We all know the importance of toothbrushing for oral hygiene and plaque removal. However, brushing teeth with the right techniques is only one part of the equation. It is also important to keep toothbrushes clean and sanitized. This is where toothbrush sanitizers come into the picture.
Before discussing toothbrush sanitizers, let us take a look at some of the facts associated with a wet and not properly cleaned toothbrush:
1. Germs can remain and breed on wet toothbrushes after brushing.
2. Toothbrushes can also be contaminated with germs from the bathroom, and from neighboring toothbrushes.
3. In addition to germs, things that may also have been collected on your toothbrush include bacteria, viruses, fungi (molds and yeasts) and other microbes.
4. Common colds/flu and other infections can easily be passed from one person to another when unsanitized toothbrushes are stored together.
5. Germs can prolong infections like gum disease, colds and sore throats.
Now we can see that it really isn't a terribly good idea to leave toothbrushes wet and uncleaned. Toothbrush sanitizers work by killing the bulk of the germs and microbes resident on toothbrushes. In so doing the risks of infections by various microbes are reduced.
There are various types of these sanitizers. The more common ones are based on ultra violet technology and are quite easy to use. You simply put your toothbrushes in a sanitizing chamber and switch the unit on. Inside the chamber a UV bulb comes on and distributes UV light on the brushes. Typically after 5 to 10 minutes, the bulb switches itself off when the process is completed and the toothbrushes are sanitized. The word "sanitized" usually means that around 99 percent of bacteria has been killed.
There is another type of sanitizers using steam to do the work and taking water as input. Apart from the extra step of adding water, the steam-based sanitizers are just as simple to use as the UV-based ones. There is however a number of advantages with the steam-based sanitizers. First, the cleaning is a little more thorough as steam can penetrate nooks and crannies within the toothbrushes better than UV light can. Second, it takes a much shorter time to do the cleaning. Third, steam cleaners generally also clean the handle and not only the brush head.
Most of us understand the importance of keeping our teeth clean and yet somehow fail to understand the importance of keeping our toothbrushes sanitized. A toothbrush sanitizer should really be considered a bathroom essential.
