Best Plastic-Free (and PFAS-Free) Dental Floss
Last reviewed September 2026
Floss is the marquee case in this whole hub, because the floss engineered to slide most easily is often made of PTFE - the same fluoropolymer as Teflon nonstick, part of the PFAS "forever chemical" family - dragged between your gums twice a day. The clean swap is silk or plant fiber with a natural wax. This is where a plastic-free choice is also a PFAS-avoidance choice.
The short answer
Conventional floss is usually PTFE - the same fluoropolymer family as nonstick - so silk isn't a preference here, it's the whole answer: a natural protein fiber can't be a fluoropolymer. Dental Lace is the pick, silk in a refillable glass vial. Public Goods is the cheapest and, unusually, has an EPA-certified lab result showing non-detect for PFAS, though the best price is tied to a membership. Radius is the one to grab in an actual shop - just check you have the silk, since the same brand sells a vegan nylon floss in near-identical packaging. All silk can fray on rough fillings and crowns.
Why plastic matters in dental floss
Floss is an unusually direct contact case: a fiber pressed and dragged firmly against soft gum tissue once or twice a day. That's the backdrop for the one material story that reaches beyond "less plastic" into "fewer forever chemicals."
Conventional "glide," "comfort," and "smooth-slide" flosses often achieve that slickness with PTFE - polytetrafluoroethylene, the exact fluoropolymer used to coat nonstick pans, and a member of the PFAS family. In 2019 a peer-reviewed study from the Silent Spring Institute (Boronow et al.) found that women who flossed with Oral-B Glide had about 25% higher blood levels of PFHxS, one of the PFAS compounds, and detected fluorine in every Glide product they tested. An EPA-certified lab commissioned by Mamavation in 2024 found detectable organic fluorine in 13 of 39 flosses, with an Oral-B Glide product measuring roughly a quarter fluorine by weight. In fairness, the per-use exposure from floss is modest, and in early 2026 Oral-B's maker said it had removed PTFE from Glide in favor of a "micro-textured" fiber - a claim the researchers who prompted the change note has not been independently verified, with older PTFE stock still on shelves. The honest takeaway isn't alarm; it's that this is a real, avoidable, repeated PFAS source, and you don't have to bet on any reformulation when a natural fiber sidesteps it entirely.
It helps to sort floss into three kinds. PTFE-fiber floss is the PFAS one. Plain nylon floss is petroleum plastic in your mouth, but not PFAS. And single-use plastic floss picks add a nylon thread on a plastic handle. Against all three, the plastic-free answer is a protein or plant fiber - silk, coated in a natural plant wax like candelilla or carnauba - which carries no fluoropolymer by construction. (Vegan "bioplastic" flosses made of PLA or bio-nylon are a real middle option: compostable and fossil-free, but still a polymer thread, so we treat them honestly as better end-of-life rather than plastic-free.)
What to look for in dental floss
- Avoid "glide," "comfort," "smooth-slide," "PTFE," and "Teflon," and any unlabeled slick monofilament - that's the fluoropolymer/PFAS class
- Choose silk or a genuine plant fiber, coated in natural wax (candelilla, carnauba, beeswax) rather than a petroleum/synthetic wax
- Third-party "PFAS-free" testing is the gold standard - a brand claim alone is weaker, so note who did the testing
- Treat "bamboo," "charcoal," "plant-based," and "biodegradable" floss claims skeptically - many are nylon or bio-nylon (a polyamide), not plant fiber; verify the actual filament
- A refillable glass vial with a steel cap cuts packaging plastic - a real plus, but secondary to the thread material
Recommended dental floss
Every product here we'd actually suggest — best-in-class picks first, then the rest by how plastic-free they are.
Natural Silk Floss
Silk floss in refillable glass that an independent EPA-certified lab found non-detect for PFAS - the third-party verification almost no floss can point to, at the lowest price of our picks.
