HEALTH

NEW HAVEN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

Vol. LII, No. 10	October, 1925

This article excerpted from p. 7 of the issue.

With the evolution of more and more sanitary precautions for the prevention of infection and re-infection the menace of an infected toothbrush now presents itself for consideration.

The toothbrush after once using, is never a sanitary instrument, and what pathogenic germs must it contain when used day after day in an ulcerated or pyorrhea mouth! Of what possible value can a prophylactic treatment for pyorrhea of the gums, given by a skilled dentist or his prophylactic nurse, be when the person continues to use the same infected toothbrush?

Water cannot cleanse the toothbrush, and so-called antiseptic solutions and pastes cannot destroy the pathogenic germs which the brush has acquired. Keeping the brush in strong antiseptic solutions for twenty-four hours may destroy some germs, but also generally destroys the brush, and with most solutions would cause the brush to be unpleasant or actually dangerous to the person using it.

In mouth and throat infections, including diphtheria, tonsilitis, scarlet fever, measles, etc., the toothbrush used just before the patient became sick must be destroyed. It is a menace, and may cause the convalescent patient to become a carrier of the disease with which he was affected.

Children will rarely so care for their toothbrushes as to keep them ordinarily clean, and if one child of a family acquires a contagious disease the contaminated toothbrush may probably allow infection of other closely adjacent toothbrushes which are reposing in the bathroom. Also a toothbrush exposed to dust and vapors in a bathroom is unsanitary and far from esthetic. One would not hang his spoon and fork in a bathroom and then use them for the next meal.

With tender, bleeding gums the toothbrush is an implement of injury, and the bristles may prick the gums and cause the very infected areas that it is supposed to prevent. The toothbrush is not the proper implement for massage of the gums.

School teaching of mouth hygiene must place more emphasis on the care of the toothbrush, having in mind the likelihood of its dirtiness, its ability to cause injury, and that it may be frequently a carrier of germs that cause serious sickness.

Laboratory cultures made from used toothbrushes have shown many of the dangerous pathogenic germs.

Patients at hospitals after recovery from operations or illness should not be allowed to use the dirty toothbrushes which are brought to the hospital with their toilet articles.

Substitutes for the toothbrush made of compressed cotton can be obtained and are efficient, a clean pledget being used for each cleaning of the teeth. How futile it seems to rinse one's mouth with cleansing or so-called antiseptic solutions and then in a few hours to reuse the contaminated toothbrush!

OLIVER T. OSBORNE, M.D.