Is Your Toothbrush Making You Sick?
We just returned home from a wonderful trip from Disney, and we were all hit by yet another round of what I call kung foo goo or the sickies. Apparently we weren’t the only ones who got the but from this trip.
I have always given my toothbrush the evil eye after I have been sick. The other evening, as I got ready to brush the boys teeth as I always do, it dawned on me that this was and interesting question. Do you change your toothbrush after you have been sick? There are several answers that our out there, but the general consensus seems to be to change it after three months or after you have been sick.
Some say if you have had a virus, that you don’t have to change your toothbrush that your body builds up a specific immunity. But most dentists and doctors say you should change your toothbrush because bacteria and fungus can live on your toothbrush well after you are up and running again and you can get sick again.
I have seen the new fangled UV toothbrush sanitizers, it looks pretty and all, but I am a bit skeptical. Either way, I change my toothbrush because all I have to do it think about brushing my mouth with germs and bacteria and that sort of takes care of it for me.
Do you change your toothbrush after you’ve been sick? Or do you adhere to the 3 month change suggestion?
Wow, I never even thought of that. I am not sick that often but now that I have a little one, there seems to be more and more sniffles around our house. Thanks for the info!
I do the 3 month change thing but I think I should be throwing when I get sick!!!!
I absolutely change it after I get sick. Although I recall seeing some product that sterilizes toothbrushes on a daily basis. I wonder if that is ultimately cheaper than constantly buying new toothbrushes?
Did you know that every time you flush your toilet, bacteria from your toilet gets on your brush…Google it. I’m serious.
I always want to, but sometimes don’t. And it drives me crazy. I do change it every 3 months or so though, so hopefully that is some sort of germ preventative.
I absolutely do – and I have for as long as I can remember. I am pretty OCD about toothbrushes anyway, but even more so everytime any of us get puny.
Neat I’ve never heard of the UV thing. I do agree with you though. I try to change ours out every few months.
Kas
I usually change toothbrushes after being sick, which reminds me all of us are and some of us were sick .. off to Walmart or Rite Aid 2marro to buy new ones!!
I think my toothbrush IS making me sick. It’s to close to the toilet and always smells like ass when I go to use it… Makes me a sad panda.
I have one of those UV toothbrushes, but end out just using the regular manual tooth brush most of the time.
I am nuts about changing our brushes, at least once a month around here- sick or not sick LOL
Yep, I do change it but fortunately I am not sick very often so I usually change it every 3 mos.
Interesting! I actually don’t change my toothbrush unless it has been 3 months. I don’t see why not, they are so cheap! Wow, good to think about
I buy a stck of new tooth brushes and switch them out every 3 months or if someone gets sick. They are so cheap. I’d like to get one of those spinning one but not sure about replacement value on those
My kids just had strep and the doctor said to change it after 2 days and then after 10 days so twice! Two days is how long it takes for antibiotics to work. I am sick now, I better go buy a new one for me.
We use one but you still have to replace the brushes every three months
absolutely!! Change that brush lol
This made me remember that I need to check how many extra toothbrushes we have and go ahead and switch them out. I try to do it every couple of months, or after illness.
We change ours and were just discussing this tonight since one of our children who was sick a week or so ago is getting sick again and I am pretty sure that he changed his toothbrush, but now we need to again. I miss our dishwasher – it died – but to save on buying so many toothbrushes so frequently we have tossed them in the dishwasher and even soaked them several times in boiling water to kill the germs.
I have never thought to change my toothbrush after I brush..hmmm.. Makes sense though!
I usually sanitize with listerine too!