Your toothbrush: horrid bacterial colony?

[OGC]

I know there is a lot of crap out on the internets, but I came across this article (http://www.helium.com/items/110702-how-to-clean-your-toothbrush) and it made me wonder.

Should I be soaking my toothbrush in alcohol ?

[drjoek]

You should change your toothbrush every 6 weeks or so. I don't see as how soaking it in isopropyl alcohol will do much beneficial and it will make it take pretty awful. You actually will do no harm letting your toothbrush air dry.

[RoseBlood]

You should change your toothbrush every 6 weeks or so. I don't see as how soaking it in isopropyl alcohol will do much beneficial and it will make it take pretty awful. You actually will do no harm letting your toothbrush air dry.

Every 6 weeks? Really? That often? I usually change my toothbrush and tongue scraper every 3 mos. or so.

[Dr Steve]

Well, it's always good to go to peer-reviewed scientific literature if you can, and Dr Joe is exactly right. Here's a good article on this:

J Dent Child (Chic). 2008 Jan-Apr;75(1):29-32.

Viability of Streptococcus mutans toothbrush bristles.

Strep Mutans is a model for regular old mouth bacteria


Saravia ME, Nelson-Filho P, da Silva RA, Faria G, Rossi MA, Ito IY.

National University of Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina.

PURPOSE: Employing microbial culture, the purpose of this study was to assess in
vitro the viability of Streptococcus mutans on toothbrush bristles relative to
the drying time. METHODS: Forty-five toothbrushes were soaked in a suspension
containing S. mutans (ATCC 25175) in a 1,720.000 cfu/mL concentration (0.5
McFarland scale) for 4 minutes, rinsed in sterile tap water, and assigned to 9
groups.

Ok, so they soaked the toothbrushes in bacterial solution to mimic brushing the teeth, then rinsed the brushes off to see what happens.

Group 1 toothbrushes were immediately incubated in CaSaB CaSaB
(bacitracin sucrose broth-selective enrichment broth) culture medium for 4 days.
Toothbrushes from groups 2 to 9 were kept at room temperature for 4, 8, 12, 24,
36, 48, 60, and 72 hours, respectively, and subsequently incubated in CaSaB
culture medium. RESULTS: It was observed that micro-organisms were present on
toothbrushes of groups 1 to 3, ranging from 50 to 100+ cfu.

so there were bacteria immediately, and at 4 and 8 hours


From the 12-hour
drying period on, there was no growth of S. mutans.

but at 12 hours, nada


Regarding the S. mutans cfu,
the results were expressed in scores and submitted to the Kruskal Wallis
statistical test. It was observed that groups 1 to 3 were similar to each other
(P>.05) and differed significantly (P<.001) from other groups, which, in turn,
behaved similarly (P>0.05). From the 12-hour drying period on, there was a
statistically significant decrease in the number of S. mutans cfu (P<.01).
CONCLUSION: It may be concluded that Streptococcus mutans remained viable on the
toothbrushes' bristles for up to 8 hours.

So, if you brush your teeth every 12 hours, it's likely that few, if any, bacteria still live on the toothbrush, and it follows therefore that air-drying looks as good as any other technique. Another study I found actually showed that new toothbrushes harbor more bacteria than worn ones do.

If you're really paranoid about this, you could soak your toothbrush in Listerine, but I wouldn't use isopropyl alcohol...it's toxic and tastes really bad.

[angrymissy]

yeah, why would you use alcohol instead of listerine?

[Gunner S]

heres an idea, soak it in orange juice, that way youll just stop brushing your teeth for the rest of your life

[Gvac]

I change my toothbrush with every tube of toothpaste, and I always pour peroxide on it when I rinse it out.

Bunch of animals.

[BlackSpider]

I change my toothbrush with every tube of toothpaste, and I always pour peroxide on it when I rinse it out.

Bunch of animals.

Peroxide is king.
I soak mine in it frequently.
If you keep your toothbrush in the bathroom, it is full of shit...

[torker]

My toothbrush has dingleberries. Is that bad?

[Gvac]

Peroxide is king.
I soak mine in it frequently.
If you keep your toothbrush in the bathroom, it is full of shit...

Are you my brother or something?

This is getting scary...

[Judge Smails]

I had a friend in highschool who once admitted that when he went to people's houses that he was not too fond of he would go in the bathroom and dunk their toothbrushes in the toilet.

[SatCam]

yeah, why would you use alcohol instead of listerine?

because it tastes better

[Hottub]

A couple from suburban California were vacationing in Jamaica when their room was broken into and everything stolen, with the exception of their camera and their toothbrushes. Considering themselves fortunate to have retained the camera with their vacation photos, they returned home where they had the film developed.

Two pictures were unidentifiable -- something like an aerial view of two mounds of dark earth with a pole in between. They later realized, to their horror, that it was a photo of their toothbrushes up someone's rear end.

I always loved this U.L.

[razorboy]

I use a Radius toothbrush and put it through the dishwasher on low once a week . I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing, it is just an unbreakable habit at this point.

[Dougie Brootal]

this is exactly why i dont brush my teeth.

[~Katja~]

I use a Radius toothbrush and put it through the dishwasher on low once a week . I'm not sure if it is a good or bad thing, it is just an unbreakable habit at this point.

the temps in the dishwasher don't get nearly hot enough to kill anything on there... if anything you end up with food leftover buildup on it.
Even if you run JUST the brush through (which is a huge waste of water).

if any of you are worried about the germs flying around in the bathroom then keep the brush closed up in a uv light sanitizer or something. There are plenty of ways to keep it out of the way.