A Prospective Study on Assessment of Microbial Contamination of Toothbrushes and Methods of Their Decontamination

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 (IBM, Armonk, NY, USA). For all analyses, p < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant Results: Aerobic bacterial growth before disinfection in Groups I, II, III, and IV was 91.6%, 75.84%, 75%, 81.67%, respectively (p = 0.01). After disinfecting the brushes aerobic bacterial growth was reduced to 34.17%, 30.84%, 24.17% & 74.17% in Groups I, II, III, and IV, respectively (p = 0.002). Klebsiella, Micrococci and Escherichia coli survived the most even after disinfection was done. Conclusion: Most effective agent for the disinfection of toothbrushes was Dettol followed by Listerine and 0.2% chlorhexidine gluconate. Tap water was found to be ineffective in the decontamination of toothbrushes.