost
You can purchase the bamboo toothbrush here.
What's Included
- Bamboo Electric Toothbrush
- Toothbrush Charger
- 1-Year of Replacement Bamboo Heads
- Carbon Neutral Shipping
Refill Heads
Bamboo Replacement Heads
The current cost to purchase the bamboo electric toothbrush heads drop as you purchase more of them. The Series 9 model costs:
2-Pack: $16.95
4-Pack: $28.82
8-Pack: $50.85
You can purchase them here.
Sonicare Compatible Bamboo Replacement Heads
The Series 6 model costs are the same as the Series 9:
2-Pack: $16.95
4-Pack: $28.82
8-Pack: $50.85
You can purchase them here.
My Take
While there are several different settings, I only ever use “Clean”, the main setting. I find it to be good enough for my cleaning needs.
The bamboo handle is nice to hold and I like that it rests nicely on the counter without rolling over. My wife also has an electric toothbrush, however it’s not a bamboo one. Her toothbrush often rolls over while putting toothpaste on it, since it has only a small foot.
Her brush will also continue to run past the 2 minute mark, which can be a waste of time and energy. The button on the bamboo brush could be a little bit harder to press down, as to not accidentally press it, but this is a minor issue.
Given the fast charge time, use of bamboo and eco-friendly shipping, and packaging, improved oral hygiene, and number of uses per charge, I’m happy with my investment in this brush.
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