It’s a New Yr, and Longevity is again with its weekly “Wednesday Wellness” phase. Bringing you the very best in professional recommendation on well being, wellness, and longevity. We spoke to Saskia Foley, the CEO and President of RADIUS company, which specializes within the manufacturing and distribution of environmentally pleasant dental care merchandise.
Eco-friendly dental care merchandise promote sustainability
Why sustainable dental care? All of us take our dental care with no consideration. For years and years, we have now merely adopted the directions of our mother and father or dental service suppliers on how you can care for our enamel. Most of us don’t even take into consideration what’s used to make dental aids, despite the fact that we put them into our mouths day by day.
Nevertheless, instances have modified. Fortunately we’re all turning into much better at understanding the great and dangerous influence of manufacturers have, not simply on our well being, but additionally on the planet.
How dental care contributes to landfill
Within the final 40 years, lower than 10% of plastic has been recycled, in accordance knowledge from the EPA.
A current survey revealed that 75% of U.S. shoppers are involved in regards to the environmental influence of the merchandise they buy, but the setting continues to endure. And relating to toothbrushes, they trigger extra waste than you would possibly suppose.
In keeping with the National Geographic, toothbrush waste from the U.S. in only one yr is sufficient to wrap across the earth 4 instances!
A household enterprise with a long run imaginative and prescient
That is the place Radius is available in. For over 4 many years the corporate has been dedicated to defending the planet; all of their dental care merchandise are sustainable, natural, biodegradable, recyclable, constructed from plant-based materials, toxin free, and assist scale back waste by 86% to have a greener planet and a cleaner smile.
Taking Over the Household Dental Enterprise
Saskia Foley is the President and CEO of Radius and daughter of one of many unique co-founders. She admits it wasn’t initially her plan to take over the reigns of the enterprise from her father. Foley shares that as she majored in Chinese language at school, she thought she would find yourself “working for the CIA (in) transcribing.”

Saskia Foley
Though her first job was as a challenge supervisor for a Chinese language broadcast studio, it geared up her with the required abilities to run an organization. Her curiosity in task-oriented tasks and groups led to a “synergistic” transition into the household enterprise. She rounded this off with an MBA from “Babson”, thought of the very best entrepreneur faculty within the US.
Innovation in dental care
Radius celebrates its fortieth anniversary this yr, and so they’re nonetheless as revolutionary and ground-breaking as they have been upon its inception in 1983, with its first product being made out of plant-based resin, and cellulose, a “renewable, timber useful resource from timber.”
The corporate determined to avoid the basic, old-school toothbrush design, which Saskia calls “humanities lack of imaginative and prescient” which was opted for because of slicing prices in mass manufacturing.
An Ergonomic Design
Their toothbrush design is ergonomic, coming in right- and left-handed variations, with a reusable “without end deal with” constructed from renewable timber. Radius has a “starting of life, finish of life” perception. In keeping with Saskia, this encourages them to contemplate the top of a product’s life earlier than they start creating it.
The design has been known as whacky and even bizarre, however there’s a particular function to this.
Explains Saskia, “We utilized ergonomic design and luxurious supplies to engineer a toothbrush that cleans higher in your mouth, feels higher in your hand, and treats the planet higher with a give attention to sustainability. And that was simply the beginning. We’ve taken that philosophy and imaginative and prescient of on a regular basis to create sustainable toothpastes, flosses, and different each day use objects we expect you’ll love too.”
Preventing the plastic epidemic
Via this philosophy, Radius is being intentional about combating the plastic epidemic which is leaving our earth broken.
As an FDA-Accredited firm, the way in which they do that is via producing BPA-free, biodegradable, and compostable merchandise.
A BPA & Teflon-Free Product
BPA, which stands for Bisphenol A, is an industrial carbon-based chemical used to make sure plastics and resins for the reason that Nineteen Fifties. Sometimes used within the manufacturing of toothbrushes, BPA publicity has been linked to a number of well being issues, together with heart disease, kind 2 diabetes, and cancer. Teflon, which falls beneath the umbrella of PFAS, is an endocrine-disrupting chemical related to quite a few opposed well being outcomes, together with kidney and testicular most cancers amongst many others.
