Chewing gum can shed microplastics into saliva, pilot study finds - American Chemical Society
www.acs.org
Plastic is everywhere. And many products we use in everyday life can expose people to tiny, micrometer-wide plastic particles called microplastics. Now, chewing gum could be added to the list. In a pilot study, researchers found that chewing gum can release hundreds to thousands of microplastics per piece into saliva and potentially be ingested.
    • randint@lemmy.frozeninferno.xyzEnglish
      0·
      1 month ago

      I just pulled this out from my ass, but I would guess yes, they do. But you rinse your mouth after brushing your teeth so I would guess it’s not that bad? Since you’re (mostly) not ingesting the microplastic particles from the toothbrush. But again I’m going off of nothing.

      • iheartneopets@lemm.eeEnglish
        1·
        1 month ago

        Current advice is actually to not rinse after brushing, as you’re meant to let the fluoride of the toothpaste sit against your teeth for thirty minutes.

        Unfortunately, I would recommend not losing sleep over either source of microplastics (chewing gum or toothbrushes), until tires and synthetic clothing are done away with by society. Those are much MUCH bigger, inescapable sources of microplastics