Brazil & Floss!

Ahh, Brazil! The home of great music, great beauty and an obsession with dental floss. How can we top a country that nicknamed it’s famously skimpy bathing suit “fio dental” (dental floss)? Brazil is a place where you’ll find floss dispensers outside the restrooms of steakhouses, so you can floss and get really comfortable after a big chewy meal. Brazil is a place where you’ll find Flosscards for sale in the drugstores. Below you'll find some details about what’s happening with floss in Brazil, and how we might make similar things happen here in the US - Read on!

Here's a picture of a Brazilian version of the Flosscard, much like the flosscards we have here at the NFC. This flosscard was available at a drug store at the San Paulo airport. Price: about $2 US. How come no one is selling these in the US?

Here are two pictures of floss dispensers in restaurants in Rio de Janeiro. (Thanks to NFC Volunteers, Joe R, Erin C-T & Gabi M!) Reports we've received through various Brazilian travellers indicate that floss machines are mostly found in restaurants in Rio and San Paulo. We hope to bring a little of the Brazilian sensitivity to flossing to restaurants here in the USA! We’ve heard that there are restaurants giving out flosscards, but we’re yet to find a reliable source of flossing machines that restaurants can use here (Please write us if you can help: publicflossing@flossing.org) Someday we want to see dental floss among the toys and other stuff that McDonald’s includes in the Happy Meal. Why aren’t fast food resturants saying “Would you like floss with that?” or offering floss in their rest rooms?

Someday we hope to see the fio dental bathing suit everywhere on American beaches - but that’s another story.