Bacteriological Study on Tooth Brushes

Abstract

Aims: To determine if the tooth brushes in a regular use can become contaminated with microorganismsand to investigate if the microorganisms were present with a packaged brushes. Materials andmethods: Thirty synthetic tooth brushes were used in this study. Ten adults each was supplied withnew 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 toothbrushes from two manufacturers were also enrolled in this study. All brushes were collected, decapitatedand cultured in different culture media to identify aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms presentin each tooth brush. Results: The result showed that various microorganisms can grow on used toothbrushes, Staphylococcus epidermidis were isolated from all used tooth brushes except one, α hemolyticStreptococci, yeasts (Candida albicans), Pseudomonas spp., Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli wereisolated from 70%, 60%, 50%, 30% and 20% of the used brushes respectively. Proteus spp. and Enterobacterspp. were isolated from 10% of tooth brushes while Corynebacteria, Aerococci and Moraxellacatarrhalis were isolated from 40% of used tooth brushes. Anaerobic bacteria (Peptococcus spp., Veillonellaspp. and Peptostreptococcus spp.) were isolated from 30%, 20% and 10% of the used brushesrespectively. Eleven from twenty unused brushes were contaminated; while other nine were apparentlybacteria free. Conclusions: It is concluded that used tooth brushes were found to harbour microorganismsand it cannot be determined whether or not the brushes were contaminated when new.

Keywords

• tooth brushes
• microorganisms.