Pure Silk Eco Floss
Peace (ahimsa) silk in candelilla wax, refilled from a glass or steel dispenser - the same plastic-free, PFAS-free-by-construction floss, with silk harvested after the moth leaves the cocoon.
Silk Floss
Silk thread in a refillable glass vial - a natural protein fiber that can't be a fluoropolymer, so it sidesteps the whole PTFE/PFAS question the way no plastic floss can.
Silk Floss
Pure silk floss in coconut oil and carnauba wax from a mainstream oral-care brand - plastic-free and, in independent testing, non-detect for PFAS. Just be sure to grab the silk line, not the vegan nylon one.
| Product | Rating | Touches your skin | Price | Made in |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Public Goods Natural Silk Floss Best Value | Silk | $ | USA | |
 TreeBird Pure Silk Eco Floss Best Silk | Silk | $ | USA | |
 Dental Lace Silk Floss Best Overall | Silk | $$ | USA (Maine) | |
| RADIUS Silk Floss Best Widely Available | Silk | $ | USA |
Dental floss to avoid
Popular options that look plastic-free but aren't — and whole categories worth skipping.
Cocofloss
Genuinely PFAS-free and eco-branded, but the thread is still polyester plastic (recycled PET). If you want a floss with no plastic in the contact path at all, choose a silk pick like Dental Lace or Public Goods.
Plackers Floss Picks
Single-use plastic - a nylon thread on a molded plastic handle, thrown away each use. PFAS-free, but a whole plastic pick per floss. Choose a refillable silk pick like Dental Lace or Public Goods.
Oral-B Glide Floss
The marquee PTFE floss - a slick fluoropolymer monofilament in the PFAS family, dragged along the gumline. Skip the whole "glide" monofilament class and choose a silk pick like Dental Lace or Public Goods.
Colgate Total Floss
The "Total" fiber is PTFE - a fluoropolymer in the PFAS family. Colgate also sells a plain nylon floss, but this SKU is the PTFE one; choose a silk floss like Dental Lace or Public Goods instead.
PTFE / fluoropolymer floss ("glide," "comfort," "smooth" monofilament)
The one genuine PFAS story in the bathroom. A PTFE monofilament slides because it's the same fluoropolymer family as nonstick coating, dragged between your gums daily. Independent lab testing has found some of these flosses to be roughly a quarter fluorine by weight, and a peer-reviewed study tied one to measurably higher blood PFAS. Even where a maker now claims reformulation, the "slick monofilament" class is the signal to skip.
Single-use plastic floss picks (nylon thread on an ABS/PP handle)
A short strand of nylon on a molded plastic handle, thrown away after one use - plastic thread plus a plastic handle, in volume. The disposable plastic is the problem here even when the floss itself isn't PFAS.
Nylon floss marketed as "natural," "eco," or "vegan"
Vegan and a natural wax coating don't change the thread - if the filament is nylon, it's still petroleum plastic in maximum gum contact. "Vegan" and "plant-based wax" describe the coating, not the fiber.
Common questions about dental floss
Is there a fully plastic-free option for dental floss?
Yes. Of the 4 dental floss products we recommend, 4 rate as fully plastic-free, with no plastic and no silicone anywhere in the product: Public Goods Natural Silk Floss, TreeBird Pure Silk Eco Floss, Dental Lace Silk Floss and RADIUS Silk Floss.
Which dental floss do you recommend most?
Of the 4 dental floss products we recommend, Public Goods Natural Silk Floss takes Best Value, TreeBird Pure Silk Eco Floss takes Best Silk and Dental Lace Silk Floss takes Best Overall.
Which dental floss should you avoid?
Among the dental floss we have reviewed, we do not recommend Cocofloss, Plackers Floss Picks, Oral-B Glide Floss and Colgate Total Floss. We also suggest skipping PTFE / fluoropolymer floss ("glide," "comfort," "smooth" monofilament), Single-use plastic floss picks (nylon thread on an ABS/PP handle) and Nylon floss marketed as "natural," "eco," or "vegan".
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