“As these merchandise enter your physique, they have to be FDA-Accredited”, Saskia says. She cites how we have to be simply as intentional about our dental care as we’re in regards to the meals we devour.
Radius makes this a precedence, as the corporate makes use of Polypropylene for the manufacturing of their dental care, toothbrushes, which is an artificial resin free from BPA and Teflon. The corporate prioritizes using bioplastics, that are produced from renewable biomass sources resembling timber and vegetable oils.
A Lengthy Lasting, But Efficient Toothbrush
We’re suggested to vary our toothbrushes each 3 months. That is as a result of bristles turning into worn out, however Radius goals to fight this.
“Our bristles are constructed from eco-friendly vegetable-based nylons, omitting pure bristles that are harsh on gums and break simply,” Saskia states, describing their mild, but efficient toothbrush, which may last more than 3 months.
She continues to specific how the corporate just isn’t solely intentional via its toothbrush design, but additionally via its toothpaste.
Natural vs. Common Toothpaste
There’s additionally a typical false impression that natural toothpaste won’t clear your enamel in addition to common toothpaste. Nevertheless, Saskia contends that with natural toothpaste, “you’re truly getting the identical cleansing advantages as regular toothpaste with out the additional components and impurities”.
This will influence your oral and bodily well being drastically.
The necessity to go natural
She provides, “By way of toothpaste, we’re very aware of the components that we use. Our natural toothpastes are the primary toothpastes to be licensed USDA Natural, which means that no less than 95% of our components should be natural. Our toothpastes don’t include any chemical compounds, synthetic components, or artificial foaming brokers which might be widespread in lots of mass-market toothpastes.”
Their toothpaste vary is licensed natural, being 100% freed from chemical compounds, pesticides, GMOs, glutens, fluoride, saccharin, SLS, SLES, carrageenan, parabens, detergents, or any synthetics.
Dangerous Elements in Common Toothpaste
So subsequent time you attain to your toothpaste, maybe you must check out what’s in it. If it has any of the next components within the tube then you must re-consider utilizing it!
- Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS): As a low-cost cleaning and foaming agent, that is recognized to trigger pores and skin irritation, irritation of oral mucosa, and trigger tissue sloughing, which is when the pores and skin of your inside cheeks begins to peel
- Propylene Glycol: That is used to easy out the feel of toothpaste and enhance its shelf life. It could trigger harm to the central nervous system, resulting in organ toxicity. It could additionally put on down the enamel, which weakens the enamel and leaves them in danger for decay.
- Parabens: Additionally used to protect the shelf lifetime of a product, these can disrupt hormone function by mimicking estrogen, and this has been linked to an elevated threat of breast most cancers. This ingredient may cause stomatitis and cheilitis, the irritation of the mouth and lips.
- Synthetic Sweeteners: Elements resembling Saccharin and Aspartame are used so as to add taste to toothpaste. Nevertheless, they’ve come beneath scrutiny for his or her potential to trigger most cancers. Additionally, when ingested, Aspartame is damaged down into methanol, which our our bodies can not digest, and subsequently converts into Formaldehyde. This then causes gastrointestinal points, complications, and weak point.
Intentionality in Dental Care
The staff at Radius is especially happy with the pioneering manufacturing processes developed by the corporate. Not like many mass-market toothbrushes and toothpastes, merchandise are additionally made on low-energy machines in a solar-powered facility and are designed with the utmost high quality in thoughts.
So subsequent time you attain to your toothbrush and toothpaste, give a thought to what position you might be taking part in in defending your personal well being, in addition to that of the planet.
Watch The Interview
To listen to extra in regards to the significance of intentionality in oral take care of our well being and the Earth, watch the complete video beneath.