A prospective study on assessment of microbial contamination of toothbrushes and methods of their decontamination

摘要: Background: Toothbrushes may get contaminated by the oral cavity, environment, hands, storage containers, or aerosol contamination. The present study was conducted to assess the microbial contamination of toothbrushes and methods of their decontamination.Materials and methods: The current study included 160 subjects of both genders. All the subjects were provided with a toothbrush and paste with complete hygiene instructions for the oral cavity. After one month, all the brushes were collected. The samples were categorized into four groups of 40 each. Group I was treated with 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate, group II with Listerine, group III with Dettol, and group IV with tap water. Finally, these toothbrushes were placed in 5 mL of neutralizer broth and then evaluated to study the efficacy of four disinfectants. All the data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) version 23 software …