4 ms·

I remember a myth busters episode where they demonstrated that toothbrushes left in open air will easily get fecal matter on the brush hairs due to aerosolized

I remember a myth busters episode where they demonstrated that toothbrushes left in open air will easily get fecal matter on the brush hairs due to aerosolized poop from when you flush an open lid toilet. Definitely a great conversation ice-breaker.

liotier 4y ago
Are toilets in the bathroom common in your country ? Here, in France, they are a separate room - which also helps with multiple simultaneous uses.
- afterburner 4y ago
  They're common in North America, maybe because having bigger houses and therefore having multiple bathrooms is also more common.
- ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
  I've never seen a bathroom without a toilet in it in France. Is it regional? Or could it be a matter of the types of lodgings like flats v.s homes?
  - DoingIsLearning 4y ago
    I've seen the splitinh in actual house in the Netherlands and Belgium so maybe some Northern France houses also split?
- criley2 4y ago
  It's considered luxury in the united states to have the toilet enclosed in a smaller room inside the bathroom. Most American cities are expensive enough per sqft that it's certainly not standard to have a larger bathroom capable of enclosed toilets. Even growing up in a lower cost of living area, I would associate a master bathroom with an enclosed toilet room as a luxury or wealthy amenity.
  - knicholes 4y ago
    Good to know. I've always wondered why my bathroom has a separate little closet-sized room with a toilet. I always thought it was worse because you can't wash your hands until after you've touched the flusher handle and the door knob. Of course any reasonable person with two hands will use separate hands, but it's just weird to me. Additionally, there was a towel rack in that room. I took it down because, again, it makes no sense. Why would anyone need a towel in the toilet room?
kurthr 4y ago
After confirming that a toilet flush does emit an aerosol spray, Adam builds a rack to hold 44 toothbrushes at various distances from the toilet in the shop, as well as two controls kept in the office. Each day, Adam and Jamie exposed the brushes to toothpaste and rinsed with distilled water, with brushing with a pair kept right above the toilet bowl. Fecal coliforms were indeed found on all the test brushes, including the control ones, but none at a level high enough to be dangerous. A microbiologist from UCSF confirmed that such coliforms were impossible to completely avoid, and that there was no significant difference in the number of bacteria based on where the toothbrushes were placed in respect to the toilet bowl. This surprising result prompts the narrator to proclaim "Some myths are best left unanswered!" Since the controls were kept in his office... it does seem like it's impossible to avoid fecal coliform bacteria.
petercooper 4y ago
If that's the case, I'm going to convince myself that I'm doing my immune system some good exposing it to such horrors in minute quantities..
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]

liotier 4y ago

Are toilets in the bathroom common in your country ? Here, in France, they are a separate room - which also helps with multiple simultaneous uses.

afterburner 4y ago
They're common in North America, maybe because having bigger houses and therefore having multiple bathrooms is also more common.
ad404b8a372f2b9 4y ago
I've never seen a bathroom without a toilet in it in France. Is it regional? Or could it be a matter of the types of lodgings like flats v.s homes?
- DoingIsLearning 4y ago
  I've seen the splitinh in actual house in the Netherlands and Belgium so maybe some Northern France houses also split?
criley2 4y ago
It's considered luxury in the united states to have the toilet enclosed in a smaller room inside the bathroom. Most American cities are expensive enough per sqft that it's certainly not standard to have a larger bathroom capable of enclosed toilets. Even growing up in a lower cost of living area, I would associate a master bathroom with an enclosed toilet room as a luxury or wealthy amenity.
- knicholes 4y ago
  Good to know. I've always wondered why my bathroom has a separate little closet-sized room with a toilet. I always thought it was worse because you can't wash your hands until after you've touched the flusher handle and the door knob. Of course any reasonable person with two hands will use separate hands, but it's just weird to me. Additionally, there was a towel rack in that room. I took it down because, again, it makes no sense. Why would anyone need a towel in the toilet room?

kurthr 4y ago

After confirming that a toilet flush does emit an aerosol spray, Adam builds a rack to hold 44 toothbrushes at various distances from the toilet in the shop, as well as two controls kept in the office. Each day, Adam and Jamie exposed the brushes to toothpaste and rinsed with distilled water, with brushing with a pair kept right above the toilet bowl. Fecal coliforms were indeed found on all the test brushes, including the control ones, but none at a level high enough to be dangerous. A microbiologist from UCSF confirmed that such coliforms were impossible to completely avoid, and that there was no significant difference in the number of bacteria based on where the toothbrushes were placed in respect to the toilet bowl. This surprising result prompts the narrator to proclaim "Some myths are best left unanswered!" Since the controls were kept in his office... it does seem like it's impossible to avoid fecal coliform bacteria.

petercooper 4y ago

If that's the case, I'm going to convince myself that I'm doing my immune system some good exposing it to such horrors in minute quantities..

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]