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Toothbrush is bristling with bacteria – is it time to change it?
- betaby 1y agoWould washing toothbrush with soap just work?
- iberator 1y agoAny antibaterial would work
- helph67 1y agoA cheap method would be to leave the brush head soak overnight in a saline solution. Use tap water or COLD water from boiled kettle plus small amount salt.
- runamok 11mo agoHow about rubbing alcohol?
- bsder 1y agoI also have seen recommendations to microwave your toothbrush.
- CaptainOfCoit 1y agoHeat and plastic as a combination always scares me, I'd probably avoid microwaving toothbrushes if I were you.
- conception 1y agoTLDR; "I don't think most people are getting sick from their toothbrush," she says. This is just germaphobe pornography. Your toothbrush is fine. You’re less healthy if everything is like a clean room in your life.
- plasticsoprano 1y agoDidn’t mythbusters prove fecal matter on brand new toothbrushes, fresh out of the package?
- tredre3 1y ago> fresh out of the package? No, but the episode proved that where you place the tooth brush in the bathroom doesn't really matter (ie next to the toilet or far away).
- mek6800d2 1y agoClickbait! If you read the article, there's no gloom or doom. 30 or more years ago (?), Consumer Reports did a report on toothbrushes and they did a follow-up note or article clarifying their recommendation of how often to change toothbrushes. Their recommendation was not because of bacteria as many readers apparently thought, but because the bristles get worn down and don't clean as effectively. And the "toilet plume"? Is that more of a problem in Britain? Looking back at John Postgate's Microbes and Man (which I read back in the 1990s): Few people realize, however, that when a used toilet is flushed, a turbulence and spray of water and excrement is generated comparable to a sneeze: in any toilet one can isolate faecal clostridia and streptococci from the ceiling, walls and door handle as well as around and beneath the seat. British water closets certainly generate such infectious aerosols; it is probable that the vortex type favoured in the USA, depending on a swirl rather than a splash to flush the closet, is less generous in the matter of dispersing faecal microbes around the room. (That was written back in the 1990s or earlier; British folks and travelers can obviously provide more current insight than me, who has never traveled outside the U.S.!)
- exabrial 1y agoI hate to say it, but... duh. It's literally going in your mouth. And rinsing it with tap water isn't going to fix that. There's bacteria everywhere. I rinse mine in grocery-store-strength peroxide every few days to cut down on the 'problem'
- cma 1y agoToothpaste basically has dish detergent in it which probably makes it not quite so bad.
- YVoyiatzis 1y agoI never brush my teeth, I irrigate them a couple of times a day and use floss as needed.
- dyauspitr 1y agoThat’s pretty rank. Do you spend a lot of time with people?
- Ekaros 1y agoRarely I think about it. But at times I wonder if we could have home gamma radiation machines to sterilise well about everything... From food to why not tooth brushes or other materials that don't handle heat or other options too well... Sadly gamma radiation generators will never be safe enough to be widespread for that. Still could it be workable?