When it comes to dental health concerns, your toothbrush has a huge part to play. Unfortunately, your toothbrush is loaded with germs. This is according to researchers at the University of Manchester, who have found that, in just one uncovered toothbrush, there can be more than 100 million bacteria. Yup, every time you brush you may be putting your wellbeing at risk to nasty bugs, including E. coli bacteria, which can cause diarrhoea, and staphylococci (Staph) bacteria that cause skin infections.
However, wellness experts are quick to point out that your mouth isn’t exactly sterile to begin with. Gayle McCombs, RDH, MS, associate professor and director of the Dental Hygiene Research Center at Old Dominion University, comments, ‘The bottom line is, there (are) hundreds of microorganisms in our mouths every day.’ And that’s no big deal; the only time you have to worry is when you have an unhealthy balance of bacteria in your mouth. Dentist Kimberly Harms, DDS, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association, notes, ‘It’s important to remember that plaque – the stuff you’re removing from your teeth – is bacteria. So you’re putting bacteria on your toothbrush every time you brush your teeth.’
R. Thomas Glass, DDS, PhD, professor of dentistry and pathology at Oklahoma State University Centre for Health Sciences, points out, ‘The action of brushing your teeth, especially with an electric toothbrush, actually pushes these organisms beneath the skin in your mouth.’ This may not cause a new disease – unless you share a toothbrush with someone else – since many of these germs are on your toothbrush because they were already in your mouth. However, Glass says they play a role in recurring illness: ‘When your resistance is low, that’s when this becomes clinically important. In essence, you are re-infecting yourself.’
So is your toothbrush making you ill? Regardless of how much bacteria you have in your mouth, your body has a number of natural defences in place that make the possibility of you developing an infection simply from brushing your teeth highly unlikely. Kimberly Harms, DDS, consumer advisor for the American Dental Association, consoles, ‘Fortunately, the human body is usually able to defend itself from bacteria. So we aren’t aware of any real evidence that sitting the toothbrush in your bathroom in the toothbrush holder is causing any real damage or harm. We don’t know that the bacteria on there are translating into infections.’
Nonetheless, you should still exercise a certain degree of common sense when storing your toothbrush. McCombs asserts, ‘You don’t store your plates and glasses by the toilet, so why would you want to place your toothbrush there? It’s just common sense to store your toothbrush as far away from the toilet as possible.’ But don’t think it’s safely stored in your toothbrush holder; these containers pick up bacteria that swirl through the air after the toilet is flushed, and they are frequently overlooked when cleaning the bathroom. This is the finding of study researcher Rob Donofrio, director of Microbiology at NSF International.
- So what’s the best way to store your toothbrush?
- Wash toothbrush with tap water thoroughly every time you use it.
- Make sure your brush has a chance to dry thoroughly between brushings.
- Harms says, ‘Bacteria love a moist environment,’ so avoid using toothbrush covers, which can be a breeding ground for bacteria.
- Store your toothbrush upright, rather than lying it down.
- Never share a toothbrush, no matter how close you are to the other person.
- Don’t even store your toothbrush side-by-side in the same cup with other people’s brushes – whenever toothbrushes touch, they can swap germs.