Bacteriological study on tooth brushes

Abstract EN

Aims : To determine if the tooth brushes in a regular use can become contaminated with microorganisms and to investigate if the microorganisms were present with a packaged brushes.

Materials and methods : Thirty synthetic tooth brushes were used in this study.

Ten adults each was supplied with new tooth brush of the same type and brand together with identical tubes of fluoridated tooth paste.

After three weeks, subjects were requested to follow their normal hygiene practices, twenty new tooth brushes from two manufacturers were also enrolled in this study.

All brushes were collected, decapitated and cultured in different culture media to identify aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms present in each tooth brush.

Results : The result showed that various microorganisms can grow on used tooth brushes, Staphylococcus epidermidis were isolated from all used tooth brushes except one, α hemolytic Streptococci, yeasts (Candida albicans), Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli were isolated from 70 %, 60 %, 50 %, 30 % and 20 % of the used brushes respectively.

Proteus spp.

and Enterobacter spp.

were isolated from 10 % of tooth brushes while Corynebacteria, Aerococci and Moraxella catarrhalis were isolated from 40 % of used tooth brushes.

Anaerobic bacteria (Peptococcus spp., Veillonella spp.

and Peptostreptococcus spp.) were isolated from 30 %, 20 % and 10 % of the used brushes respectively.

Eleven from twenty unused brushes were contaminated ; while other nine were apparently bacteria free.

Conclusions : It is concluded that used tooth brushes were found to harbour microorganisms and it cannot be determined whether or not the brushes were contaminated when new.