The Dirtiest Room in the House

In addition to the germs already existing in the mouth that end up on the bristles of your toothbrush and breed and multiply, millions of germs and bacteria can assemble on your toothbrush from its everyday storage environment, the bathroom.

The typical household bathroom is popularly known as "the dirtiest room in the house" for a reason. Even if you take care to neurotically clean the bathroom in your house every 2 to 3 days, there is no doubt that loads of germs, blood, and other bodily fluids are flying around as a result of hand-washing, toilet flushing, bathing, shaving, or any of the other grooming and personal hygiene activities that we carry out inside this little room.

Aside from the "bacterial mist" that is evident after each toilet flush and can stay in the air for at least two hours, the highest incidence of nasty bathroom germs actually occurs within and around the sink! That's right, the same place where you wash your face and hands, and brush your teeth every day!

How many of us rest our toothbrushes on the surfaces of a dirty sink, or how many of us have had our toothbrushes slip into the same dirty sink or even the floor? If you are like most people, the toothbrush is conveniently stored on or next to the the sink, contained within the infamous "community cup" holding the toothbrushes of every person in the household. It's here in the decorative and grimy family toothbrush cup that toothbrushes can actually share germs. This convenient storage habit is why the Journal of the Canadian Dental Association has stated that "toothbrushes can transmit disease." In technical terms, this is described as "cross-contamination.

No matter how much of a germ freak you may call yourself or how often you clean your bathroom and practice techniques to limit the toilet "aerosol effect" and control the amount of sink germs that reach your toothbrush, unfortunately, there is virtually no escaping toothbrush germs. Even new toothbrushes aren't safe. A study published in the Journal of the Oklahoma Dental Association found that 4 out of 5 (80%) brand new toothbrushes from one manufacturer were contaminated right out of the box!
Instead of buying a new toothbrush each time you brush, as they are getting more and more expensive and some are contaminated anyway, why not sanitize your toothbrush and kill the germs? Now that there is a way to solve this dirty little problem, you can easily use a clean, sanitized toothbrush, and protect your immune system from all of the nasty germs living on your toothbrush bristles. It just makes sense.

Inflammation: "The Secret Killer"

It is a well established fact that chronic oral infections can significantly, if not certainly, increase the risk of acquiring or worsening serious health problems like heart and lung disease, diabetes, stroke, and premature or low birth weight. According to the American Diabetes Association, approximately 90% of adult Americans have or will have gum disease some time in their lives.

If we take a minute to consider gum disease, which is a kind of chronic bacterial infection, it is easy to see how this condition can contribute to systematic inflammation turned chronic. A chronic infection like gum disease can undoubtedly affect the way in which your body's inflammatory reaction performs. When let untreated, it can persist as an ongoing infection in our mouths. Remember, gum disease is caused by an infectious, contagious bacterium that invades the delicate soft tissue of our gums - and inflammation is what causes our gums to become red and inflamed.

Research on inflammation is uncovering a fascinating network of interconnections between various diseases that we never dreamed would be inter-related. Inflammation can explain the connection between chronic oral infections and heart disease, stroke, and diabetes, to name just a few. This is because chronic inflammation in one area of the body can affect the rest of the body, and when we treat inflammation in one part of the body, other parts of the body also become healthier. And it's why the former U.S. Surgeon General said, "You are not healthy without good oral health".

So if we eliminate the germs on our toothbrush bristles by sanitizing our toothbrushes prior to every use, then we can bring a final end to chronic infection and re-infection from germs on our toothbrushes, and hopefully help to prevent, or at least minimize, chronic mouth infections like gum disease. Putting an end to chronic mouth infections will eradicate the need for a chronic inflammatory response in the mouth, and thereby reduce inflammation throughout the body. Remember, the mouth is the body's prime gateway for bacterial invasion and infection. Why not do everything we can to prevent recurring instances of infection directly at the source?