PMID- 38092338 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20240214 LR - 20240214 IS - 1873-6424 (Electronic) IS - 0269-7491 (Linking) VI - 343 DP - 2024 Feb 15 TI - Microplastics in oral healthcare products (OHPs) and their environmental health risks and mitigation measures. PG - 123118 LID - S0269-7491(23)02120-6 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123118 [doi] AB - The environmental input of microplastics from personal care products has received significant attention; however, less focus has been paid to oral healthcare products. The present study assessed the occurrence of microplastics in commercially available oral healthcare products such as toothbrushes, toothpastes, toothpowder, mouthwash, dental floss, and mouth freshener spray that have a pan-India distribution. The extracted microplastics were quantified and characterised using a microscope and ATR-FTIR. All products showed microplastic contamination, where toothbrushes showed the maximum particles (30-120 particles/brush) and mouth freshener sprays (0.2-3.5 particles/ml) had the least abundance. Fragments, fibres, beads, and films were the various shapes of microplastics observed, where fragments (60%) were dominant. Various colours such as pink, green, blue, yellow, black, and colourless were observed, where colourless (40%) particles were dominant. Microplastics were categorized into three sizes: <0.1 mm (63%), 0.1-0.3 mm (35%), and >0.3 mm (2%). Four major types of polymers, such as polyethylene (52%), polyamide (30%), polyethylene terephthalate (15%), and polybutylene terephthalate (3%), were identified. Risk assessment studies such as Daily Microplastics Emission (DME), Annual Microplastics Exposure (AME), and Polymer Hazard Index (PHI) were carried out. The DME projection for India was the highest for mouthwash (74 billion particles/day) and the least for mouth freshener sprays (0.36 billion particles/day). The AME projection for an individual was the highest in toothbrushes (48,910 particles ind.(-1) yr.(-1)) and the least in mouth freshener sprays (111 particles ind.(-1) yr.(-1)). PHI shows that the identified polymers fall under the low-to high-risk categories. This study forecasts the community health risks linked to microplastics in oral healthcare products and suggests mitigation strategies. It has the potential to shape environmental policy development in response. CI - Copyright (c) 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. FAU - Protyusha, G B AU - Protyusha GB AD - Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600095, India. Electronic address: drprotyusha.oralpathology@madch.edu.in. FAU - B, Kavitha AU - B K AD - Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600095, India. FAU - Robin, R S AU - Robin RS AD - National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India. FAU - A, Nithin AU - A N AD - National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India. FAU - Ineyathendral, T R AU - Ineyathendral TR AD - Department of Zoology, Queen Mary's College, Chennai, India. FAU - Shivani, S Shruthi AU - Shivani SS AD - Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600095, India. FAU - I, Anandavelu AU - I A AD - National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India. FAU - Sivasamy, Shyam AU - Sivasamy S AD - Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Meenakshi Ammal Dental College and Hospital, Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research, Chennai, 600095, India. FAU - Samuel, V Deepak AU - Samuel VD AD - National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India. FAU - R, Purvaja AU - R P AD - National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Chennai, 600 025, India. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20231211 PL - England TA - Environ Pollut JT - Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987) JID - 8804476 RN - 0 (Plastics) RN - 0 (Microplastics) RN - 0 (Mouthwashes) RN - 0 (Water Pollutants, Chemical) RN - 0 (Polymers) RN - 0 (Polyethylene Terephthalates) SB - IM MH - *Plastics MH - Microplastics/toxicity MH - Environmental Monitoring MH - Mouthwashes MH - *Water Pollutants, Chemical/analysis MH - Polymers MH - Polyethylene Terephthalates MH - Environmental Health OTO - NOTNLM OT - Annual microplastics exposure OT - Daily microplastics emission OT - Microplastics OT - Mitigation measures OT - Oral healthcare products OT - Polymer hazard index COIS- Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. EDAT- 2023/12/14 00:42 MHDA- 2024/02/10 22:54 CRDT- 2023/12/13 19:30 PHST- 2023/09/29 00:00 [received] PHST- 2023/12/03 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2023/12/06 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2024/02/10 22:54 [medline] PHST- 2023/12/14 00:42 [pubmed] PHST- 2023/12/13 19:30 [entrez] AID - S0269-7491(23)02120-6 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123118 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Environ Pollut. 2024 Feb 15;343:123118. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.123118. Epub 2023 Dec 11.