Contaminated toothbrushes and their disinfection
The concept was proposed in early 1920 that toothbrushes were contaminated after use and the toothbrush may be a cause of repeated infections of the mouth. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate, quantitatively, the presence of microorganisms adherent to tooth bristles. The second purpose was to evaluate the killing effect of various anti-infective agents. Twenty toothbrushes used by healthy subjects were screened for the presence of microorganisms. Microbes removed from the brushes by vortexing and an average of 4 x 103 CFU/ml were recovered from the suspending fluid. Bristles removed from the vortexed brushes still yielded confluent bacterial growth on brain-heart infusion agar medium. Virkon, Listerine, Cepacol, Scope, and Plax were tested for their bactericidal effects on microbes. Virkon and Listerine killed all the microorganisms on the toothbrush bristles and proxabrushes. Six volunteers tested the efficacy of a Listerine-soaking regimen to prevent the bacterial contamination of toothbrushes. Soaking the toothbrush head in Listerine for 20 minutes after brushing was sufficient to eliminate bacterial contamination. [S.L.]
Caudry, S.D., A. Klitorinos, and E.C.S. Chan, J Canad Dent Assn, 61:536, 1995