Hazards of Dental Floss

Flossing is recommended by virtually every dentist, and if you have kids it's almost a certainty they are "drilled" thoroughly in the daily use of floss when they go for their check-ups. But as I recently discovered while clearing out my own kids' bathroom sink this past weekend, old floss can be aleading cause of bathroom clogs. (I guess the good news is that they are trying to keep their teeth healthy - both of them absolutely denied disposing of floss in the sink.) Because flossing is part of an oral hygiene ritual, it is understandable why a lot this material ends up in sinks and toilets. But floss is one of those substances that will not quickly degrade, and on top of that it is a string that wraps around everything and winds up as a disgusting messy clump, trapping everything else coming down the pipe. 

SOLUTION? 1) No floss down any drains, including the toilet. It needs to be put in the trash, period. 2) Clear out old floss. Short of opening up your u-joint, using an inexpensive, handy tool like the zipit unclogger (see below) should do the job. 3) Apply Bio-Clean or MegaMicrobes to regularly to clean out residual odor-forming waste buildup and help release embedded hair, floss, and other matter.

4) Keep it up! Monitor output into your drains, and apply Bioredex products on a monthly basis to keep clogs and odors at bay and eliminate expensive plumber visits.

I'm always scouting out inexpensive tools to help get physical blockages out out of the drain pipe so that our biological cleaners can do what they do best. If you've talked to me, you know my #1 drain essential is a lightweight sink plunger. Now I can also recommend a little gadget called the Zipit unclogger. It's simply a long strip of white plastic with upward pointing teeth (careful!) that did an excellent job of pulling out disgusting balls of old dental floss and hair. We don't sell it, but you can pick it up in most hardware stores or online for under $5.