A simple way to avoid dangerous infections

Many people inadvertently expose themselves to pathogenic bacteria every morning. You don’t have to be one of them.

The trick to dodging the infectious bacteria so many people encounter is to keep your toothbrush someplace other than the bathroom.

A study at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut shows that when families or other groups of people keep their toothbrushes in the bathroom, the brushes can pick up microscopic pathogens that enter the body through your mouth when you brush your teeth.

“The main concern is not with the presence of your own fecal matter on your toothbrush, but rather when a toothbrush is contaminated with fecal matter from someone else, which contains bacteria, viruses or parasites that are not part of your normal flora,” warns researcher Lauren Aber.

Alarmingly, trying to protect your toothbrush with a cover doesn’t help. The dark dampness under a cover actually makes it easier for pathogens to grow on your brush. Plus, the researchers found, washing off your brush with hot water or soaking it in mouthwash doesn’t help either.

In the study, more than half of all the brushes were home to fecal coliform, a bacteria that can cause intestinal infections, dysentery, hepatitis and cholera.

And if you use an electric toothbrush, you should use one that has a solid-head. Research at the University of Texas Science Center at Houston shows that hollow-headed brushes are more often contaminated with microorganisms.

In the Texas study, researchers found that toothbrushes were often covered with pathogens linked to colon cancer, heart disease and gum infections.

An additional way to protect yourself against toothbrush bacteria – Let your brush dry out between uses. That discourages the growth of microorganisms.

I usually rotate my brushing among at least three brushes so each one can dry for at least 24 hours between brushings. And it may seem strange, but I keep my brushes in a cup in my home office. That lets them dry faster and keeps them away from the toilet which, during flushing, can send pathogens into the air that land on brushes.

Carl Lowe

By Carl Lowe

has written about health, fitness and nutrition for a wide range of publications including Prevention Magazine, Self Magazine and Time-Life Books. The author of more than a dozen books, he has been gluten-free since 2007.

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